Vietnam’s high school English exam stumps even native speakers

Vietnam’s 2025 national high school English exam has drawn criticism for its difficulty after even native speakers and educators struggled with it. Part of the country’s reformed curriculum, the optional graduation test emphasized real-world language use but featured complex phrasing and obscure vocabulary that many said exceeded international standards.

“Overwhelmed”: Van Lam, an IELTS 7.5 scorer at a gifted high school, told Thanh Nien he was “overwhelmed just reading the first few lines.” “The reading passages were so long and full of difficult words,” complained student Nguyen Thanh Thuy. “Finishing this in 50 minutes felt harder than an IELTS exam.”
Native speakers weigh in: “I couldn’t finish the exam,” said British teacher Nathan Brooks who tried the test after hearing student complaints. “For a high school student in a country where English is a foreign language, the test is too difficult and stressful.” Debra Mann, founder of TEFL Freedom, described the questions as dense and difficult to interpret. One Reddit user wrote: “I’m a native English speaker, and this hurt my head!”
Questionable questions: Critics pointed to complex questions, including one asking students to interpret the term “greenwashing,” a word common in environmental discourse but rarely taught in standard classrooms. U.S. educator Joshua Ryan said most students wouldn’t know the term and that Vietnam’s reliance on memorization leaves them unprepared. He said the test demands reasoning and should focus more on communication, not just reading and grammar drills.

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