The story of a poor male student from a district school who won first prize in Math in Nghe An

Our first impression of Dung was a tall student with a bright face, a calm and approachable personality. Through the conversation, Dung shared: Since he was a first grader, he has been passionate about numbers, so he loves Math. Through the learning process, when solving each Math problem, I accumulate and understand more new knowledge. The special thing about this subject has helped me stimulate my ability to think logically, independently, and react quickly to numbers. Moreover, it has trained my perseverance, patience, and always wanted to explore unknown things. Therefore, the more I study, the more I realize that Math has many interesting things, so I am determined to pursue and conquer this subject.

Student Le Van Dung and teacher Tran Ngoc Minh - teacher who trained the provincial team of excellent students in Mathematics. Photo: Hong Dien

Dung determined that the most important thing is to self-study and build goals and methods to avoid boredom in studying. That is, in class, he does not allow himself to lose focus when the teacher lectures and tries to take full notes. After each class, Dung reviews his knowledge, creates a habit to help himself remember the lessons, and for difficult math problems, tries to find many different ways to solve them. For any points that he does not understand, he will boldly ask the teacher or his classmates right in class to understand more deeply and remember the types of exercises longer.

Le Van Dung (in white shirt, middle) is assessed by teachers as having high intelligence and independent thinking. Photo: Hong Dien

Talking about his method of learning Math, Dung added: Math has parts such as geometry, algebra, arithmetic... each part requires different thinking and imagination, so it is necessary to choose the right way to study, arrange time scientifically and seriously to achieve the highest efficiency. I also choose to relax by walking, playing sports after solving difficult Math problems. Although Math is somewhat dry, it has helped me and my friends develop creativity, can set up situations from reality to apply to solve Math problems flexibly, achieving the most accurate results.

Due to difficult family circumstances, after school hours, Dung often takes on housework to help his parents. Photo: Hong Dien

It is known that Le Van Dung's parents are both farmers, and his family's circumstances are difficult in the locality, so he does not have the means to buy equipment for his studies. Sympathizing with Dung's situation, the subject teacher often lends him books and documents to self-study at home.

Talking about Dung, teacher Tran Ngoc Minh - the teacher who trained the provincial excellent student team in Mathematics, Quynh Luu I High School could not hide his pride: Dung is a quiet student with intelligence, highly independent thinking, and quick response to difficult and new types of questions. In particular, Dung maintains a stable mentality in studying as well as participating in exams. Therefore, in the recent provincial excellent student exam, the Mathematics subject was assessed as difficult, with some strange questions for students of specialized schools, but with solid knowledge, Dung surpassed many other candidates, winning the first prize in the province with a score of 18/20. He was ranked 5th out of 10 students who won first prize (after 4 students who won first prize from Phan Boi Chau High School). That is the sweet fruit of the confidence he has gained.

Regarding this result, Dung shared that during the training process of the team, in addition to basic knowledge, Mr. Minh always expanded the topics and exploited exercises that could be applied in practice. Moreover, at first when joining the team, he was quite shy and lacked confidence in himself, but thanks to the encouragement and motivation from teachers, parents, friends, and it was these people who inspired Dung to actively improve his knowledge and continue his passion for Math.

Not only good at Math, Le Van Dung is also a good student in all subjects. With his daily efforts in studying like now, his dream of becoming a construction engineer in the future will soon become a reality.

It is known that in the recent excellent student exam, Quynh Luu I High School had 67 students competing in over 10 subjects. As a result, 49/67 students won prizes, of which 4 students won first prizes, 19 students won second prizes, 16 students won third prizes, and 10 students won encouragement prizes. With this result, Quynh Luu I High School ranked 3rd after Phan Boi Chau High School and Vinh University High School for the Gifted; ranked 1st among non-specialized schools./.