The female valedictorian of block B of Nghe An is an independent candidate and once refused to go to university to retake the exam.

Give up college

In the list of candidates who won the titlevaledictorianand the runner-up this year from Nghe An, Nguyen Thuy An is a special candidate because she is a self-study candidate. However, with 29.55 points, including 9.8 points in Math, 10 points in Chemistry and 9.75 points in Biology, An's result made many friends admire her.

In addition to being the top student in the B group in the province, An also made it into the top 5 candidates with the highest B group scores in the country. Last night, when receiving this result, An could not hide his joy because after all the efforts and hard work, he had fulfilled his dream.

Nguyen Thuy An was a student at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted. Photo: NVCC

An was a student of class 12A5.Phan Boi Chau High School for the Giftedand is a student majoring in Biology. Like many other students of specialized schools, An's starting point was quite favorable because when she was in middle school, she studied at Dang Thai Mai Middle School - the top quality school in Vinh city. During her 3 years at Phan School, An was also an excellent student in the province in Biology.

With quite good academic results, in the 2020 High School Graduation Exam, An had a fairly high achievement with 26.6 points, of which Math was 9.6 points, Chemistry was 8.75 points and Biology was 8.25 points. This score also helped An have many opportunities to be admitted to major universities across the country. However, the school that An loves the most, Hanoi Medical University, she only had enough points to be admitted to the major of traditional medicine.

Meanwhile, her dream is to go to General Medicine to fulfill her dream of wearing a white coat and becoming a doctor. Sharing more about this, An said: My parents are both self-employed, my sister also studied at Polytechnic and no one has pursued a medical career. However, since I was little, watching movies about the medical profession, I dreamed of becoming a doctor and pursued this dream throughout 12 years of high school...

Not succeeding in the 2020 High School Graduation Exam, An's dream seemed to have ended. An herself had many times pondered and asked herself whether she should go to university to "be like her friends" or take the exam again. The answer at that time seemed more difficult when An and her classmates, after knowing their scores, were all enrolling in school one after another. As for An, if she chose to stay at home, it would mean being labeled as a "university failure". The person next to An at that time was her older sister and An believed in her sister with the advice: If you don't have the determination to take the exam again, you won't be able to fulfill your dream.

The opposite way to review for exams

An's decision to retake the exam, although seemingly contrary to tradition, received support from her family. However, what surprised everyone the most was that instead of studying in Vinh, near her home, An went to Thanh Chuong and registered for a test preparation center in a commune quite far from town. After a whole year of studying for the exam, An chose to live far from home, rented a room, and studied and lived with other failed candidates. In the early days of studying, she only studied one or two sessions a day, and in the evening she returned to her rented room to study by herself. An could not help but feel sad: There were also students in my class who chose to retake the exam, but they were all boys and I was the only girl. Meanwhile, my goal was too high and it was not easy to achieve.

Deciding to retake the exam, An also had to make a clear study plan and first of all, overcome his own weaknesses in subjects, especially Chemistry and Biology.

An's dream is to study General Medicine at Hanoi Medical University. Photo: My Ha.

As the teacher who has directly taught An for nearly a year, teacher Nguyen Thi Yen - a teacher at Thanh Chuong 1 High School said: When An registered to study at Thanh Chuong, at first we were quite surprised because compared to many other students, An had a pretty solid start and his exam results were also very good. However, through the process of An studying, we felt An's determination and efforts. An is also a very special student, as he always chooses to sit opposite and close to the teacher so that he can fully concentrate on the lecture and is extremely attentive...

Following An throughout her exam preparation, An's teacher and many other teachers also felt sorry for this determined student because An's place was a poor neighborhood, a simple rented house, An went home alone every day, cooked and took care of herself. After a school year, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, exam preparation was not favorable.

As the exam was approaching, Vinh City suddenly experienced a new outbreak of Covid-19. An herself registered for the exam at Thanh Chuong 1 High School, so before the night of the city lockdown according to Directive 16, An went to Thanh Chuong in the middle of the night. From then on, until the official exam took place, An continued to self-study and take the exam alone.

After taking the High School Graduation Exam twice, An said that she felt more comfortable taking the exam the second time because she had experience and was no longer too nervous. However, An's pressure for this exam was still quite heavy. After three exams, An's biggest regret was Biology because she finished the last question and answered it correctly, but because time ran out, she didn't have time to copy the results. For the remaining exams, An's self-assessed scores were close to the official scores.

Previously during his studies, with a fairly good foundation, An was also one of the most outstanding students at the center. At one point, An took a mock exam with Thanh Chuong 1 High School and held the valedictorian position. An's exam scores were also very stable and often the next time was better than the previous time. Along with this result, after the exam, the teachers also had high expectations for An and the result of being in the top 5 of the B group nationwide was not beyond expectations.

Thuy An is an optimistic and determined student. Photo: NVCC.

With this outstanding result, after many difficulties, An has come closer to her dream and she is confident that she will be admitted to her first choice, General Medicine, Hanoi Medical University. Looking back on the past year, An also said, "I do not regret taking the exam again because all I lost was time, but I gained a lot: I had more friends, more teachers, more experience, and was able to challenge myself and learn many useful things"...