More than 84 per cent of candidates passed the 2025 national high school diploma exam (Bac II), with 3,003 students receiving Grade As – a 35 per cent increase over the number of top grades awarded from 2024.
Not only did the number of A-grade students grow by 35 per cent this year, but their share among all successful candidates also rose — from just over 2 per cent in 2024 to nearly 2.5 per cent in 2025.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport announced today, September 19, that a total of 122,473 candidates passed, equal to 84.56% of those who sat for the exam.
Among them, 3,003 were awarded As, 9,901 Bs, 28,801 Cs, 45,859 Ds and 34,909 Es.
The official individual results from the August 28-29 examinations will be posted on September 20, at exam centres across all 25 capital and provincial locations nationwide.
In 2024, 137,040 students registered for the Bac II exam. Of them, 106,351 passed, equal to 79% of the total. This included 2,216 Grade As and 9,701 Grade Bs.
The increase in the percentage of Grade A results this year aligns with the expectations expressed by education minister Hang Chuon Naron on the first day of the exams. He noted that many candidates were making strong efforts in their studies.
During an August 22 press conference on the organisation of the Bac II exams, Naron emphasised that despite the Kingdom’s ongoing border tensions, the ministry maintained the same exam standards to ensure that this year’s Grade As would not be devalued compared to previous years.
“Grade A is still Grade A. The exam standards remain unchanged. Some students may have been affected emotionally. So, if the number of A grades fell below 2,000, that would be due to emotional impact. But if the number of A grades increases, we can conclude that students worked harder,” he said.
“We did not lower the standards, nor change the marking system, because if we reduce the benchmarks, we don’t know how much to lower them by. We kept the same standards,” he emphasised.
