The top student in the 10th grade entrance exam in Nghe An passed the Phan School for the Gifted in Physics

Luu Duc Tai is currently a student at Quynh Thien Secondary School in Hoang Mai town. However, Tai's house is in Quynh Loc ward - one of the most disadvantaged wards in the town. Four years ago, when the Department of Education and Training proposed to build a "high-quality" class for Hoang Mai town, Tai was one of the few students from the wards on the outskirts of the center who was admitted and enrolled.

Valedictorian of the 10th grade entrance exam and "new" student majoring in Physics - Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted. Photo: Duc Anh.

In the 10th grade entrance exam, Tai scored 47 points. In the entrance exam to Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, Tai scored 38.5 points and was admitted to the Physics Specialized class.

In class 9A, Tai was not the most outstanding student. The greatest achievement Tai had during his 4 years of high school was the Encouragement Prize in Physics at the Provincial Excellent Student Competition in grade 9. Interestingly, Physics was not the subject that Tai considered his "forte" because he loved studying Math. However, the Physics teacher discovered Tai's talent and "talked" him over to the Physics team. In addition to being the valedictorian of the 10th grade entrance exam, Tai also just learned that he was admitted to the Physics specialized class at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted.

When asked about his achievements, Tai was particularly “modest” and said that “many other friends have even better achievements than me”. However, looking at Tai’s efforts, we can see that he has made a lot of effort, even though his starting point and his achievements throughout middle school were not the most outstanding.

Talking about Tai, teacher Ho Thi Huong - homeroom teacher of class 9A - Quynh Thien Secondary School said: Tai is a hard-working student and he can study all subjects equally. However, Tai is not a student who likes to show off and is very calm. Like the day he came back from the 10th grade exam, many students in the class talked about their exam. Tai only said "I did it roughly". However, his exam results were very impressive and surprised us.

Luu Duc Tai with his homeroom teacher of class 9A. Photo: Duc Anh

In the 10th grade entrance exam, Tai said that the “hardest” subject was Literature. However, when the results came out, Tai was really happy because he got 8.5 points in this subject. While before that, almost no test in his class got 7 points.

Tai also shared: I really like the social argumentative essay when asking candidates to discuss the issue of "Belief in life". Personally, when writing about this topic, I remember the image of Uncle Ho and the young man Nguyen Tat Thanh wandering around looking for a way to save the country. At that time, Uncle had nothing in his hands, he had to work as a sailor, a chef, but he had a determination, a strong will and he succeeded.

In Math, according to Tai, this year's exam wasn't too difficult, so it only took Tai about 50 minutes to complete the exam. However, Tai found the two "advanced" questions really difficult and even with nearly half the remaining time, he still couldn't finish them. Later, Tai said: I regretted the last two questions a bit. When I got home, I checked the exam again and found the answer, but the solution was different from the answer the Department had given. I think the 9.5 in Math was my actual score.

Luu Duc Tai is also nicknamed “the doctor of the whole school” by his teachers and friends because Tai is very passionate about information technology, loves computers and almost anything related to computers that is called to Tai at school, he completes the task. At home, Tai is the youngest child, his mother is a primary school teacher, so Tai’s studies are mainly self-motivated. Tai also said that besides taking extra classes at school, he doesn’t study much outside. In the remaining time, he registers for two online courses and finds this way of studying quite effective.

Class 9A with many outstanding achievements in the 10th grade entrance exam. Photo: Tuan Anh

Not only is Tai humble, he is also a very kind student. Teacher Nguyen Thi Ly - Principal of the school added: At the beginning of this school year, there was a student in the school who was seriously ill and had to be treated in Hanoi. When the school launched the campaign, Tai used all his savings to support his friend but asked the teachers to keep it a secret.

Tai's joy in this exam was multiplied when all students of class 9A passed the public school entrance exam with high results, holding the position of valedictorian and salutatorian at Hoang Mai High School. In addition, many students passed the entrance exam to Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted and Vinh University High School for the Gifted.

Previously, Quynh Thien Secondary School was also the leading school in the town's excellent student achievements. Class 9A alone contributed greatly when it had 37 students achieving excellent student results in the town, 17 students achieving excellent student results in the province, including 1 first prize, 4 second prizes, 5 third prizes, and 7 encouragement prizes.

The school principal added: We are very happy with the achievements that the students have made. This is not only the achievement of a class, of the school as a whole, but also the common achievement of the town after many years of perseverance and determination to invest and care for education.