Do Thi Van Ha, a student at Nguyen Trai High School for the Gifted (Hai Duong), is one of four excellent candidates selected by the National Economics University to receive an early scholarship in this year's admissions season. With 1590 SAT, the Hai Duong female student achieved an admission score of 29.82, excluding priority points, becoming the valedictorian of the combined admissions method.

In addition to her SAT score, Van Ha also has an IELTS score of 8.5 and has twice won the national excellent student award in English. Ha's high school graduation exam score in block D01 was 27.7 points, including 9.6 in English; 9.5 in Literature; and 8.6 in Math. With these results, she has a chance to be admitted to the school by any admission method.

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Do Thi Van Ha, a student at Nguyen Trai High School for the Gifted (Hai Duong), is the valedictorian of the National Economics University. (Photo: NVCC)

Despite her many achievements in English, Van Ha said that her choice to major in English was “a reckless decision”. Previously, Ha was a student majoring in Math, and had participated in the provincial exam for gifted students and won a prize. However, because of her love for English, while studying for the gifted student exam, Ha also studied at home with the goal of passing the English exam.

Unexpectedly, in 2021, Van Ha was one of the top candidates admitted to the English major class at Nguyen Trai High School for the Gifted. “This was a big surprise because I changed direction quite late compared to my friends,” Ha said.

Having a talent for foreign languages, Ha learns everything quite naturally. The student said she does not feel forced or pressured when studying. Ha's secret is to use English regularly in daily life and make it a habit, such as looking up documents or watching her favorite YouTube channels.

“The channels I watch are not fixed, but they usually have commentary content related to history and society because it will give me many new perspectives. In addition, I also often talk to myself in English.”

According to Ha, these methods are easy to apply, effective, inexpensive and anyone can do them. Because they have become a habit, Ha also does not set a goal for a certain amount of time to study each day for this subject.

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Van Ha participates in the school-level Road to Olympia competition (Photo: NVCC)

Because of her solid knowledge, in August 2023, Ha decided to take the IELTS test after only 2 months of studying. Of the 4 skills, according to Ha, the most difficult part for her was Speaking because she did not have much practice. Therefore, in 2 months, Ha spent most of her time improving this skill and practicing her thinking to develop ideas. As a result, this was the skill that made Ha most satisfied and helped her achieve 8.5 IELTS.

However, Ha also realized that this score is not an advantage if she wants to pursue the National Economics University, because the converted score of 7.5 and 8.5 IELTS is the same. Meanwhile, if she registers for priority admission based on the third prize of national excellent students, she will not have much advantage because the school considers based on the order of the prize. Ha is afraid that there will be no more places for her in the school's hot majors.

So, right before the deadline for submitting her certificate in June, Ha decided to take the SAT to increase her competitive advantage. Coming into contact with the SAT quite late and living in a remote province, Van Ha decided to register for an online course to familiarize herself with the test structure.

The female student said that the SAT test is more difficult than the IELTS because the Reading and Writing sections have quite complex grammar and vocabulary. The way questions are asked in the SAT test is sometimes confusing because they use many synonyms. Therefore, there will be no tips for vocabulary-related questions and candidates must know the words well to be able to do it.

The Math section of the SAT, although not too challenging, will sometimes have some new forms for Vietnamese students, such as statistics content. “But in general, the Math section tests the same level as 9th and 10th grade Math in Vietnam, so if you are careful, you will get a high score in this section,” Ha said.

During the review process, Ha's strategy was to always list the parts of knowledge she did not do well in order to focus on studying this content more deeply. Thanks to that, the female student achieved a near-perfect score of 1590 on this test, higher than expected.

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Van Ha achieved a near perfect SAT score on her first try. (Photo: NVCC)

Ms. Pham Thi Dieu Thu, the homeroom teacher of the English class, assessed that Van Ha has a talent for learning English and is always willing to research materials to learn more. Thanks to that, since grade 11, Ha has won the national excellent student award.

“Ha’s skills are all very good. In addition, she has the ability to memorize for a long time and knows how to expand information on her own. When Ha said she was taking the SAT, I also believed she would get a high score on this test. In addition to her English talent, she also has a rich knowledge in many different fields. Ha once participated in the school-level Road to Olympia competition and reached the finals,” said Ms. Thu.

With the achievement of being the valedictorian, Van Ha will choose to study Business Analysis at the National Economics University. The female student believes that this is a promising major, focusing on analysis and thinking. With the training program in English, Ha hopes to continue to improve this language so that it does not fade away.

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