How Vietnam's 2025 THPT Exam Reform Changed University Admission Scoring

The subject count dropped from six to four

Students who started secondary school under the 2018 general education curriculum sat a redesigned THPT exam for the first time in 2025. Under the reformed structure you sit 4 subjects instead of the previous 6. Math and Literature stay compulsory for every student. You then pick 2 more subjects from a list of 9: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Geography, Economics and Law Education, Informatics, Technology, and Foreign Language.

Before 2025, the exam paired 3 compulsory subjects (Math, Literature, Foreign Language) with a fixed 3-subject elective block, either the natural science group (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) or the social science group (History, Geography, Civic Education). That gave most students 6 separate subject scores to work with when applying to university. The 2025 structure gives you only 4.

English is now optional, not automatic

Foreign Language sits inside the pool of 9 electives alongside subjects like Physics or History. You choose whether to sit it at all. This is the biggest single change for admission planning, because entire admission combinations used to depend on every student having an English score by default.

If you plan to apply through a combination that needs English, such as the traditional D01 combination of Math, Literature and English, you now have to choose Foreign Language as one of your 2 electives on purpose. Skip it, and any combination requiring an English score is closed to you unless you can substitute a certificate like IELTS instead, according to the reformed exam's subject structure .

How each subject is tested

Literature keeps its essay format: 120 minutes, split between a reading comprehension section worth 4 of the 10 points and a writing section worth 6 points. Every other subject switched to a 3-part multiple choice structure.

• Part I asks standard four-option multiple choice questions

• Part II gives you several true or false statements under one question stem, and you judge each one

• Part III asks for a short-answer response, where you calculate or fill in a specific value rather than picking from options

Each elective paper runs 50 minutes. Question writers spread difficulty across 3 cognitive levels: about 40% recall, 30% comprehension, and 30% application, so the paper mixes straightforward recall questions with ones that ask you to apply a concept to a new situation.

Why this forced universities to redesign admission combinations

Admission combinations (tổ hợp xét tuyển) bundle 3 subject scores into one admission total. Under the old system, students automatically produced enough scores to build several combinations from a single sitting. Under the 2025 structure, you sit only 4 papers, and only 2 of those are your own choice.

That means a 3-subject combination now only works for you if your 2 chosen electives, plus Math or Literature, line up with what a program asks for. Universities responded by publishing longer combination lists for the 2025 intake, and many added routes that swap a missing subject score for a certificate score, IELTS for example, or for a competency test result from HSA or V-ACT, so students whose elective choices do not match a traditional combination still have an admission path.

Which old combinations still work

Some traditional combinations still work if your electives happen to match. A00 (Math, Physics, Chemistry) survives if you pick Physics and Chemistry as your 2 electives. C00 (Literature, History, Geography) survives if you pick History and Geography. D01 (Math, Literature, English) survives only if you pick Foreign Language as one elective. Combinations that used 3 electives from the old block, like B00 with Math, Chemistry and Biology, need you to pick both Chemistry and Biology, which was automatic before 2025 but now costs you both of your elective choices.

What this means for your admission planning

Pick your 2 electives before you lock in which programs to apply for, not after. Check each target program's accepted combinations first, then confirm your planned electives actually appear inside at least one of them. If they do not, look at whether that university accepts a certificate-based or competency-test-based alternative combination instead of the traditional 3-subject one.