Poor female student shares secret to achieving top score in Geography

From"crazy" about the globe

On these days, teachers and studentsDo Luong 1 High Schoolvery excited because the school has student Le Thi Van winning the title of Top Student in Geography at the schoolProvincial excellent student examGrade 12. This year, the whole province has over 12 thousand candidates taking the exam, of which 218 are in Geography.

The petite student Le Thi Van was a good student since her primary school days. From grade 1 to grade 5, she was an excellent student. In secondary school, one time when she looked at a map page in a book with a lesson on “Location, shape and size of the Earth”, she was strangely “fascinated” by the globe. She learned that the lines connecting the North and South poles on the surface of the globe are meridians.

For Le Thi Van, the globe has a strange attraction. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

Then the circles on the globe get smaller towards the poles and perpendicular to the meridians are the parallels of latitude. The longest parallel of latitude is called the equator.

Just like that, the lessons kept attracting me and opened up useful and interesting knowledge for me. My soul sometimes thought of a faraway land, where there were people, land, rivers… Was that place like my hometown or a fertile green land, with mountains and forests… The green of the forest, the red of the land… on the map were so vivid and attractive.

To the top student of the province in Geography

Geography opened up new horizons for Van. In grades 6, 7, and 8, she was awarded the title of Excellent Student in Geography at the district level. In grade 9, she won the first prize in the District Excellent Student Contest and the second prize in the Provincial Excellent Student Contest. In grade 11, Le Thi Van won the first prize in the school's Excellent Student Contest in Geography. At the Provincial Excellent Student Contest this year, she wonValedictorianGeography with a score of 17.75.

“I find Geography very interesting, especially when looking at the map, I can see the names and capitals of countries; geographical locations, areas, many rivers, large and small islands, vast oceans… Through the map, I can gain more knowledge. I wish that one day, I can set foot on one of the lands that I have learned about through Geography books.”

Le Thi Van shared

Geography attracts Van to explore many new lands. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

Le Thi Van also added that during her studies, she found Geography not too difficult. Studying Geography will help her understand Vietnam and many other countries better. To study Geography well, in addition to textbook knowledge, she needs to learn more knowledge on the internet. Besides, she also likes watching VTV1 news program, learning more about organizations, Vietnam-ASEAN relations, weather - climate...

In class, I listen attentively to the teacher's lectures, do extra exercises, ask the teacher to grade and comment, then learn from my own experience by solving the exercises. I discuss my work with my friends during breaks.

Van shared: My dream is to study at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, or the Academy of Journalism and Communication.

Overcoming circumstances

Le Thi Van was born into a family in a rural area in Hamlet 1, Trang Son Commune, adjacent to Hong Son Commune, the distance from home to school is nearly 9 km. The family has 4 children, her parents are self-employed. Her mother, day after day, regardless of the sun or rain, sometimes carries rice, paddy, and corn to Tao Son, Lang Son, Anh Son District markets to sell for extra income. Her father works as a rickshaw driver, every day going to the town intersection to find customers, whoever needs to transport goods is accepted immediately, as long as there is extra money from his labor to support his children's education.

Every day, Van's mother carries bags of rice to remote markets to sell for extra income. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

Ms. Duong Thi Hang - Van's mother confided: "Van is the second child, she studies very hard. Every night she studies until 12 o'clock. I go to work every day and am very tired so I go to bed early. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I still see Van diligently studying. Van is also very diligent, I go to the market to sell rice, which is 15km to 20km away from home so I often come back irregularly, sometimes I leave early in the morning and don't come back until 2 or 3 pm. At noon, Van comes home from school and often cooks for the whole family...".

Van is very sociable and playful with her friends. Her dream is to one day set foot on the land she has learned about on the map. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

Sympathizing with Van's situation, during her nighttime review at the house of teacher Thai Thi Vinh - a Geography teacher at Do Luong 1 High School, she often asked her husband, also a teacher at the same school, to come to her house to pick her up and take her home.

“Van is a studious student who loves Geography. During the training process, I felt her love for the subject. That is the consciousness of self-discovery and eagerness to learn. Arranging time and knowledge reasonably, actively participating in Geography groups…” - Ms. Thai Thi Vinh said.

During recess, Van (blue striped jacket) often shares with her friends the secret to doing well in Geography. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

Not only is Van good at Geography, she is also good at other subjects such as Math, Literature, History... and especially Computer Science.

In addition to Van winning the top prize in Geography, this school year, Do Luong 1 High School also had many students achieve high scores. According to the exam results, the school ranked 4th in the province, after Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, Dien Chau 3 High School and Huynh Thuc Khang High School.