Secondary school graduates are now gearing up to prepare for the high-school entrance exams, slated for June 9.

The competition ratios for the seats at state-owned schools are excessively high this year.

The Hanoi Education & Training Department said that state-ownef schools in Hanoi plan to enroll 50,000 students for the 10th grade this year. Meanwhile, the number of students to attend the entrance exams has reached 147,500.

The competition ratios are extremely high for some top schools. Tran Hung Dao School in Thanh Xuan district, for example, plans to enroll 480 students, but 3,944 students have applied for studying there, which means a completion ratio of 1/8.2.

The Tay Ho High School plans to enroll 560 students, while 3,280 students have applied, which means a competition ratio of 1/5.8. The ratios are 1 to 3 for Chu Van An, one of the most prestigious schools in Hanoi.

As the door to state-owned high schools are not opened widely to all, students have to study hard to compete for seats there.

Tran Hong Hanh, a student of To Hoang Secondary School, said her learning schedule has been full since early May.

“I have eight official periods at school a day, including four literature and four math periods (each period lasts 45 minutes). Besides, I go to exam preparation centers to have 6-7 lessons a week,” she said.

“I leave home at 6 am and come back at 10 pm,” she added.

Nguyen Hoang, a student in Hai Ba Trung district, will attend the entrance exam to a high school for the gifted in Hanoi.

“All the students registering to attend the exam to the school are excellent students. So, the competition will be stiff,” Hoang said.

When asked about the learning schedule, he said he studied ‘from early morning until midnight’.

Most of the students said that they go to exam preparation centers or have private tutoring lessons. “You will fail the entrance exams to high school if you don’t have extra classes,” Thuy Hoa, a student, said.

“The exam questions will be very difficult, because state owned schools want to choose the best students,” Hoa explained.

It is expected that 83,000 students will finish secondary school this year, but only 70 percent have the opportunities to continue studying at state owned schools.

The other 26,000 students will continue studying at private schools, continuing education schools or vocational schools./.

VNF/Vietnamnet