The Tay girl topped the entrance exam for the highest-scoring major at the Faculty of Humanities.

Duong Khanh Huyen, born in 2005, is of the Tay ethnic group and is a former student of the specialized History class at Bac Kan High School for Gifted Students.

Duong Khanh Huyen, the top student in the Public Relations major.

With a total score of 26.4 in Mathematics, Literature, and Chinese, she was admitted to the Public Relations major. This is a "hot" major with the highest admission score at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU-USSH) in 2023.

The Rector of VNU-USSH, Professor Hoang Anh Tuan, presented Khanh Huyen with a certificate of merit for being the top-scoring student in the entrance exam for her major at the opening ceremony of the 2023-2024 academic year.

"I haven't had time to adapt to the environment and life in the capital yet. There's so much new and challenging knowledge that I never encountered in high school. I've met many new friends, and they're all very smart and talented, which gives me more motivation to improve myself," Khánh Huyền confided.
During her high school years, she was the class president, received scholarships from the school for many consecutive semesters, and was an active member of the Bac Kan Specialized Dance Club. She said that achieving the top score in the entrance exam for the specialized History class was her proudest achievement, as it not only demonstrated her continuous efforts but also her good fortune. Before that, Khanh Huyen had focused on Literature but rarely achieved high results and always felt her future was "uncertain" because she hadn't found a suitable path for herself.

Just one month before the 10th grade entrance exam, she decided to switch to studying for the specialized History exam. This was a rather risky and daring decision, causing the female student to stay up many nights studying and cramming for the exam. Similarly, she chose a new path after entering high school. Being a fan of Chinese idols, she tried learning Chinese. Gradually, she found the language interesting and fascinating, so she learned it faster.
In 10th grade, to seriously pursue Chinese, Khanh Huyen convinced her family to let her switch to the D04 subject combination for the entrance exam instead of her initial C00 choice. Along with that, she had to balance studying English and maintaining consistent grades in her other subjects. At that time, there was only one language center in Bac Kan city teaching Chinese. However, due to a shortage of teachers, the center's operations were unstable. Therefore, after completing the basic course there, she decided to self-study and prepare for the certification exam and the high school graduation exam. Khanh Huyen researched free and paid courses online and joined many Chinese language learning groups on social media. In 2022, she passed the HSK 4 Chinese proficiency test, the intermediate level in the 6 HSK levels. This level of Chinese is also sufficient for early admission to many universities.

"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to take the HSK online, which is the riskiest form of testing. Unfortunately, I contracted COVID-19 the day before the exam, so I'm not entirely satisfied with the results," Khánh Huyền recounted.

Thanks to her excellent academic performance, strong training, and foreign language certificates, Khanh Huyen was accepted into universities such as Hanoi University, Hanoi University of Commerce, and Hanoi Open University through early admissions. Based on her high school graduation exam scores, she confidently listed Public Relations as her first choice. She believes that learning Chinese is not only beneficial for Public Relations but can also be a plus for students in many other fields. Many Chinese companies operate in Vietnam, and besides proficiency in Chinese, employers also require dynamism and responsiveness to the continuous changes in the digital age. These are precisely the outstanding qualities of those studying Public Relations.

Khanh Huyen participated in an extracurricular activity at university.

In the near future, Khanh Huyen plans to further improve her foreign language skills, both English and Chinese. Additionally, she wants to learn more professional skills such as office computer skills, or soft skills like presentation and planning. She also wants to find time to join some clubs at school to experience a vibrant student life.