Talking to Hong, we found her to be a very straightforward person with a strong personality. Hong is the eldest of two sisters; her father works as a cook (head chef) in a restaurant, and her mother is a stay-at-home mother. She was aware of the importance of learning from a young age. Besides studying the basic knowledge in textbooks, Hong also bought extra books from used bookstores. She mentioned that her cousin, who specialized in Mathematics at Tran Phu High School for the Gifted, was very good at it, won many awards in competitions, and is now very successful. Therefore, she looked up to her cousin as a role model. Hong loves mathematics and often asks her cousin for help whenever she encounters difficult problems. In the entrance exam for 10th grade at Tran Phu High School for the Gifted in Hai Phong, due to a bit of bad luck, she didn't score enough points to get into the science stream. But that turned out to be the opportunity that led her to her passion for Russian later on, when she studied in the school's specialized Russian class. Hong said: "Because I studied English in both primary and secondary school, I was quite surprised when I first encountered Russian. Russian has some hieroglyphic characters and is very different from English, but the more I learned, the more interesting and fascinating it became."
Before the university entrance exam, Hong applied to six different universities. She was torn between studying economics and tourism. Ultimately, her passion for tourism and her childhood dream of becoming an excellent tour guide led her to choose the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Despite being an excellent student throughout her three years of high school and achieving top marks in the university entrance exam, Hong shared her secret to studying: "balancing learning and playing." She never puts pressure on herself during her studies, always maintaining a relaxed state of mind. After school, she often helps her mother with household chores or goes online to relieve stress. Furthermore, Hong mentioned that she doesn't stay up too late studying, always getting enough sleep, which makes absorbing knowledge easier.
Speaking about her study methods for the humanities subjects, Hong shared: "I try to focus on listening to lectures in class and understand the lesson immediately, extracting the main points to remember and knowing how to apply them to different types of exercises. When I have free time, I go online to look up practice exam questions to practice. Through these exercises, I can supplement a lot of new knowledge and realize my knowledge gaps so I can fill them in. For foreign languages (Russian), I try to learn from the basics, understanding the different parts of speech. Because learning a foreign language is a long process, Hong is very conscious of practicing diligently from the beginning, trying to speak as much as possible to memorize. For Literature, I always try to remember the main points, read additional reference books, and when doing assignments, I just focus on developing those main points."
From her love of traveling to discover new things about life, culture, and people to her dream of becoming a tour guide, Hong says she will have to try her best in her studies. Besides textbook knowledge, she will participate in practical activities and extracurricular activities to help herself become more confident and proactive, and to accumulate life experience.Speaking about her plans for her upcoming studies in a new environment, the top-scoring student in Group D said: in addition to her existing foundation in Russian, she will try to learn more English to better serve her future career.
