Female student majoring in Mathematics won first prize in national Biology competition

"Turning point" of female student majoring in Math

Nguyen Xuan Quynh lives in Thanh Ngoc commune - Thanh Chuong district and was a student at Ton Quang Phiet Secondary School - the district's gifted school. Graduating from secondary school with the second prize in Math at the Provincial Excellent Student Competition, Quynh was admitted directly to Vinh University High School for the Gifted. To test herself, Quynh still applied to the specialized Math class at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted and passed the exam. But with a modest position of 28th, Quynh decided to choose Vinh University High School for the Gifted to study because she was afraid... In high school, Quynh also began to get used to being away from her family, renting a room alone, taking care of herself,

Nguyen Xuan Quynh was a math major since childhood. Photo: My Ha

In grade 10, with quite good results, Quynh also quickly received the attention of teachers and it was not difficult for her to get a place on the team. When she first started school, Quynh did not really pay attention to Biology and only claimed to be diligent, listening to lectures and doing homework completely...

The person who discovered Quynh's talent in Biology was teacher Hoang Quynh Nhu - a Biology teacher. Talking about this, she said: "I teach Biology in class 10A1, there are not many Biology lessons a week. Quynh is also a rather reserved student, not very talkative, so at first she didn't really get attention. It wasn't until the end of the first semester, when the semester test results came out, that I was really surprised by Quynh's work and presentation. Quynh also has a logical, quick-witted mindset and learns lessons very quickly...

The Biology teacher was the one who discovered Quynh's talent starting from the tests. Photo: My Ha

Since paying attention to Quynh, the Biology teacher also started to pay more attention to Quynh and by the end of the second semester of grade 10, Quynh was suggested to join the Biology team. Quynh herself, before this suggestion, thought a lot because since childhood, Quynh had a talent and only studied in the specialized Math class. Now, switching to Biology, Quynh had to bet with herself for two reasons: First, Quynh would no longer have time to study Math. Second, at that time, the Biology team had already studied for 8 months, Quynh would have to start over from the beginning and would definitely be slower than her friends...

Faced with many difficult choices, the biggest motivation that made me decide to switch to Biology was my childhood dream of becoming a doctor. Although I arrived later than my teammates, I still made constant efforts to catch up with the program. At the same time, I had to supplement and improve to keep up with the review program for the national exam.

Ms. Hoang Quynh Nhu also added: Until the exam, Quynh was still a student specializing in Mathematics. Therefore, the time she and her students spent together was not much. Most of the results achieved were due to Quynh knowing how to listen, self-study and self-accumulate.

Success from failure

Quynh had been on the team for nearly a year when she was selected by the school to compete in the national Biology competition for 11th graders. However, the first year she competed, Quynh came up empty-handed, even though she had prepared quite carefully.

Talking about this failure, Quynh said: In the national exam, we had three parts, the first two of which were theory and the last of which was practice. However, on the very first day of the exam, I did not do well, did not calculate carefully and lost points. That put pressure on me in the next part of the exam...

Realizing her limitations, when she entered 12th grade, Quynh built a more scientific learning method. For Quynh, Biology was thought to be quite dry, but the more she studied, the more interesting it became because of the logical thinking of the subject.

Quynh with her teacher and teammates. Photo: My Ha

In the way of presenting, to overcome the mistakes, Quynh advocates studying carefully, doing carefully and learning how to use time reasonably when doing the test... Thanks to being well-equipped and having experience in the previous exam, entering the National Excellent Student Exam for Grade 12, Quynh did the test quite confidently. The only thing is, she did not think she would win the National First Prize: After completing the test, she believed she did quite well because compared to last year, the questions were easier and she believed that many students had done it. However, the result really surprised her...

With this result, Quynh is the first student to bring home the first prize in Biology for Vinh University High School for the Gifted and to continue to the second round, to be selected for the national team. Having won the prize, there will certainly be pride, but in Quynh there is always sincerity, simplicity and modesty.

She also shared that with the national first prize, she will definitely register for the University of Medicine because that has been her dream since childhood. However, she does not see that as the final goal. In the near future, Quynh will continue to review and do more practice exercises to try to be selected for the national team. Quynh will also review other subjects to try her hand at the university entrance exam because for Quynh, each exam is an opportunity to practice, each challenge, whether successful or not, will bring her many useful and practical things.

My Ha