Male student competes with 2,000 candidates to enter Oxford

Nguyen Hao was admitted to Oxford University after taking a 2.5-hour math test and three rounds of interviews, competing with about 2,000 candidates.

Le Tu Nguyen Hao, 20, received the results in an email on January 9, while he was teaching math at a tutoring center in Ho Chi Minh City. Upon hearing the news, Hao felt relieved and celebrated with his students.

Oxford University is ranked third in the QS World University Rankings 2024. He has also been accepted to four other universities, including Cornell University in the US and the University of Toronto in Canada.

"I'm lucky," Hao said, adding that he will enroll in Oxford next October because he feels he is more suited to the culture and academic environment in the UK.

Hao is currently taking a gap year after graduating from high school at Anderson-Serangoon Junior College, with an ASTAR scholarship from the Singapore government . Before that, he attended junior high school, then passed the entrance exam to grade 10 at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted, Ho Chi Minh City.

Le Tu Nguyen Hao. Photo: Character provided

In grade 11, Hao began to set his sights on studying Mathematics at Oxford University. According to Hao, to apply to schools in the UK, in addition to the essay, candidates also need to submit a Singaporean high school score prediction table. The reason is that Oxford's application deadline is in mid-October, while Singapore's high school graduation exam (Singapore A-level) takes place in December.

Based on the mock tests, the school will   Confirm students' predicted grades to send to universities. Hao always ranked first in Math at school and got A's on mock exams.

To achieve this score, Hao believes that he must be disciplined with his studies. He often studies at school all day until night, taking advantage of the time to review lessons whether in the library or at the restaurant.

A-level subjects are divided into three levels of increasing difficulty including H1, H2 and H3. Of the 7 subjects, Hao chose 4 H2 subjects (Math, Advanced Math, Physics, Economics ), one H3 subject (Advanced Math), the rest are English and project. In the A-level exam, the male student got all 7 points.   A. In addition, Hao took the SAT (a standardized test popular in the US) and scored 1540/1600.

Hao also had to take the Oxford University Math test in mid-October 2023. According to information on Oxford's website, this year's Math test had nearly 2,000 applications but only more than 200 candidates were accepted. That time, Hao took the test directly in Singapore, in 2.5 hours with 10 multiple choice questions and 4 essay questions, with a total score of 100.

The exam focused on knowledge in the British A-level program, including integral calculus, differential calculus, geometry... The questions were linked together, forcing candidates to solve them sequentially to find the answer. Hao said the real exam was more difficult than the ones he practiced at home in previous years. However, thanks to having studied math since childhood and having participated in many national and international math competitions, Hao had no difficulty completing this challenge.

"This is an important test that determines whether a candidate can get to the interview round or not," Hao said, saying he scored 85/100 points.

The student then had three online interviews with the school's math professors. They asked questions and provided hints to see how the candidate thought, used hints, and solved problems.

The first session was not as expected when Hao could not demonstrate his ability in front of the professor. The second session also caused Hao difficulties.

"I lost hope after the first two sessions, so I participated in the last session with the feeling that I had nothing to lose. Finally, I encountered the right content for my strength," Hao said.

According to Hao, unlike the US, which has both a general and a specific essay, in the UK, schools only need one. While the US university essay must have a coherent story, highlighting the candidate's personality, in the UK, Hao only needs to show his passion for Math and his consistency with the subject, in about 600 words.

Hao (in white shirt) sells tickets for a school movie screening to raise funds for the National Kidney Foundation Singapore, 2023. Photo: Character provided

Hao's essay talks about his love for Math since he was a child and this is the subject he excelled in the most. Since primary school, he has participated in Math competitions. In grade 8, he won a gold medal in the Young Math Talent Search. A year later, Hao won first prize in the city-level Math competition. When he went to study in Singapore, he also won a gold medal in the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad in grade 11.

When she heard that Hao had been accepted to Oxford, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lam, Hao's former homeroom teacher at Tran Dai Nghia School, felt proud. She was impressed with Hao's academic ability right from the first days of 6th grade. Not only was he good at Math, but he also did well in other subjects.

"Hao has been excellent since primary school. He has a great foundation and determination," said Ms. Lam, adding that Hao is introverted, emotional and has good relationships with friends.

Hao plans to pursue a master’s degree in Finance after graduating from university and work in this field. He is currently completing his application for a scholarship from a fund in Singapore for his three-year journey in the UK.

Binh Minh - Vnexpress.net

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