Analysis of the reading passage difficulty and lexical demands in the Vietnamese high school graduation English tests (2015-2025)

This study investigates the difficulty of the reading comprehension texts in the Vietnamese High School Graduation English Test (VGET), a matter of significant interest to various educational stakeholders. Twenty two passages from 2015 to 2025 were analyzed using classic readability formulas and lexical profiling. The findings suggest a potential misalignment between the measured text difficulty and the expected language proficiency level. This is supported by low reading ease scores (often below 50) and high lexical demand, requiring approximately 3,000-5,000 word families for 95% coverage. Texts with this level of difficulty may not be optimally suited for evaluating student graduation outcomes and could potentially create an excessive burden on test-takers. The study suggests that current test administration practices be reconsidered to ensure the test’s long-term validity and relevance. It also offers practical implications for both teachers and students adapting to the observed text complexity.