The "secret" to studying of a female student on the International Mathematical Olympiad team

We were present at Bac Ninh High School for the Gifted, Bac Ninh province right after the good news about the results of the Selection Exam for the 2025 International and Regional Olympic Teams was announced by the Ministry of Education and Training. With continuous efforts, in this exam, the school had 3 excellent students selected for the national team to compete in the Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO); International Chemistry Olympiad (ICHO). In particular, Truong Thanh Xuan, a grade 11 student majoring in Mathematics, a petite, individualistic female student brought many surprises when she was 1 of 6 students selected for the national team to compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in 2025 scheduled to be held in July in Australia.

Back to the passion of Mathematics

Having been involved in mathematics since childhood, having won a Silver Medal in the National Math Club for Children competition when he was in grade 5, with the guidance of his family, especially his mother who was a Math major at Nguyen Hue High School, Hanoi, from grade 6, Truong Thanh Xuan took the entrance exam to the Math major class at Nguyen Dang Dao Secondary School - one of the 8 key secondary schools in Bac Ninh province. Intelligent and diligent, Thanh Xuan was selected by his teachers to join the school's Math team and he won the Second Prize in the Provincial Math Competition for Excellent Students in Grade 8 and the Third Prize in Grade 9.

Thanh Xuan and her homeroom teacher during review hours.

Continuing to choose the Math major when entering grade 10, but when immersed in an environment with a tradition of excellent learning and comprehensive development at Bac Ninh Specialized School, Thanh Xuan temporarily put aside her passion for math and actively participated in the school's exciting extracurricular activities. Thanh Xuan shared: Ever since middle school, I have loved debate, so when entering grade 10, I registered to attend the Debate Club, participated in many presentations and was the deputy head of the school's Debate Club. In addition, I also participated in the Environmental Club, focused on studying English and other subjects, so I had no intention of participating in the Math competition or joining the teams.

Mr. Le Dang Dien, a math teacher at Bac Ninh Specialized School, said: In class, Thanh Xuan is not a student with outstanding results in math. However, as a homeroom teacher who directly teaches math and closely follows the students during their studies, I have noticed that Thanh Xuan has smart and unique ways of solving math problems, especially thinking about solving problems related to combinations, which is a type of math that requires students to be quick-witted and intelligent. This has motivated the teachers in the Math group to encourage her to participate in the school's math competitions, to prepare for the school and provincial teams to have more time to train, practice, and study more deeply.

Talking about her journey back to Math, Thanh Xuan said: With the encouragement of her teachers, from the summer of her 10th grade year, she attended review courses, focusing on Math to join the school team, then the provincial team. "Even at that time, I thought I was taking the competition to gain experience, learn knowledge, not to set the goal of winning a prize" - Thanh Xuan said.

Breakout in the sprint stage

Coming to Mathematics because of passion, without exam pressure, but when joining the school and provincial Math team, Thanh Xuan initially encountered many difficulties because he started later and his knowledge system was not as solid as his seniors in grade 12.

Thanh Xuan and her team members attended a meeting organized by the province before the exam.

“At first, I was quite confused by the amount of new and large knowledge. Honestly, there were lectures from professors that I only listened to but did not fully understand. Therefore, I had to study on my own to make up for the lack of knowledge. In class, in addition to listening to lectures from teachers, I also looked for many documents on mathematics to read and research on my own. Fortunately, thanks to the support of teachers, seniors and new friends who also shared a passion for mathematics, I became more confident” - Thanh Xuan shared.

In the recent national excellent student exam, Truong Thanh Xuan took the exam to advance to a higher level and won second prize with 27.5 points, becoming the female student with the highest achievement in the Bac Ninh province Math team. With this achievement, she was summoned by the Ministry of Education and Training to the national team selection round to compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2025, scheduled to be held in Australia next July. After 2 days of intense competition with 4.5 hours of competition each day, confidently taking the exam with the knowledge she had accumulated, Thanh Xuan ranked 4th out of 48 contestants and was excellently one of the six members participating in the IMO national team this year.

With high determination, Thanh Xuan is ready for the new competition.

Happy with the results achieved, but when asked about the secret to learning Math, Truong Thanh Xuan simply shared: “To learn Math effectively, I do not study cramming but divide my time, study step by step firmly and most importantly, I have to understand the idea of ​​each problem. Usually I go to bed at 11pm because my mother always reminds me that health is the most important. When I encounter difficult problems, sometimes I sit for 2-3 hours without finding a solution, I often put my studies aside to do other things like walking, cooking and then come back to study. I think the important thing is to maintain my spirit and interest in the subject, practice logical thinking, master the way to reason, analyze and solve problems to confidently face problems”.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Do, Vice Principal of Bac Ninh High School for the Gifted, commented: With each steady step, Truong Thanh Xuan has made rapid progress after 3 months of intensive study for the national team competition. During the review and participation in the competition, the students always received close attention from the provincial leaders, the education sector and teachers. As an 11th grade student, Thanh Xuan joined the excellent student team with the mindset of experiencing the competition, to gain experience and the results achieved are a recognition of his months of training and studying efforts.

Leaders of the provincial Department of Education and Training awarded prizes to encourage excellent students participating in international exams.

Vietnam officially participated in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in 1974 with nearly 270 contestants and Truong Thanh Xuan was the 13th female contestant to participate in this competition. Thanh Xuan's outstanding achievements in Mathematics have brought joy and encouragement to many students in a subject that is considered dry and difficult to learn. With passion and determination, we believe that Thanh Xuan will continue to extend her achievements in the international arena.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/bi-quyet-hoc-tap-cua-nu-sinh-doi-tuyen-olympic-toan-hoc-quoc-te-post869203.html