Top student of block D: Study time is not as important as study method

Nguyen Phuong Thao - valedictorian of block D of Nghe An province. Photo: Chu Thanh

Becoming the valedictorian of the D block of the province was a surprise joy for the English major student of class 12C5, Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, Nguyen Phuong Thao. “When I heard the news, I was very happy but then I felt a bit shy because every time I left the house, the neighbors shook my hand and congratulated me, using me as an example for their children. Actually, my exam score was only high compared to the province, but if compared to the whole country, I was still lower than many other students,” Thao said.

Sharing her study secrets, Thao said that her way of reviewing for exams is always “study time is not as important as study method”. Thanks to this mentality, before studying any subject, Thao always finds an effective study method instead of rushing into studying and studying like many of her peers.

As for Literature, the female student majoring in English believes that not only do you need to master the knowledge, but you also need to know how to balance and allocate time appropriately to do the test. Because even if the candidate has a good appreciation for literature, if they do not know how to balance their time, they will easily get carried away, rambling, and not be able to finish the test.

Thao herself, after learning the knowledge in the textbooks, practiced her writing skills as well as timing her test. Even in the last months of doing the test herself, Thao did the test on the exact paper used for the National High School Exam to practice presenting and timing her test.

Although she is a student in the English major, Thao set a goal for herself right from the time she entered 10th grade to enter a good university, so she always determined to study all subjects equally. “Studying all subjects equally is not too difficult, especially in an environment where all classmates study hard and the teachers are understanding and give dedicated guidance. I think the most important thing is that each person determines their own goals from the beginning to have the best direction,” Thao shared.

Another experience of Thao is to spend a lot of time practicing test questions. Although she is not a student who studies day and night, according to Thao, practicing test questions is an effective exam preparation method. Thao always believes that "Practice makes perfect", that is perseverance is pursuing the goal to the end, so according to Thao, this is also a factor that helped her achieve a high score in the recent exam.

The top student in block D confided that she saw a mistake that students often make is being subjective and losing points on easy questions. To overcome this, there is no other way than to practice the questions yourself.

“It is thanks to diligently doing the test that I can easily detect common mistakes of students so that I can learn from them and avoid making the same mistakes next time. In addition, I often take mock exams to practice my mentality when entering the exam room,” Thao shared.

Of course, psychological factors are also a reason for her high exam results. According to Thao, thanks to her parents creating a comfortable, pressure-free mentality from the exam preparation process to the National High School Exam, she achieved high results. From there, she can fulfill her dream of becoming a new student of the Foreign Economics Department of the Foreign Trade University in the upcoming school year.