Nguyen Minh Dang is currently a 12th grader at the Japanese International School. He started studying at this school in 6th grade. Before that, Dang was a student at Nam Thanh Cong Primary School (Dong Da, Hanoi). Switching from a public school to an international school, Dang was shy and his English was very limited. "Seeing the friends around me being able to talk to teachers like native speakers, I was extremely confused. Sometimes in class, I didn't understand what the teachers were saying but I couldn't communicate to ask them to explain," Dang recalled. From that moment on, the male student understood that in order to keep up with the class, he had to try very hard. The year Dang entered 7th grade was also when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out. Having a lot of time to study at home, the male student spent most of his time reviewing lessons and improving his English skills.

Nguyen Minh Dang has just achieved the highest score in the world in AS Level Maths. (Photo: NVCC)

Having a hobby of playing Rubik's cube fast, Dang often opens videos on YouTube that teach how to think and solve Rubik's cube formulas in English. The more he watches, the more interested he becomes. After a while, Dang gradually understands better and begins to "imitate" the way of speaking in those videos. According to Dang, the "key" to learning English or any language is to find a way to "live in that language". Watching favorite content and topics is an effective way to make learning interesting. In addition, Dang also began to research effective review methods such as active recall, spaced repetition or retrospective review schedules. Thanks to that, the male student gradually finds joy in each subject to motivate himself to try harder. "With subjects that are more theoretical, I consider collecting knowledge and taking notes as an opportunity to explore the world, while with practical or creative subjects, I consider it an opportunity to do new things, to step out of my comfort zone." Teaching his classmates is also a way for Dang to master the knowledge in class. Dang believes that one does not necessarily have to be a good student to be able to guide others. Sometimes, explaining to someone is also a way for him to process and consolidate knowledge, helping him remember and understand more firmly. Therefore, in his free time, Dang also records videos of solving difficult math problems and posts them on Youtube in the hope that this will be useful for those who accidentally see it.

Dang is teaching his juniors. (Photo: NVCC)

Thanks to those efforts, in 2023, in the IGCSE exam, Dang achieved 6 A* points in 5 subjects. Recently, in the AS Level exam, Dang continued to win 3 A points and was awarded the prize by the Cambridge International Examinations Council for outstanding candidates. In particular, the male student was in the "Top in World" in Mathematics with a perfect score of 125/125 and in the "Top in Vietnam" in Computer Science. Despite his strength in Mathematics, the male student said that he was still "quite stressed" when encountering some questions in the exam. The AS Level Math exam includes Pure Mathematics (10-12 essay questions with 1 hour and 50 minutes to complete, covering algebra, trigonometry, analysis, etc.) and Probability and Statistics (6-8 essay questions with 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete, covering probability, statistical methods, distributions, etc.). The male student assessed that the most difficult part was the trigonometry part, which usually required finding x in a complex equation with sin/cos/tan. In addition, the male student also had difficulty with geometry problems, which often required calculating the area or hidden edge. During the review process, Dang mainly practiced exam questions from previous years, then graded himself and recorded his mistakes. In addition, the male student also practiced presenting detailed answers, helping the grader easily understand how the candidate did the test. “When analyzing mistakes, I often ask questions like: “How did I do wrong?”, “Did I not understand the question, did I not know how to do it, or was it a calculation error?”, “What type of question is this, did I often make mistakes?” Thanks to that, I will correct my mistakes when encountering similar types of questions,” Dang said.

Dang is the MC for the school event. (Photo: NVCC)

After achieving success in the AS Level exam, Dang continued to focus on studying A-Level subjects and taking the IELTS exam. With an SAT score of 1540/1600 - in the top 1% in the world, the male student hopes to have an advantage in applying to study Computer Science at schools in Finland. “There is a quote in the movie Ultraman Cosmos (2001) that I really like: Miracles can only happen if you never stop pursuing your dreams. We always start somewhere and whether we can go far or not depends entirely on ourselves. As long as we always work hard every day, one day, miracles will happen,” Dang shared.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nam-sinh-ha-noi-lot-top-1-the-gioi-ky-thi-cua-cambridge-2349402.html