Nghe An male student explains why he chose the 40-point package after missing the Olympia finals

Nghe An male student missed the televised final of Road to Olympia

(Baonghean.vn) - The second quarter of the 19th Road to Olympia competition took place in a dramatic manner. Mountain climber Xuan Phuong had to miss his dream of bringing the final broadcast of the second Road to Olympia competition to Nghe An.

“The right choice”

Immediately after the second quarter competition - Road to Olympia, year 19, aired on the afternoon of March 10, many viewers expressed regret for Nguyen Xuan Phuong - a male student from Vinh University High School for the Gifted. However, there were also many opinions on social networks that the male student from Nghe An was subjective and underestimated in the Finishing round when he only chose the 40-point question package.

Sharing with Nghe An Newspaper reporters, Xuan Phuong said she was very sad to read these comments. “I was not subjective or “underestimating the enemy”. Until now, I still think that at that time, I chose the 40-point question package was reasonable,” Phuong said.

Nguyen Xuan Phuong returns to his familiar study corner after his time "causing a fever" on the show Road to Olympia. Photo: Tien Hung

As in the weekly and monthly competitions, Nguyen Xuan Phuong is quite confident when entering the second quarter competition to choose the face to continue to the final round of Olympia year 19. Many people expect that there will be another live television bridge in Nghe An in the final competition when previously, Tran The Trung - Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted (Vinh City), excellently won the laurel wreath in the first quarter competition.

Especially in this second quarter competition, Xuan Phuong completed her test quite well. Before the last question of the competition, Phuong was even in the lead and 40 points ahead of the second place.

Talking about these tense final minutes, Phuong said that before the Finish Line round, he was leading and had a 10-point advantage over Nguyen Hai Dang. “I think the most important thing for a contestant at that time is mentality. There were two reasons why I chose the 40-point question package. Firstly, I was aware of my weaknesses in English and Chemistry. If I had chosen the 60-point or 80-point question package, I would not have been confident when I encountered those questions,” Phuong said.

The second reason, Phuong said, was that she chose the 40-point package to put pressure on Hai Dang before the Khanh Hoa native took his Finishing Line test right after. “At that time, I was 10 points ahead of Hai Dang, if I had done well in my test, the gap between me and him would have been 50 or 60 points. And it was true that I did well when I finished the test with a 50-point gap compared to Hai Dang, enough to put pressure on him to take the test right after me. And I think Hai Dang was really pressured when he couldn’t answer the second question about Math. In this question, I had also calculated it but I just regretted not being decisive enough to press the answer button a little late,” Phuong said.

Classmates went to Hanoi to cheer for Phuong. Photo: NVCC

Missed the appointment at the last minute

The Road to Olympia competition in the second quarter featured four climbers from different provinces and cities. In addition to Xuan Phuong, there were also Nguyen Huynh Sang (Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted, Binh Dinh); Phung Trong Nghia (Thang Long High School for the Gifted, Lam Dong) and Nguyen Hai Dang (Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted, Khanh Hoa). Thanks to setting a record in the weekly competition, Xuan Phuong continued to receive much attention from the audience.

Xuan Phuong completed the Warm-up round quite well with 80 points, 10 points behind the leader Nguyen Hai Dang. Moving on to the Obstacle Course round, like the previous month's competition, Xuan Phuong excellently solved the keyword and temporarily took the lead with 130 points.

In the Acceleration round, Xuan Phuong earned 90 more points, bringing his total score to 220 before entering the final round. However, this round also witnessed the excellence of 2 other contestants, Huynh Sang and Hai Dang. While Hai Dang earned 110 more points to equal the score with the leader Xuan Phuong, Huynh Sang also broke through from 80 points to 200 to follow closely behind. In addition, before performing his Finishing round, Xuan Phuong also "robbed" 10 points after correctly answering the question of the previous contestant.

Phuong regretted ending the Quarterly competition with 270 points, 20 points behind the leader. Screenshot

In the Finish Line round, Nguyen Hai Dang was the last contestant. At that time, this male student was 50 points behind Xuan Phuong. He was forced to choose the 60-point question package. At the 10-point question, Hai Dang answered correctly. However, at the second question about Mathematics, the male student from Khanh Hoa could not give an answer, while Xuan Phuong pressed the button to answer in time.

Before the final question, Hai Dang only had 230 points, still 40 points behind Xuan Phuong. Hai Dang decided to choose the star of hope. This male student then answered the English question correctly to gain another 60 points, turning the situation around to win a ticket to the final round at the last minute.

3 competitions in 2 days

Born in Thai Hoa town, after finishing junior high school, Nguyen Xuan Phuong left his family to go to Vinh city to rent a house. His father is a border guard officer and his mother is a teacher. Phuong is currently a student in the Physics class - 11A3 of Vinh University High School for the Gifted. As the eldest of two siblings, for many years, Xuan Phuong has always had high academic achievements.

“Although I regret not being able to make it to the finals, for me, just being able to compete in this competition is already a great happiness. Not only that, I also made it to this round,” Phuong said, adding that he has loved the Road to Olympia competition since he was very young. “I remember when I was only 5 or 6 years old, my mother often turned on the TV to watch this program. I really admired the seniors on the screen, and dreamed of one day standing there,” the 17-year-old student said with a smile.

During his high school years in Vinh City, Xuan Phuong lived alone in a quiet house in Hung Dung Ward. During the conversation with the reporter, this male student always appeared modest when talking about himself. “Until grade 10, I still thought I was not talented enough to compete, even though I really wanted to. Only after I joined the school's Olympia group, and received experience sharing and encouragement from seniors, did I gain enough confidence,” Phuong said.

Nguyen Xuan Phuong is currently a student in class 11A3 at Vinh University High School for the Gifted.

Sharing his “secret to studying well”, this 11th grader said that every day, besides class time, he only spends about 2 hours studying at home. “I think to retain knowledge best, you should study when you are in a good mood. You don’t need to spend too much time studying if you have to. When you are not comfortable and can’t concentrate, you often listen to music, play games…”, Phuong said. At the Olympia competition, Phuong impressed everyone by solving the Rubik’s cube in 13 seconds. However, he shared that at home, there were many times when he only took 8 seconds to solve it.

Nguyen Xuan Phuong said that although he did not make it to the finals, after 3 competitions, he learned many lessons and made many new friends. “The most important lesson for me is determination and confidence. In addition, you need to be calm and not rush in any situation,” Phuong said.

Phuong only had 2 days to go through 3 consecutive competitions. Photo: NVCC

The Road to Olympia competition for the second quarter was broadcast on the afternoon of March 10, however, according to the reporter's investigation, in fact, this competition took place nearly 3 months ago. Because she was a participant in the last week of the month and also the last month of the quarter, Xuan Phuong had to participate in 3 weekly, monthly, and quarterly competitions in just 2 days.

Accordingly, on the morning of December 16, Phuong entered the weekly competition and excellently won the Laurel Wreath, setting a record with an absolute score in the warm-up round as well as impressing by solving the Rubik's cube within 13 seconds. With almost no time to prepare, the monthly competition also took place that same evening and Phuong continued to excel in winning. After winning the monthly competition, not having time to share the joy with friends, on the afternoon of December 17, Xuan Phuong continued to enter the second quarter competition. However, the results of these competitions were kept secret until the broadcast date.