Little-known facts about the only 11th grade female student on the International Math Olympiad team

In the recent national excellent student exam, Truong Thanh Xuan took the exam at a higher level and won second prize with a score of 27.5, becoming the female student with the highest achievement in the Bac Ninh Math team.

At the selection exam for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2025 team, Thanh Xuan broke through to get a "ticket" among the 6 selected students. Xuan is 1 of 2 members of the IMO team studying in grade 11, and is also the only female member after 10 years of an all-male team.

Truong Thanh Xuan - Grade 11 Math 1, Bac Ninh Specialized High School. Photo: School Fanpage

Sharing with VietNamNet reporter, Thanh Xuan said that she was very happy and surprised when she was lucky enough to be on the IMO team. “When I was in 10th grade, I had no intention of taking the Math Olympiad, so I was far behind the team members. Therefore, I had to study by myself to make up for the lack of knowledge. In class, in addition to listening to the teacher, I read a lot of documents and participated in online courses. The friends around me also supported me a lot. I usually study in the evening, if I am tired, I go to bed early, and if I am ‘well’, I stay up until 2:30 am to study,” Xuan said.

Thanh Xuan broke through to get a "ticket" to the international Math team this year.

Xuan studies Math because of passion and not too much pressure. Xuan said that joining the gifted student team is like an experience competition, to gain experience and set a goal to continue trying.

Xuan's secret is to stay alert and confident... entering the exam room with the knowledge she has accumulated. For her, studying national math is a difficult journey because the knowledge of this subject is very difficult.

"There are times when I can't find the answer, I feel helpless. In order not to give up, it is important to maintain my spirit and interest in the subject. Whenever I get discouraged, I put my studies aside, go for a walk, rest, and then come back to the exercises later. There are times when I jog and cook with my mother. I am lucky to have a family who always accompanies me and becomes my spiritual support... Looking back on the journey I have gone through and seeing the expectations and help of those around me is the reason why I cannot give up," Thanh Xuan shared.

In the upcoming International Math Competition, Xuan hopes to win a prize and wishes to set foot in the US or Singapore if he has the opportunity to study abroad.

“To learn Math effectively, you don’t need to ‘plow’ a lot, don’t need to read and do a lot, but you need to understand. To understand a problem, you have to train yourself to think critically continuously. With problems you don’t know how to solve, you have to ask yourself ‘Why is it like this?’ or ‘How should I do it to optimize it?’ I think understanding a problem deeply is much more valuable than just being able to do it without understanding anything,” Xuan said.

Sharing with VietNamNet reporter , teacher Nguyen Van Tuan - head of the Math team for the 2024-2025 school year at Bac Ninh Specialized High School said that Thanh Xuan is one of three students in the school's Math team who had a bad starting point and this was shown in the first and second test scores.

"During the teaching process, I noticed that Xuan did not put pressure on himself and had unexpected 'comebacks'. In each class, he was diligent and tried hard to study in a relaxed state of mind and that made his scores gradually improve. In the competition between 6 specialized schools in 6 provinces, Xuan rose to 2nd place in the school," said Mr. Tuan.

The teacher added that Xuan is very intelligent, studies well, always listens and takes full notes, especially the ability to handle situations confidently. With difficult lessons, Xuan does not give up but tries to learn from friends, from teachers and accumulate experience for himself. "I hope Xuan will have good results when participating in international competitions," the teacher said.

List of provincial students selected for the 2025 International Olympic Team The Ministry of Education and Training has just announced the results of the exam to select the national team for the 2025 International and Regional Olympic Teams. Accordingly, 37 students were selected for this list.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/dieu-it-biet-ve-nu-sinh-lop-11-lot-doi-tuyen-toan-quoc-te-sau-10-nam-2386232.html