The surprising thing about the top student in Literature.

Persevere in pursuing your passion.

Nguyen Thi My Duyen was just an ordinary student in a regular class at Ha Huy Tap Secondary School in Vinh City. In her early years of secondary school, Duyen's academic performance wasn't particularly outstanding. It wasn't until 9th ​​grade that Duyen achieved her first success: a third-place prize in Literature at the city-level excellent student competition.

Top student in Literature - Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School. Photo: My Ha.

Later, Duyen also made it to the next round to select the city team to participate in the Provincial Excellent Student Competition. However, with her modest achievements, Duyen was not too surprised to learn that she had failed.

The second time Duyen knew she had "lost" was in the 10th grade entrance exam, specifically in Literature, her "strongest" subject. Recounting this, Duyen said: "The Literature exam wasn't too difficult, but I was overconfident, didn't read the questions carefully, and made mistakes when writing the literary essay..." Nearly two weeks after the exam, Duyen found out that her Literature score was only 7.5 points (the lowest of the three subjects).

Nguyen Thi My Duyen (center, top row) with her friends at Ha Huy Tap Secondary School. Photo: Provided by the interviewee.

Therefore, Duyen entered the entrance exam for Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School with a rather insecure mindset. However, the results were surprisingly good; Duyen was the top scorer in her specialized subject and the top scorer in the Literature specialized class with a very high score of 16.75 in her specialized subject. Duyen's score was 6 points higher than the entrance cutoff score.

Speaking about the process of participating in this exam, the top student of the Literature specialized class at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted said: The social commentary question about "passion and purpose/mission in life" seemed like an opportunity for us to talk about ourselves and express our views.

"Even though I'm not an outstanding student, even though I didn't attend a specialized school, even though I might not do well on exams, I still have to try my best and have faith to pursue my passion and dreams," Duyen said.

To excel in literature, Nguyen Thi My Duyen said: "I read a lot of books, especially famous literary works, memorize what my teacher taught, and try my best to do well in everything she instructed. Besides that, I also search online for good essays, research social issues to analyze, and write good argumentative essays."

The diligent female valedictorian

Duyen's achievement of being the top student in the specialized Literature class surprised many teachers and friends. However, looking back at Duyen's entire journey of effort, Ms. Tran Thi Hong Diep – a Literature teacher at Ha Huy Tap Secondary School – believes this is a well-deserved result: "I only started teaching Literature to Duyen's class in 9th grade, but I noticed her early on. Duyen is an exceptionally diligent and persistent student who has never neglected her studies. Even during afternoon tutoring sessions, when I told some students that they already understood the material and didn't need to attend, Duyen still came and never missed a single class."

Duyen is also a student with a "solid" learning style. Her strength in assignments lies in writing clear, well-structured essays with rich emotions and a strong sense of self.

For many years, Duyen and many of her classmates have had their aunt's small house as a study place. Photo: MH

When Duyen's parents arrived at her home, they were astonished to learn that their daughter had been accepted into a specialized high school and had even topped the entrance exam. Speaking about her daughter, Ms. Cao Thi Minh added: "My husband and I sell goods at the market, and life is hard, so when Duyen was one month old, she went to live with her maternal aunt and has been close to her for nearly 16 years."

Even as she grew older, due to family circumstances, we couldn't take care of her much, so she was completely independent, including choosing her school, her teachers, and her tutors. When she came home from the exam, she didn't say much about her performance, only telling her parents to rest assured, that she would do well.

With this initial success, Duyen also gained more confidence to strive even harder in the future. She also places high hopes on her new school because there she will have more opportunities to develop her passion for literature, meet many優秀 students, and unleash her potential and personality.