Patricia Quyen currently lives with her parents and younger brother in Canberra, Australia. At the end of 2022, as she was preparing to welcome the new year, Patricia's family received notice of her university results - Patricia achieved a perfect score in the exam, meaning she became one of the top students in her university.
“I was very surprised when I found out that I got a perfect score on the exam. I spent a long time just recovering from my illness, there were times when I couldn’t walk, eat or go to school like a normal person,” the 18-year-old girl burst into tears when she received her score report, because there was a time when she thought that with her current health, she wouldn’t be able to go to university.
Patricia has been sick for the past three years and has rarely gone to school. There were even long periods when she could not attend class because of health problems. In 12th grade, Patricia only attended class on exam days.
Her studies take place mainly at home, on her own without any online lectures or teacher help. She studies on her own and reads textbooks to do her homework.
Patricia became one of the people who achieved the perfect score in the Australian university entrance exam. (Photo: NVCC)
Patricia chose Australian National University to study Economics. The young girl said that this is one of the best ranked universities in Australia, with interesting lecture outlines and is also the school her father attended.
Economics has been Patricia's passion since she was a child. She has written many essays related to economics and read many documents about this field. Patricia used to be a poor student. In elementary school, her ability to absorb lessons was quite slow, her final grade was only C or at most B. Many times in class, before she could understand what the teacher asked, her classmates had already answered the question.
Before establishing an effective learning method, Patricia Quyen always studied hard at all times. During recess at school, she still read books, not daring to rest, but her learning results did not improve. While her younger brother only needed a short time to complete his homework, Quyen was still overwhelmed with a pile of homework and could not finish any of it. At school, she was shy because she felt inferior to her friends.
“Thanks to my mother's encouragement, I made a systematic study plan to improve ,” said the 18-year-old girl.
Having to go to the hospital often, the female student does not have much time to study. She researched and came up with ways to study to shorten the time and achieve high efficiency.
For Patricia, different subjects require different learning methods. To study effectively, she divides her time into each subject using the spaced repetition method. She often spends a lot of time on difficult subjects. She creates a mind map of her knowledge on a certain topic, so that she can identify gaps in her knowledge and fill in the missing pieces. This helps her remember and connect different pieces of information, which helps her review for tests.
Thanks to my mother's encouragement, I made a systematic study plan to improve.
Instead of aiming to do something perfectly, the valedictorian aims to improve every little aspect. Every little detail adds up to make a big difference. She often creates questions that she thinks might appear on the test and practices answering them. At the same time, she breaks down complex questions into simpler ones so that they are both easy to answer and easy to remember.
In contrast to her pretty and feminine appearance, Patricia loves active sports such as swimming, martial arts, and basketball. The female student loves leadership roles. While in high school, Patricia was honored as a typical example in the humanitarian movement, and was personally awarded the Certificate of Merit for her contributions to the community by the Australian Minister of Education. She was also the only individual to win a medal for outstanding achievements in Physical Education at high school in grade 10 and the second prize for "Best Female Student in Mathematics" awarded by the University of New South Wales. Patricia also founded an environmental protection club that attracted more than 200 students. The club has raised many questions to members of the Australian Parliament about emissions and environmental protection measures.
Sharing about her future plans, the young girl wants to become a hedge fund manager, or work for the government to help set economic policies, improve living conditions for people. Along with work, Patricia wants to do charity work with her mother to help children.
“My mother is the person who has a great influence on me, from thoughts to actions. She is the one who values education and often helps children in difficult circumstances. I always want to do meaningful things like my mother,” Patricia shared.
Ms. Hang and her two children are currently residing in Australia. Photo: NVCC
“My daughter is always my pride”
Sharing about her daughter's university entrance exam results, Ms. Hoang Hang (Patricia Quyen's mother - preschool teacher - author of Youtube channel Hey Hang) said she was shocked when she received the score report. She and her daughter did not think that her daughter could get such a high score.
“ I was so happy. For a healthy person, achieving this score is understandable, but for someone with health problems like Patricia, it is a miracle,” said the mother.
Patricia is emotional, always thinking of others, enthusiastic and energetic in her work. However, for a long time she had poor academic performance and could not keep up with her friends.
“She confided in me that she could not keep up with the teacher’s lectures and that doing her homework was difficult, ” said Ms. Hang, adding that she was proud of her daughter and her achievements. It took her a long time to catch up with her friends. During that time, Patricia also had to fight her illness.
Ms. Hang also expected her daughter to study well and become a doctor when she grew up. There was a time when she forced her daughter to follow her wishes, studying subjects she did not like. Seeing that her daughter was not interested and did not progress, she decided to change herself so that her daughter could live according to her personal interests. Patricia became active when she was able to pursue the things she liked.
“ When I found out my child was valedictorian, many people advised her to choose medicine again. I also love this major, but it is not her passion,” said Ms. Hang, who said Patricia’s major was chosen before her child took the exam. Even if she could change, she would still support her child in pursuing her dream, so that Patricia could fully develop her strengths.
For her, people are happiest when they are free to pursue their passions and interests. So she chooses to accompany her children on the path to conquering their dreams.
Tuan Kiet
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