The literature exam for high school graduation featured a question about "Steve Jobs Vietnam" that garnered significant public attention. This question, worth two points, was phrased as follows:
America has Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and others, whose technological inventions have contributed to changing the world.
Drawing from this, as a young person, write a persuasive essay (approximately 200 words) answering the question: how can vietnam produce its own "Steve Jobs"?
The Ministry of Education and Training released the official answer key on the afternoon of 19/6:
The essay should meet the following requirements:
a. general requirements (0,5 points)
Candidates must correctly identify the argumentative issue, ensure proper form, language, length, and use of evidence.
- Correctly identify the argumentative issue: from a young person's perspective, propose solutions for vietnam to produce world-class technology innovators.
- Presentation style: the essay can be presented deductively, inductively, or a combination of approaches.
- Essay length: approximately 200 words.
- Evidence: real-life experiences and personal insights.
b. specific requirements (1,5 points)
Candidates should develop the essay logically and apply appropriate argumentative skills.
Point 1) from an individual perspective:
+ Point 1.1) awareness: cultivate breakthrough thinking, great aspirations, and fearlessness in the face of failure.
+ Point 1.2) attitude: foster national pride and a desire to contribute to the country and humanity.
+ Point 1.3) actions: learn and enhance digital literacy, foreign language skills; develop technology to solve national and global issues (whether working domestically or abroad); build a team of like-minded young people.
Point 2) from a societal perspective:
+ Point 2.1) education: establish an open and creative education system.
+ Point 2.2) policies: implement mechanisms to attract and utilize talent; support startups; invest in fundamental scientific research.
+ Point 2.3) societal views: support independent thinking, respect differences, and allow young people to experiment and fail.
On 12/6, deputy minister Pham Ngoc Thuong stated that the literature exam question was open-ended, and therefore, "the answer key must naturally be open-ended." During scoring, examiners must respect the opinions and perspectives presented by candidates if they can defend their viewpoints, even if they challenge the prompt's content.
This year marks the first time the literature exam has been scored using the rubric method. This approach utilizes a detailed description of evaluation criteria and the achievement levels for each criterion, aiming to ensure fairness and reduce subjectivity.
Below is the scoring guide for the "Steve Jobs Vietnam" question, based on the rubric (divided into four score levels):
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Students taking the graduation exam in TP HCM, june 2026. Photo: Quynh Tran |
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Full literature answer key - scoring guide - literature rubric
Answer keys for all 2026 high school graduation exam subjects
The high school graduation exam took place on 11-12/6, with over 1.2 million candidates participating. The literature exam was the first subject. The social commentary question about Steve Jobs quickly became a trending topic on social networks, generating hundreds of thousands of discussions and searches.
Many expressed concerns, questioning "why use a foreign role model for vietnam to emulate" instead of a national talent. Additionally, the three figures mentioned were founders and technology company executives, not inventors. Meanwhile, some candidates admitted they "did not know who Steve Jobs was."
The Ministry of Education and Training affirmed that the question was designed to differentiate candidates and add a unique element to the literature exam. Every word and phrase in the question was carefully selected by the drafting committee, which consulted experts and even referenced dictionaries for concepts like "invention" and "innovation."
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Duong Tam
