This year's Literature exam for block C has many new things but...

This year's Literature exam for group C received mixed reviews from candidates and experts in the field. Lecturer Tran Hinh (Faculty of Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU) - who has many years of experience in grading Literature exams, shared his opinion on this issue.

-Sir, what do you think about this year's Literature exam for group C?

Lecturer Tran Hinh: Before answering the question, I would like to clarify a little bit like this, I just skimmed through a series of newspaper headlines, both printed and online, today, and saw that most of them praised this year's literature exam, and most of them emphasized the social argumentation question about honesty in exams. Only Dat Viet newspaper had a slightly different headline: "Independent candidates complain about the literature exam for block C…”. In Tuoi Tre newspaper, Mr. Vuong Tri Nhan also had a “nail” article with a very impressive title: “The exam is suitable for everyone…”. In my opinion, this year's exam is more advanced than previous years, but it does not deserve such "generous" compliments.

-Many opinions say that the second question in the exam is a good question and helps classify candidates. What is your opinion?

Lecturer Tran Hinh: This year's exam is new compared to the ones of the past few years, it is actually just a social discussion question, but its question hits the psychology of many people, which is honesty in exams. For a long time, our society has been too painful about this issue, so now people bring it up for discussion, making many people happy. Maybe that's all, but it's not that special. Try going back to some of the previous exams, I remember, the university entrance exams in the past were also very diverse and new. For example, there were five questions that only asked one word like this: "Country?”, there are five exam questions asking for comments on Marx's words to his daughter: “Happiness is struggle"; the year I took the exam, the question asked me to explain and prove the statement "Live, fight, work and study following the example of great Uncle Ho“… students are allowed to write freely. Of course, with such a direction of questions, I also strongly support it. I even think that, in fact, the university entrance exam for literature only needs to have one sentence like that. With that, students have enough conditions to present their thoughts and they cannot write too long, teachers will grade more accurately. Literature in high school should only require students to express their thoughts concisely in clear Vietnamese.

- So Do you have any suggestions for the solution to this second question?

Lecturer Tran Hinh: I don't think it's necessary to suggest an answer to this question because the Ministry has already given its answer. I'm afraid that if I give my own opinion, it will affect the upcoming exam grading. Just follow the law.

-What can you say about the difficulty and interest of each question in the exam as well as the candidates' ability to answer each question?

Lecturer Tran Hinh: Of the three questions on the C block literature exam, in my opinion, the most difficult question is the 5-point question. Before explaining why, let me briefly state each sentence like this:

Sentence 1, in my opinion, is only a 2-point question but the requirements are too high. I think that students cannot answer thoroughly and clearly both the two actually very important issues of the work, which are humanity and artistic style, and are only given 2 points. Teacher Tran Huu Ta also mentioned this idea in Tuoi Tre newspaper yesterday. Of course, the question makers may also have a point when they think that a smart student must know how to balance the time and capacity for each type of question to be worthy of passing. However, it would be better if they chose a problem that is appropriate for each type of question.

Sentence 2, not difficult for students who have studied continuously according to the new program, only difficult for independent candidates as Dat Viet newspaper reported. However, I am still afraid that the problem is like that, but when writing, whether students honestly present their thoughts or not is still a problem. I am afraid that they will write in a slogan style, write just to answer the question, like we often witness some current sociological surveys, like that is also counterproductive.

Third sentence, about the "hidden beauty" of the two characters, the picked-up wife and the fisherman's wife, in the two worksPicked up wifeandThe boat out in the distance, the test is only "good" in that it tests the students' real learning ability. It is true that with this question, if you only rely on the lessons in class, study passively, and do not think, it will be difficult for students to answer well. However, I think, perhaps because of trying to find thenew, the questioner has deviated from the main issue of the lesson in the textbook. Of course, in both worksPicked up wifeandThe boat out in the distance, both authors Kim Lan and Nguyen Minh Chau do not have any "bad intentions" towards the two female characters because they are workers who deserve respect in society, but I firmly believe that this is not the fundamental problem of both works. The fundamental problem of these two works is the problem of situation, withPicked up wife, through the ironic situation: a resident, ugly, old, poor as a church mouse… in the middle of the famine, unexpectedly got a wife, Kim Lan wanted to affirm the human right to happiness. And if we talk about the beauty of the character of the picked-up wife, even though it is hidden, I still find it forced. I would like to give a few examples: when the picked-up wife followed Trang home, at the village entrance she was teased by the children, “She seemed very upset. She frowned…"; when arriving at Mr. Trang's house, "she looked around", seeing the poverty, "she suppressed a sigh". When Trang intentionally made her happy, he jokingly asked,she smirked“…I don’t think that a woman in such a situation can be “beautiful” right away. But even though there have been some changes, when she has been treated intimately and thoughtfully by Mrs. Tu and Trang’s mother, when her mother-in-law brought up a pot of sweet soup (rice bran sweet soup) for everyone to eat to ease their hunger (many people around didn’t even have anything to eat), “her eyes darkened”…Some suggested exam questions in the press even asserted that this woman has the potential to be a wife. Of course, which woman doesn’t have the potential to be a wife, not just the picked-up wife?… Don’t think that I’m being picky, I don’t ask anything from a miserable woman in such a tragic situation, but saying that I have to prove her hidden beauty is too difficult. A good person, in any situation, must know how to overcome the situation to maintain their good qualities…

The second character, the fisherman's wife, I find it even more forced, if I force students to try to find her hidden beauty. Actually, it's the samePicked up wife, Nguyen Minh Chau wanted to "play with situations" in this short story. Obviously, through what he wrote, we can see that, in addition tothe boat out in the distance, there is also onethe boat is nearby, from afar it is beautiful, but up close it is not quite so. Any writer who holds a pen can understand. Just like the magical moonlight and the dilapidated house and the miserable life of writer Dien in the short storybright moonNam Cao's is just that. Every literary work of a talented writer wants to reach something greater than that. I don't think a woman would be so resigned to being a slave, even in front of strangers, letting her husband beat her at any time, and absolutely refusing to divorce just because of the reason "There must be a man on the boat.", butPrettyeven if hidden. I glanced at the answers and some exam suggestions, inside the ugly and rough appearance, there was a kind, altruistic, and generous heart" (answer); and because this woman loved her child with all her heart (suggested exam questions for literature in most newspapers yesterday)... Well, that's fine, but is it just that? If it was just that, would the wife of the man named Thénardie inLes MiserablesWhat if V. Hugo also loved his child with all his heart? I'm afraid that if we are forced to seek the beauty of such a female character, isn't it like we are encouraging a resigned, slave lifestyle (?). Surely Nguyen Minh Chau didn't want to say that inThe boat out in the distanceof mine? The evidence is that in both works, the study guide questions do not show any signs of revealing this issue, proving that the textbook writers did not completely consider this to be the central issue. That is what I mean by saying that the question writers deviate from the main focus of the lesson…

With the question about poetry, feel the two stanzas inlovesickby Nguyen Binh andViet BacIn To Huu's case, I also see that the person who made the exam tried to renew the exam but it is still not considered good. The comparison of the two poems is also forced, there are few convincing connections to help students find something interesting in the writing... In short, I think that this year's C block literature exam has many new things, but to say that it is "too good", "too popular" as praised by some newspapers, I think we are too generous...

-From many years of experience in grading university entrance exams, do you think it will be easy for candidates to get high scores with this year's C block essay questions?

Lecturer Tran Hinh: I don't think this year's exam will help candidates get high scores, even to get the same score as last year is difficult. In addition, because this year there is a social argumentation question that requires an open answer, then, even then, it will be difficult to get a common consensus among all the teachers who mark the exam. We will have to wait. It probably won't be long before we have a more accurate answer to this question.

Thank you for sharing your opinion with readers.