From a small school student to a multi-exam valedictorian

Vu Viet Tien (born in 2006) is a former student of Tinh Gia 2 High School (Thanh Hoa). Born into a family with a father who is a lecturer at the Artillery Officers' Training School and a mother who is a primary school teacher, Tien was early oriented toward a serious academic path.

Right from high school, the male student demonstrated superior academic ability in many subjects. In grade 11, Tien took the provincial excellent student exam for Chemistry ahead of his grade level and won first prize with a perfect score of 20/20.

In grade 12, Tien decided to challenge himself in mathematics and biology. The decision was initially linked to his plan to apply to Hanoi Medical University.

“I thought I should give it a try. I had not studied biology very intensively before, but once I started reviewing it, I found it very interesting,” Tien said.

He went on to become the top scorer in the provincial excellent student competition in both mathematics and biology.

Also in grade 12, before the provincial competition, Tien registered for the thinking assessment test organized by Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Thanks to his strong knowledge base and additional practice with sample tests, he scored 95.85 out of 100, becoming the top scorer in the first round of the 2024 thinking assessment exam.

For Tien, studying is simply a passion, and his achievements have motivated him to keep pushing forward.

“Everyone has their own way of studying, but I think diligence is essential. Whenever I sit down to study from about 7 pm to midnight, I usually turn off social media notifications to avoid distractions,” he said.

After completing assigned homework, he often looks for additional materials from reliable online sources, joins study groups and connects with outstanding students from other provinces to learn new and creative approaches to solving problems.

Pressure of being a top scorer

In the national high school graduation exam, Tien scored 28.85 points in both A00 (maths, physics, chemistry) and B00 (maths, chemistry, biology) exam groups. Initially, he considered applying for a medical program, but after taking the thinking assessment exam and learning more about the academic environment, he decided to switch to computer science at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

At university, Tien quickly realized the difference between university and high school learning styles. While high school classes are divided into smaller sessions each week with close guidance from teachers, university lecturers mainly provide orientation and students must study independently.

“However, pressure is the motivation for me to try harder,” Tien said.

After 3 semesters, Tien maintained stable academic results, scoring 4.0, 3.95, and 4.0 respectively. The male student said the semester with 3.95 helped him re-evaluate his learning methods.

“A B+ result in one subject made me realize that I still had gaps. I consider it a lesson to put in more effort and focus more for the next semesters,” Tien said.

According to Tien, understanding the essence of each subject is crucial to keeping up with the heavy academic workload at the university.

Therefore, at the beginning of each semester, he usually reads lecture materials in advance so that when attending classes he can focus more on the parts he does not yet understand.

“If I still don’t understand something, I ask my friends or lecturers, or search for additional materials. Sometimes I even ask AI to explain further,” he said.

Unlike the intense exam preparation period in high school when he often studied until 1 or 2 am, university life is more balanced because he can organize his own schedule.

Besides studying, Tien also participates actively in campus activities. He currently serves as class secretary and is part of a student support team. 

He also spends time helping high school students with mathematics, physics and chemistry questions. Recently, out of curiosity about the new thinking approaches in the competency assessment exam of Vietnam National University, Hanoi, he took the test and scored 127 out of 150, becoming the top scorer in the first round.

Looking ahead, Tien hopes to continue expanding his knowledge and seek opportunities to study abroad after graduating from university.

Thanh Hung