The secret to a Thai ethnic minority female student achieving a 9.5 in Literature.

After the National High School Graduation Exam, Ha Thi Van returned to her parents and two younger siblings in Na village, Nam Nhoong commune, Que Phong district. This was also a rare occasion for Van to be home for an extended period, as she had been away attending boarding school since the 6th grade.

This summer vacation could also be considered the most memorable because, in a place very far from the center, more than 50 kilometers from Que Son town, the girl received the news that she had scored 28.5 points (total bonus points) on the National High School Graduation Examination. In Literature alone, Van scored 9.5 points - an unexpected result...

This result also impressed many of her friends. Because, in class 12C1, Van wasn't the best student in Literature, even though her final grade in Literature was 9.0. Prior to that, despite being an all-around excellent student for 12 consecutive years, Van wasn't highly regarded in Literature.

My best achievement at Ethnic Boarding High School No. 2 was winning second prize in Civic Education at the provincial excellent student competition in 11th grade.

Ha Thi Van on her graduation day from 12th grade. Photo: Provided by the interviewee.

Assessing her own abilities in Literature, Van admitted, "My strength is that I really enjoy studying Literature and I have the ability to write stories and poems." However, this is also Van's weakness because when writing essays, she often gets carried away by her emotions, and many of her essays become clichéd and lack basic information.

The change in Van's study habits only truly began in the second semester of 12th grade, after she participated in mock exams at school and in class, but none of her essays scored above 8 points. When she asked her teachers, Van learned the reason was that her writing lacked focus despite its fluency and she tended to "let her emotions get the better of her."

Following this "incident," Van shifted her learning and presentation style. Previously, she learned intuitively, memorizing facts, but now, for each lesson, she carefully reads the text in the textbook, studies the teacher's explanations thoroughly, and then creates a mind map. The purpose of this method is to train her thinking skills.

In terms of writing style, Van will still express her emotions but will be more "restrained," and each idea and paragraph must be written focusing on key points, with concise and fluent sentences.

After much effort, the dream of getting into university has come true for this ethnic Thai female student. (Photo: Provided by the interviewee)

Because she lives in a boarding school, Van and her friends rarely get to go online or watch TV. However, if given the opportunity, Van will also utilize the internet to equip herself with knowledge when writing social commentary essays: When she has internet access, she will go to websites to search for opinions and then create her own essay topics, solve them, and write from her own perspective.

In addition, Van also goes online to search for and update herself on the most prominent news of the week and year in Vietnam and around the world. This is also the secret that helps Van not only excel in Literature but also in History and Geography.

With this thorough preparation, Van entered the National High School Graduation Examination quite confidently, dreaming of being admitted to the Tourism Management major at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. She also shared: "After the Literature exam, I was quite worried about the social commentary section because my viewpoint differed from the answer key. But the 'open-ended' exam format gave me the opportunity to express my own opinions."

Speaking about her essay, Van said: "The essay question on social commentary required candidates to write a short paragraph reflecting on the mission of awakening the nation's potential. Personally, I think that the nation's potential is very important, but it's not the deciding factor. The most important factor is still the human element; people are the primary element in achieving all success."

Class 12 C1 - Ethnic Boarding High School 2 with many students achieving high scores. Photo: MH

Van's essay might be highly praised by the judges for its attitude towards life and the responsibility of the younger generation towards the nation's destiny. However, few know that behind that 200-word essay lies the yearning and desire not only of Van herself but also of her parents, her family, and her entire village, written from the realities of her hometown.

Van confided: "My family is poor, my parents are farmers, and I didn't have much education, so they let me 'choose for myself' on many issues. However, as the eldest sister, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to school, so before making a decision, I always think about my family and my younger siblings first, and then about myself."

Van also hopes that, with her relatively high exam scores, after being admitted to the Tourism major, she will soon have the opportunity to work part-time so that she can both introduce the identity and hometown of her hometown, and earn extra money...to pursue her dream of attending university.

In the 2018 National High School Graduation Examination, class 12 C1 of Ethnic Boarding High School No. 2 had 25 students who scored 21 points or higher in the three subjects of the humanities group, including 16 students who scored 24 points or higher. Besides Ha Thi Van, other students...Lô Thị Tĩnh also scored 9.5 points in Literature.