On the afternoon of 19/1, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the results of the national student excellent selection exam for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Out of more than 6,750 candidates from 38 units (34 localities and 4 universities), nearly 3,700 students received awards, a rate of 59%.
By province and city group, TP HCM led with 288 awarded students, followed by Ninh Binh (238), Phu Tho (229), and Hai Phong (208). Ha Noi lost its top position, falling to 5th place with 207 awards.
The lower half of the rankings featured 4 new entrants: Bac Ninh (174 awards), Da Nang (146), Lao Cai (134), and Hung Yen (125). Only Thai Nguyen (125 awards) was a locality that had been in the top 10 last year.
The rankings of provinces and cities were reshuffled due to the criteria for the number of candidates allowed to participate. Specifically, localities not subject to reorganization and units from universities could send a maximum of 10 candidates per subject, with Ha Noi allowed 20. For merged provinces and cities, a maximum of 20-30 candidates per subject (depending on scale) could be sent. TP HCM alone could send 40 students per team.
If calculated by the number of first-place awards, Ha Noi still led with 23 students, followed by Vietnam National University, Ha Noi (15). Nghe An and Thanh Hoa, despite not making the top for overall awards, were among those with many first-place awards, with 10 and 8 students respectively.
Students who receive national awards will be issued certificates and are eligible for direct admission to many universities. Additionally, they receive local rewards according to specific policies, commonly 10-20 million VND.
For international Olympic subjects, the Ministry of Education and Training will summon a number of high-scoring candidates to select the national team, expected to be organized in March. The conditions for this group are achieving 26/40 points or higher in Mathematics; 23,25 points in Physics; 26,375 points in Chemistry; 25 points in Biology; and 24,79 points in Informatics.
This year's national student excellent exam took place on 25-26/12/2025. Literature had the most candidates with 709, while Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics, History, Geography, and English each had 640-690 students. Other foreign languages had 100-250 candidates per subject.
Le Nguyen
