7th grade female student not in 'specialized school or selective class' achieves 8.5 IELTS

(Dan Tri) - Bui Ha Phuong - a 7A3 student at Hoang Mai Secondary School, Hanoi - achieved 8.5 IELTS on her first test at the age of 13.

Bui Ha Phuong took the IELTS test in early April after half a year of studying. She got perfect scores in both listening and reading skills. Her speaking and writing skills were both 7.5 points. After finishing the test, Ha Phuong thought she only got 8.0. But the result she received was 8.5. This score is considered rare for a 13-year-old student taking the IELTS test for the first time. Ms. Phuong Hien - Ha Phuong's mother - said that the family did not set a goal for this test. Ms. Hien let her child take the IELTS test just to check and evaluate her results after a period of study.

IELTS test results of Bui Ha Phuong (Photo: NVCC).

Ha Phuong showed her talent for foreign languages ​​and her love for English from an early age. At the age of 4-5, she could retell a story in English to her mother based on the cartoon "Peppa Pig" on Youtube. In grade 4, Ha Phuong studied with a teacher at an English center near her home, mainly learning grammar. That year, she won first prize in the national TOEFL Primary (an exam to assess the output foreign language proficiency of primary school students). In grade 6, Ha Phuong took an additional English debate course. Before that, she took the Cambridge English: Preliminary certificate (also known as the Preliminary English Test - PET, which is an intermediate level certificate, equivalent to level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). At this age, students usually only take the Cambridge Flyers certificate - the final and most difficult level for ages 9-12, corresponding to level A2 according to the European reference framework.

Bui Ha Phuong in an activity at school (Photo: NVCC).

When Ha Phuong entered 7th grade, Ms. Hien decided to let her learn IELTS to see how well she could handle it. However, although she was the youngest student in the IELTS class, Ha Phuong was the most effective in doing the test. Ha Phuong's English skills were improved a lot through reading. Ms. Hien bought many English stories for her child to read. Later, she gave her child an e-book reader (Kindle) so that she could download her favorite stories to read. Ha Phuong also has the habit of listening and watching activities she likes entirely in English, reading English newspapers or searching for information and study materials in English. Even when studying literature, she also searched for information in English and then translated it into Vietnamese. This once made Ms. Hien confused about her child's mother tongue ability. However, Ha Phuong's academic performance in all three subjects of math, literature, and English is still guaranteed. Last semester, she achieved the highest score in grade 7 at Hoang Mai Secondary School.

Bui Ha Phuong shows off her results as the top student in grade 7 in the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year at Hoang Mai Secondary School (Photo: NVCC).

"My child is not too hard-working, does not "plow" but studies in a gentle, natural way. Because she loves to read, she absorbs and feels the language well. Every night, she usually studies for about 2 hours. However, the study time can be longer because at her age she is still playful and lacks concentration. She studies while chatting with friends on Zalo, discussing homework, doing projects for sometimes an hour, and then studying while listening to music like most other teenage girls," Ms. Hien shared. Currently, Ha Phuong is both the class monitor and the president of the English club and the English reading club of Hoang Mai school. She also participates in English teaching at the center, is a bilingual MC for some events, works as an interpreter at the US study abroad fair, teaches English debate to children... Ha Phuong's dream is to become a school psychology consultant. Hoang Mai Secondary School, where Bui Ha Phuong studies, is a high-quality public school established in July 2021. In the 2023-2024 school year, the school led Hoang Mai district in the city-level cultural and scientific competitions for excellent students with 30 prizes, including 3 first prizes, 10 second prizes, 7 third prizes and 10 consolation prizes. In the 2023 public 10th grade exam, the average score of 9th grade students at Hoang Mai Secondary School was 43.09 points - the standard score to enter most of the top public schools in Hanoi, except for Chu Van An High School and Kim Lien High School. Of which, the average score for literature was 8.08, for English was 9.20, and for math was 8.86.

Dantri.com.vn

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