The miracle of the Math team at the school named after Ly Nhat Quang

Study hard, work hard

Waiting for the exam results from the Organizing Committee is always a stressful moment for schools. The first time leading students to participate in the examprovincial excellent student, teacher Nguyen Cong Tien - head of the Math team of Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School is also not out of that mood.

The anxiety and restlessness were only relieved when he and his students received results with unexpected achievements: 3 First prizes, 4 Second prizes and 1 Third prize; in which, student Pham Xuan Hoang was the valedictorian in Math with an outstanding score of 18.88 points. This is also the Math team with the highest achievement in the province in this year's competition season when the school's First prize alone accounted for 3/5 of the total prizes.

This is also the first year that teacher Nguyen Cong Tien officially "commands" to participate in the provincial excellent student competition.
Sharing his feelings, teacher Nguyen Cong Tien said: “Not only when receiving the results, but from the time I took the students to the exam, waited for them at the school gate and picked them up outside, I was very nervous. It’s just that I didn’t tell my students how I felt. When they were about to enter the exam room, we often told each other that we had studied our best, let’s do our best, there’s nothing to worry about anymore.”

8 members of the Math teamLy Nhat Quang Secondary SchoolThis year, all of them are students of class 9A. The team was established in grade 9, but the process of monitoring, training and screening the team was started by teacher Nguyen Cong Tien in grade 6. During that time, many unexpected things happened.

Telling more about this, Mr. Tien said: Student Pham Xuan Hoang - the valedictorian of Math, used to study in class 6C - a class considered normal in the school, not a specialized Math class. That year, I was the homeroom teacher of the class and discovered that this was a very talented student who loved Math. In grade 7, I transferred to class A and suggested that the school transfer Hoang to another class to continue training.

Or the case of female student Nguyen Thao Minh (Second prize winner), who was originally a student of Bach Ngoc Secondary School. Through the district exams, we saw that she had potential, so at the beginning of grade 9, we encouraged her to transfer schools to have the opportunity to develop. At that time, in reality, Thao Minh's chance of entering the provincial competition team was only 50/50, but she tried very hard to overcome this difficulty.

Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School is one of the schools with a tradition in Mathematics. Instead of being favorable, this has become a pressure not only for the school board but also for teachers and students. Before the official exam, the school's math team was carefully selected through many rounds of selection.

Sharing about this, student Thao Minh said: From the beginning of grade 9, we officially started training and from 12 students, we will take 3 tests to choose the final test. In the first test, I only got 4/20 points; I cried because most of the knowledge in the test I had never learned, never done and felt confused about myself. In the following tests, I tried but never exceeded 13 points. It can be said that I was the last lucky candidate to be selected for the official team.

Among the members of the math team, teacher Nguyen Cong Tien shared that this year's team is very even in terms of ability. The most outstanding person is Pham Xuan Hoang because from the first test to the last, he was the candidate with the best results. However, in the school-level tests (selection round), Hoang's average score was only 12 or 13 points.

We have a unique screening method, which is that the first rounds of the exam are very difficult (even much more difficult than the provincial exam) to test the students' true abilities. After selecting the official team, we will gradually adjust and the closer to the final day, the exam will be closer to the provincial exam. This year, the students' final round scores were close to the official exam scores, so we were not too surprised by the results they achieved.

Teacher Nguyen Cong Tien

Talking about this year's provincial exam, the top student in Mathematics, Pham Xuan Hoang, said he was satisfied with the results because in the 9 questions of the exam, Hoang answered 90% and achieved a near-perfect score (18.88 points). Meanwhile, student Dinh A Na (second prize winner) was a bit regretful because he answered one question correctly but used the solution method of a high school student but could not prove it, so he lost points.

Or like Thai Ba Nhan - this male student was only 0.6 points short of winning first prize. Unfortunately, because he spent too much time on difficult problems, Nhan skipped problem 1b, a fairly easy question, causing him to lose points in regret. Before that, Nhan was a strong candidate because he was the valedictorian at the district level in grades 7 and 8 and the second prize winner at the district level in grade 9.

Learn Math with passion

In recent years, almost every year Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School - Do Luong has had students win first prize in the Provincial Excellent Student Competition for Grade 9. In addition to the efforts of teachers and students, Ms. Nguyen Hong Kien - Principal of the school said that the most important thing is the selection process: We choose the team of students who truly love and are passionate about the subject. Without passion, it is difficult to succeed.

As a testament to passion, Bui Thi Thuy Linh – the first prize winner in Math this year is an example. Since grade 6, in the school’s excellent student competition, she was the valedictorian in Math. However, instead of continuing to pursue it, Linh said that she began to “feel exhausted” and did not find excitement in this subject. Knowing Linh’s qualities, during the following period, teacher Nguyen Cong Tien was always there to encourage, motivate and instill in her the love and desire to conquer Math. Later, Linh did not disappoint her teachers.

To reach the final destination, members of the Math team of Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School shared that “pressure is inevitable”. However, the acceptance of difficulties and challenges by teachers and students of the school has many special things.

Mr. Tien shared: We determined that to be able to reach the finish line in the provincial excellent student competition, the most difficult thing was to conquer difficult, even very difficult math problems. As teachers, we ourselves have to overcome ourselves, constantly learning is a matter of course; but I really admire my students.

In our team, students find joy in solving difficult problems. For example, they love to participate in the Math Competition in the Youth Math Magazine and the Childhood Math Magazine, and almost every month, there are students who win prizes and have their sample solutions published. Team members can't remember how many times their solutions have been praised in newspapers and awarded by the school.

In addition, in addition to the exercises given by the teachers, the students also search for foreign math problems, translate them themselves, and solve them themselves. Even from an original problem, they come up with different math problems to challenge and solve together... Studying together and overcoming challenges together creates excitement for the students. Even in this race, no student wants to stay behind with the desire to assert themselves.

The students' passion has also given strength and confidence to the teachers of the school. With 8/8 members winning prizes, the Math team - Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School - Do Luong has created a miracle in this year's exam season. Having passed the first finish line, these students are continuing to strive to conquer the upcoming 10th grade entrance exam and the entrance exam to specialized schools. With passion and desire, we believe that once again the "miracle" of Luong land will continue to shine.

In the 9th grade provincial excellent student competition for the 2023-2024 school year, Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School - Do Luong had 46 students winning prizes, contributing to the Do Luong district team's achievement ranking second in the province. Including 6 first prizes, 19 second prizes, 8 third prizes and 13 consolation prizes.

In addition to the valedictorian of Math, the school has student Nguyen Thi Linh Chi - valedictorian of Physics.

In recent years, Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School has been one of the schools with the best achievements in training excellent students in the province. In order to create resources and encourage teachers and students, every year Do Luong district has a priority policy in training excellent students and providing funding for teams during the review process. At the same time, timely rewards are given to teachers and students who have won high prizes in competitions.