Twice became valedictorian of female students in village school

In 2022, Ngoc Anh was the valedictorian of the 10th grade entrance exam at Thanh Oai B High School with 46.5/50 points. After 3 years, the female student continued to become the valedictorian of the Foreign Trade University with an absolute admission score.

Nguyen Ngoc Anh - new student of the advanced foreign economics program, Foreign Trade University - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

With an IELTS certificate of 8.0 converted to 10 points and a near-perfect SAT certificate of 1,590/1,600 converted to 20 points, Ngoc Anh was admitted to the advanced foreign economic program of the Foreign Trade University with an absolute score of 30/30.

From valedictorian of district school to leader of Foreign Trade

In the 2025 university entrance exam of Foreign Trade University, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 18 years old, a former student of Thanh Oai B High School, scored 30/30 points, becoming the valedictorian of the admission method combining international language certificates with the school's international competency assessment certificate.

Ngoc Anh has an IELTS certificate of 8.0 since the end of grade 11 on the first test and an SAT certificate of 1,590/1,600 on the fourth test (around the end of grade 12).

Before that, from grade 6 to grade 11, Ngoc Anh was always in the English team. In grade 6, for the first time, she won second prize at the district level. In grades 7 and 8, she won third prize, and in grade 9, she won first prize.

Also because of the series of achievements in English subject awards in middle school, Ngoc Anh somewhat placed high expectations on the 10th grade specialized exam in 2022. However, she later failed the entrance exam to Hanoi National University of Education High School for the Gifted because she was 0.25 points short. That same year, the female student became the valedictorian of Thanh Oai B High School with 46.5/50 points.

In grade 12, Ngoc Anh continued to devote herself to English. In grade 10, the female student won second prize in the English competition for Chuong My district and the old Thanh Oai district; in grade 11, she won third prize. In grade 12, she withdrew from the gifted student team to focus on studying for the SAT certificate for the university entrance exam.

Ngoc Anh believes that living and studying in the suburbs is not the best environment to practice English communication, so in addition to studying in class, female students often listen to music, watch movies, read books and stories in English to increase vocabulary and practice skills.

Develop yourself from mistakes

The new school year welcoming ceremony at Foreign Trade University had the special presence of the vice principal and Ngoc Anh's high school homeroom teacher - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

Talking to Tuoi Tre Online , Ngoc Anh said the above results are rewards for stumbling and failing but not giving up.

Entering high school, Ngoc Anh set a clear goal of completing the IELTS certificate in grade 11 and the SAT certificate in grade 12. Because these are two certificates used by many schools for university admission.

With all her major subjects, Ngoc Anh tries to grasp as much knowledge as possible right from class and extra classes, so that she doesn’t have to waste time reviewing them at home. Ngoc Anh spends most of her remaining time reviewing for international certificates.

Talking about the secret to conquering the IELTS 8.0 certificate on the first try, Ngoc Anh said that besides the basic knowledge accumulated over many years, the female student has a quite effective "formula" for learning English.

In one day, Ngoc Anh will try to learn two skills at the same time (listening and speaking or reading and writing), to complement each other. In particular, every night she will practice speaking skills for about 1 hour with a friend to increase her ability to respond and correct each other's mistakes, and progress together.

With writing skills, female students take advantage of AI chatbots to support editing their papers, improving their ability to argue and write coherent sentences.

Ngoc Anh is one of 10 valedictorians of Foreign Trade University honored by the school at the new school year welcoming ceremony - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

Since the summer break of 12th grade, Ngoc Anh started studying for the SAT. After just over a month of studying, the female student took her first SAT test and scored 1,390/1,600 points.

"Because I thought I had a solid English foundation and could confidently take the SAT after more than a month of studying, I took the test, but the result was not as expected," Ngoc Anh recounted.

Without stopping, Ngoc Anh took every opportunity to review and register for as many exams as possible. Finally, on the fourth exam (at the end of grade 12), the female student achieved an impressive result of 1,590/1,600 (in the top 1% in the world ).

"After taking the SAT many times, I learned from my mistakes and learned from my experience. The SAT is a very intellectual exam, so I need to practice many questions. I save the questions I often make mistakes on and don't understand to learn from them and improve my ability to do better on the test," Ngoc Anh said.

In the 4 years of university ahead, Ngoc Anh aims to actively participate in activities and competitions to diversify her experiences, build strong relationships and hopes to exchange and study abroad if she has the opportunity.

NGUYEN BAO

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hai-lan-tro-thanh-thu-khoa-cua-nu-sinh-truong-lang-20250918173230079.htm