As the 2018 national exam for grade 9 and grade 12 students fast approaches, officials at the Education Ministry sought to remind all students to pick up their books and study hard.

“The ministry will continue to make the national exams as strict as the previous years, in order to make sure that only those who study hard will pass their exams,” the ministry said, urging students to spend time improving academic skills.

Ros Salin, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, stated in an email that the exams will take place “August 6 for grade 9 students, and from August 20 to August 21 for those in grade 12.”

Salin further stated the ministry expected 88,684 grade 12 students to sit the exam and 166,796 students from grade 9.

Advising pupils to take extra prep classes or tutoring sessions to prepare for the test, Dee Khamboli, another spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, reiterated her department’s belief that those who put in the time would pass.

However, a representative for the capital’s Chey Thavy High School said via email: “There aren’t a lot of grade 9 students coming to study.”