Female student won first prize in National Physics Olympiad for students

Thanh Huyen, 20 years old, is the only female student among the 9 first prizes in the exercise and experiment solving competition, this year's National Physics Olympiad for Students.

Tran Thi Thanh Huyen is currently a third-year student majoring in Physics Education at Hanoi National University of Education. A week ago, Huyen and four other students represented the school in this exam at the University of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

This year’s competition had more than 250 students from 43 universities participating. The teams had to go through three parts, including multiple choice, problem solving and experimentation. Problem solving was the only individual competition.

"I was very happy to win first prize in this exercise. When the MC said I was the only female student out of nine who won first prize, I was very surprised," Huyen recalled. In addition, the female student and two other students brought home first prize in the team quiz competition for the Pedagogical School.

Tran Thi Thanh Huyen. Photo: Character provided — Tran Thi Thanh Huyen takes a photo at school after winning first prize in the Student Physics Olympiad. Photo: *Character provided*

Huyen, from Dan Phuong district, Hanoi, said "coming to Physics was a fate" after almost losing her foundation in natural sciences in 7th grade. At that time, she received a lot of support from a Math teacher. Not wanting to be too far behind her classmates, Huyen regained her motivation to study.

Instead of studying by doing exercises and then opening the answers, Huyen switched to learning how to think, diligently asking teachers to clarify the parts of knowledge she did not know. In grade 8, Huyen was selected to compete in the district-level Math competition. Only winning the consolation prize and not being qualified for the city competition, the female student registered to join the Physics team to seek opportunities in grade 9. Huyen later won the consolation prize in the city's competition for excellent students.

Always an excellent Physics student during her years at Dan Phuong High School, Huyen rarely thought about becoming a teacher. Huyen once took the Hanoi National University's aptitude test to apply to economics schools because she was advised that "it was a hot major with clear job opportunities".

Finally, at the decisive moment, the female student chose to pursue Physics. "Until now, I still don't understand why I had such strong faith in Physics at that time. Perhaps the help of my teachers before that reinforced this choice," Huyen said.

Studying at Hanoi Pedagogical University, Huyen really saw all the beauty and fun of the subject.

"Like the teachers say, Physics is the most romantic subject. The more I study, the more I see that it is true, Physics has many applications in life," Huyen said enthusiastically. Thanks to studying her favorite subject, Huyen did not encounter many difficulties. She won scholarships in all semesters with a current average score of 3.81/4.

Huyen also participated in faculty and school-level pedagogical competitions, won several awards, and participated in pedagogical clubs and scientific research. She also tutored Physics, teaching a group of more than 10 grade 10 students at home to review knowledge, practice professional skills, and earn extra income.

To do everything well, Huyen often sets goals for each stage, arranging tasks in order of priority. Not only does she have a yearly plan, Huyen also has a small notebook to write down the tasks to do each day to keep track of herself.

As this year there is no internship, Huyen aims to compete in the Physics Olympiad for students. After passing the selection round at school in October, Huyen focused all her time on this competition. Whenever the teachers are free, she and her teammates go to school to study, regardless of whether it is Saturday or Sunday.

"I still remember the first day I went to review, the teacher gave me a test. I was the worst in the group so I felt very guilty," Huyen said.

The female student said that during the two months, she focused 100% of her energy, tried to grasp the lesson right in class, asked the teacher every question thoroughly and took advantage of group study. Huyen was then chosen as one of two students to compete in the individual exercise solving part. Therefore, she devoted even more effort to studying.

Associate Professor Ngo Ngoc Hoa, Deputy Head of the Physics Department, Hanoi National University of Education, highly appreciated Huyen's attitude and efforts.

Teacher Hoa said Huyen was chosen after some students with higher scores were not eligible to compete because they had already won national and international prizes. After the school competition, he was very worried about Huyen.

"However, after two months, I am completely assured and confident that Huyen will achieve good results," said Mr. Hoa.

Huyen and 8 male students received first prize in the exercise solving competition. Photo: Provided by the character — Huyen and 8 male students received first prize in the exercise solving competition. Photo: *Provided by the character*

Huyen remembers the team test the most. After answering 9 questions correctly in a row, the team leader of the Pedagogical University got 3 questions wrong in a row, which affected her psychologically. However, the whole team encouraged each other to focus and do well on the remaining 8 questions.

In the individual exercise section, Huyen had to do 4 questions in three hours with topics such as Mechanics, Heat, Electricity, and Optics. The Optics question was her strength so Huyen did it first, creating momentum to do well in the following questions.

Besides Huyen, the remaining member of Hanoi Pedagogical University who competed in the individual exercise solving round was Vu Van Huong, who won first prize with the highest score. Huong is also a friend who helped Huyen a lot during the preparation process for the competition.

Having completed her major goal of her third year of university, Huyen plans to spend time on scientific research in the hope of winning a prize at school this year.

"I will try to maintain good academic results and gain more new experiences before becoming a Physics teacher," Huyen said.

Duong Tam

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