Overview
The Vietnamese national excellent-student exam (thi chọn học sinh giỏi quốc gia, often shortened to HSG) is run each year by the Ministry of Education and Training for upper-secondary students. The ministry runs two exams under the same regulation: this national exam, and a separate selection exam for the national teams that go to international and regional Olympiads. The details below follow the ministry regulation as amended up to 2023.
Who can take it
Entries are made by units: each provincial education department, each ethnic boarding school under the ministry, and each university or institute with a specialised upper-secondary school.
Candidates are upper-secondary students rated Good or better for conduct and for academic results in the term or year before the exam, and chosen for their unit's team.
Each candidate may sit only one subject.
A subject is examined only if at least five units have registered for it.
Each unit's team may have up to 6 candidates per subject (12 for Hanoi). A team that fielded its full number and had at least 80 percent of its candidates win prizes in two consecutive national exams may be allowed up to 10 (20 for Hanoi).
Exam pattern
Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics and the foreign languages have two exam sessions. Literature, History and Geography have one.
A written session, and the Informatics session, lasts 180 minutes. Informatics is done by programming on a computer. Physics, Chemistry and Biology may add a practical session, and foreign languages may add a speaking session; their length is set in the ministry's yearly guidance.
Each subject has an official exam and a reserve exam of equal difficulty, and no optional questions are allowed.
The content stays within the national upper-secondary curriculum and the ministry's guidance for specialised schools.
Team selection exam
A separate exam picks students for the national teams for international and regional Olympiads. It is held in Hanoi. Each subject has two sessions, with Physics, Chemistry and Biology adding a practical session. Sessions last 300 minutes for Informatics, 270 for Mathematics, 180 plus 60 of multiple choice for Biology, and 240 for other subjects. Eligible students are those chosen by the ministry from prize winners of the same year's national exam, and those who did not take it but trained for the Olympiads the year before.
After the exam
Results decide national prizes, and prize winners can be chosen for the team selection exam. Dates are set each year in the ministry's school-year plan.
Preparation tips
Practise past papers for your subject in full-length sittings.
How is this different from VMO?
Mathematics is one subject of the national exam. The regulation covers all subjects and does not use the name VMO.