HCMC student learns 12th grade math one year in advance to win high school contest for the gifted

With 17.5/20, Kiet, a student in math specialized class 1 at the Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted in the former Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province, was the top scorer in the math competition held early this month.

His teacher informed him of the result while he was in the north taking the entrance assessment at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, one of the top science schools in Vietnam.

“I was a bit surprised and emotional because all my efforts over a long period of time finally paid off,” he says.

He says he solved nearly all of the problems, missing only one question in spatial geometry.

In 10th grade he had earned a consolation prize in the provincial math competition. The following year he lost the chance to compete because he did not make the school team.

After a period of disappointment and self-doubt, he planned his “comeback.”

At the end of 11th grade he self-studied the entire 12th-grade math curriculum.

At the start of the new school year he devoted three to four hours daily to advanced topics and practice problems.

He studied by topic, listed unsolved questions to discuss with friends, and searched for new solutions rather than studying randomly.

He says this period was very stressful, feeling discouraged at times by the sheer volume and difficulty of the exercises and struggling to find solutions.

Tran Quang Vinh, the teacher coaching Le Quy Don’s math team, praised Kiet’s determination and perseverance. Since his family lived 50 km away, the boy stayed in the dormitory.

He always took the initiative and studies on his own, finding exercises and materials from multiple sources, Vinh says.

“He is diligent and thoughtful.”

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy, Kiet’s homeroom teacher for three years, describes him as careful and meticulous and notes that he has made remarkable progress from being a shy boy when he first joined the school.

Kiet’s next big goal is to enroll in the computer science program at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, one of the hardest to get into in Vietnam with a qualifying score last year of 29.19 out of 30 in three subjects including math.

But he has a big opportunity to get admitted if he can win a top prize in the national exam for gifted high school students to be held later this year.