Grade 9 student achieved 8.5 IELTS on first attempt

Nghe An Nguyen Quoc Tuan Kiet achieved 8.5 IELTS on the first try, with a perfect 9.0 in Speaking.

With this result, Kiet was admitted as valedictorian to grade 10 English major at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, using the IELTS certificate admission method.

"I don't see this as an exam, I just want to test myself. At first, I thought I would get around 7.5, but 8.5 was beyond my expectations," said the male student at Dang Chanh Ky Secondary School, Nam Dan District.

Tuan Kiet at his desk at home in Nam Dan town, Nghe An, on June 6. Photo: Hung Le — Tuan Kiet at his desk at home in Nam Dan town, Nghe An, on June 6. Photo: *Hung Le*

Kiet is the eldest of two children in Nam Dan town. His father went to work abroad in Singapore, and his mother stayed at home as a housewife. From a young age, the boy showed agility and a good memory. At the age of 4, he started watching alphabets and videos in English on Youtube. When he was in first grade, his parents realized that Kiet had a talent for languages, so they enrolled him in extra classes at a center. With his outstanding vocabulary, listening and speaking skills, after a few months of studying, the teacher decided to move him to study with 8-9 year old students.

In 6th grade, Kiet realized that he would pursue this subject for a long time, so his family sent him to study at an English center in Vinh City. Three times a week, mother and son drove more than 20 km to Vinh to study.

With IELTS, Kiet took the test in a relaxed state of mind. Thanks to spending 1-2 hours reading and re-reading foreign news every day, he has a diverse knowledge of many areas of social life. He also "learns while playing" by going on Youtube to watch videos in English and then practicing speaking. This also helps him to enrich his vocabulary. In addition, Kiet plays games with students in many countries around the world , thereby understanding and getting used to the way foreigners use English.

"I also learn the idioms they often use to practice speaking naturally," Kiet shared.

Tuan Kiet is a talented artist at Dang Chanh Ky Secondary School, with the ability to play the piano. Photo: Hung Le — Tuan Kiet is a "hard artist" of Dang Chanh Ky Secondary School, with the ability to play the piano skillfully. Photo: *Hung Le*

Thanks to that, Kiet easily passed the Reading, Listening and Speaking tests. In which, the Speaking test got a perfect score, the remaining two parts were both 8.5. The male student was impressed with the question: "State the criteria to help children develop comprehensively". He then argued that: "There must be a balance, children should not be too focused and push them to study too much, they need to relax and entertain to develop their minds and other skills".

The most difficult part of the exam for Kiet was Writing. Kiet said this was his weakness, so when he studied at the center, the teacher guided him through many different exercises. When writing, he often found the main idea, then developed sub-ideas to make the essay longer. In each class, he spent about an hour writing social argumentative essays in English.

However, when taking the exam, the male student still fell into a deadlock for nearly the first ten minutes. The exam required him to write about the importance of sports equipment such as treadmills and weight training equipment. Kiet said that although he played sports, he had never lifted weights or used these equipment. Therefore, at first, he could not express and develop his ideas fluently. Therefore, Kiet was satisfied with a score of 7.5 in this skill.

Kiet and EILTS 8.5 certificate. Photo: Family provided — Kiet and EILTS 8.5 certificate. Photo: *Family provided*

Mr. Nguyen Tu Nga, an English teacher at Dang Chanh Ky Secondary School, assessed that Kiet excels in foreign languages compared to his peers. "His listening, speaking, and reading skills are almost perfect, few people at the age of 15 can achieve this level," said Mr. Nga. In addition, Kiet is good at all subjects, passionate about Chemistry, and is a "strong artist" of the school because he plays the piano well.

Although he has been taught English systematically since childhood, Kiet said he pursues this foreign language because he always wants to explore the outside world. Therefore, he does not put pressure on himself to achieve results. Kiet's most outstanding achievement to date is the third prize in the provincial English competition for 9th graders.

"It's too early to talk about the future. In the near future, I will try to accumulate more knowledge when I meet many friends who are good at English. In addition, in my free time, I will study more about Chemistry, which is also my passion," Kiet said.

Duc Hung

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