Combining THPT Score, Competency Tests and Certificates: Choosing an Admission Method in Vietnam

The main admission routes available

Vietnamese universities typically run several admission methods for the same intake year, and most programs accept applications through more than one at once. Knowing which routes your target program runs, and which ones fit your own results, changes how you plan your final year of secondary school.

• THPT score: your national exam result, combined into a 3-subject admission total

• Competency test: HSA from VNU Hanoi or V-ACT from VNU-HCM, a separate test many universities accept as a stand-alone route

• Direct admission (xét tuyển thẳng): for students with a qualifying national or international academic award

• Certificate-based combination: a route that swaps an IELTS or similar score in for a subject score inside your admission total

Step 1: check what your target program actually accepts

Not every university runs every route, and not every program within a university runs the same set either. Pull up your target program's current admission scheme (đề án tuyển sinh) and list out exactly which routes it accepts before you plan your final year around any one of them.

Step 2: match your strengths to a route

If your school subjects and mock exam scores look strong, the THPT route stays your most direct path. If you test well under timed, exam-hall conditions outside your normal subject set, HSA or V-ACT can work in your favor, since both test general reasoning across Math, language and science rather than a single subject's syllabus. HSA runs on computer with 150 questions over 195 minutes, while V-ACT runs on paper with 120 questions over 150 minutes, so try a practice paper from each before committing your prep time to one.

If you hold a national or international award, check the direct admission list first, since it can secure your spot before you even sit the THPT exam. If you hold a strong IELTS score, check whether your target program runs a certificate-based combination, since that can replace a subject score you are weaker in.

Step 3: watch how quotas split across routes

Universities set a separate quota percentage for each admission route inside a single program, so a competitive route in one year is not automatically the easiest one the next.

A program that takes most of its class through THPT scores one year might shift more seats toward competency test results the next, so re-check the current year's quota split rather than relying on a previous year's pattern.

Step 4: apply through more than one route as backup

Most students qualify for at least 2 of these 4 routes at once, for example a THPT score and an HSA result, or a certificate combination and direct admission. Applying through every route you qualify for costs you extra registration steps and sometimes extra fees, but it protects you if one route's quota fills faster than expected or your score lands just under a cutoff.

Comparison at a glance

Build your plan around at least 2 of these routes rather than one, and confirm each route's specific requirements on your target university's own admission page before you rely on it.