Le Quang Huy is currently a 12th grader majoring in English at Tuyen Quang High School for the Gifted. Having a passion for English, Huy has often watched foreign cartoons and American sitcoms since he was a child. In addition to learning through movies, the male student also maintains the habit of thinking about everything in English. "For example, when encountering an event or phenomenon, I often ask myself questions in English, combined with practicing speaking alone. This helps me use English to the maximum, not only through listening, speaking, reading, writing but also in thinking," Huy said. After winning third prize in the national English competition, Huy decided to try his hand at IELTS and SAT certificates. Huy said that in recent years, university admission through international certificates has been quite popular, so he chose this path early to win a ticket to university. In addition, Huy also wanted to know his ability, so he planned to study to try his hand at standardized exams. “When I started studying for the certificate exam, I also thought quite simply that I would just study and try my best, without having to put too much pressure on the results because I had prepared early and could take the exam many times,” Huy recalled. However, on the first exam, the male student achieved a score of 8.5/9.0 IELTS and 1560/1600 SAT - in the top 1% of the world.

Le Quang Huy, a 12th grade English major student at Tuyen Quang High School for the Gifted. (Photo: NVCC)

Evaluating the IELTS test, Quang Huy said that the easiest part to score is the Listening section. "Maybe because I listened to English early, combined with practicing listening every day, this is also the skill I got the perfect score for," Huy said. Meanwhile, Writing and Speaking are the sections that Huy finds it easy to lose points because they require many skills such as interpreting information, summarizing information, making strong and convincing arguments, and coherent sentences... Therefore, candidates must be able to focus on making quick outlines and have a large vocabulary to express the information they want to convey. To get a high score on the IELTS, the male student said that it is necessary to learn as much vocabulary as possible and be quick in coming up with ideas. In addition, using English every day through reading newspapers, watching movies, speaking and writing short paragraphs will also help learners a lot. As for the SAT, Huy said that it will take more effort to review than the IELTS because in addition to a wide vocabulary, more difficult reading and grammar sections, the SAT also requires knowledge in many different fields. Therefore, to start studying for the SAT , students need to have a relatively good English foundation, a certain vocabulary and advanced reading comprehension skills. According to Huy, the most difficult part of the SAT is the vocabulary question (words in context). This is one of the types of questions that requires diligence and accumulation to have a wide enough vocabulary, from which to find the correct answer. "The part I am confident in on the SAT is math skills. This is probably also a common strength of most Vietnamese students because the knowledge in the SAT is easier than the high school math program," Huy said. The male student's main way to prepare for the SAT is to practice questions to increase reflexes, especially in the time before the exam. In addition, Huy also participates in some SAT discussion groups to exchange and improve knowledge. When doing the test, the male student focuses on doing it quickly, ensuring the easy questions are correct, avoiding wasting time on difficult questions. If he does not know the correct answer, Huy often uses the method of elimination to increase the possibility of choosing correctly. According to Huy, candidates with an advantage in English foundation can shorten the time to study and take these two types of certificates. Meanwhile, for those with weak English "roots", it is necessary to build a solid foundation of knowledge before entering into in-depth knowledge. "You can start by expanding your vocabulary, then learn grammar firmly and do many types of reading comprehension exercises; combine with listening or watching foreign movies to improve listening skills, increase reflexes", Quang Huy suggested.

Huy won third prize in the national English competition. (Photo: NVCC)

With high scores on both IELTS and SAT, Huy has a big advantage in the upcoming university entrance exam. However, the male student said that he is still focusing on studying subjects at school to achieve high scores in the upcoming national high school graduation exam. "I haven't thought about studying abroad yet. If there are not many changes in the admission method, I will apply to Foreign Trade University and some other economic schools," Huy said. Currently, outside of school hours, Huy participates in the group developing a community class initiated by Olympia Champion 2010 Phan Minh Duc. Also participating in this project are Olympia Champion 2024 Vo Quang Phu Duc and many other students with IELTS scores above 8.0 and SAT scores above 1550. This free class is developed to build basic knowledge, helping students nationwide to get acquainted with the SAT test and review this test effectively.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tu-hoc-nam-sinh-tuyen-quang-dat-8-5-ielts-co-diem-sat-lot-top-1-the-gioi-2350753.html