From a Bachelor of Mathematics, he "turned" to Philosophy, and the 28-year-old man graduated as valedictorian of the School of Humanities.

In 2014, while he was a second-year student majoring in Mathematics at the University of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Hoang Tung Duong happened to read the work Critique of Pure Reason by philosopher Immanuel Kant - the foundational work of classical German philosophy. He was gradually drawn into the content of the book and discovered many values. That was the moment Duong realized that philosophical knowledge had a strange attraction.
“The greatest attraction of philosophy to me is that it answers necessary questions. When reading the works of philosopher Immanuel Kant, I can answer questions like: What is a human being? What can a human being perceive? What are the limits of human cognition? What should a human being do? What should a human being hope for? These questions are quite general, but if you think deeply, they are very interesting,” Duong said.
Every day, outside of school and part-time work, whenever he had free time, Duong would go online and search for philosophical works. The more he read, the more he wanted to learn.
In 2017, Duong graduated from the University of Natural Sciences, then worked as a math teacher for 2 years. There was a time when the thought of “what is my true passion” crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it due to the pressure of having a stable job.
It was not until 2019 that the great pain of her grandmother's death made Duong realize that she needed to change: "At that time, I thought that human life is limited. I want to live with passion, to do what I like," Duong confided.
So in 2019, Duong took the national high school exam as an independent candidate to apply for admission to the Philosophy major at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Starting from the Natural Sciences block, the Philosophy major also had the A00 block (Math - Physics - Chemistry) so Duong did not have much difficulty in studying. He scored 23 points that year, enough to be admitted to the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Talking about the secret to achieving an average GPA of 3.84/4.0, Tung Duong confided that he himself has no special secret. In fact, Duong does not study by the method of "studying day and night". Instead, he concentrates very much in class, takes careful notes, and asks the teacher about any issues he feels unclear about to understand thoroughly. When he gets home, Duong supplements and expands his knowledge by looking up, reading more documents and doing his own research.
According to him, most of the exams at school are written, essays and oral exams. Therefore, talking to teachers and asking questions thoroughly to grasp the knowledge right in class is very necessary. In addition, the foundation of knowledge in Mathematics also helps Duong a lot in studying Philosophy, because there are subjects that will use a lot of formulas or symbols in Mathematics to argue.
“I think some people find Philosophy difficult because they haven’t really focused and determined systematic thinking. Philosophy is logical, and you just need to grasp this logic to understand it. If you study by trying to remember each small piece of knowledge, it is difficult, but if you remember the logic and follow it, you will see that the knowledge becomes simpler,” Duong shared.
 

Outside of school hours, Duong regularly participates in class, faculty and school activities, especially student Philosophy Olympiads.
Besides, scientific research is also one of his favorite activities. In the 2021-2022 school year, Hoang Tung Duong won the first prize of the faculty and the first prize of the whole school in the Student Scientific Research Competition, with the personal topic "Philosophy of Paul Karl Feyerabend".
At the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Tung Duong is one of the “scholarship hunters” when he received the Academic Encouragement Scholarship for all 8/8 semesters. To receive this scholarship, students need to have an average academic score in the top 5% of the class, with no subject below a B. In addition, Duong was also awarded a scholarship from the Pony Chung Scholarship Fund, Korea with a support level of 600 USD/student (about 15 million VND).
Tung Duong shared that philosophy is very close to real life. “For example, a person has to make a decision: should he follow his interests or follow his responsibilities. There are also certain schools of thought that support following responsibilities, and there are schools that support following interests. We will encounter these situations a lot in life. Philosophical knowledge will help us make more reasonable and better decisions,” he cited.
Duong believes that if young people are initially interested in philosophy, they can read books that have philosophical elements integrated with everyday stories (like Sophie's World - a novel by writer Jostein Gaarder), then gradually delve deeper.
Talking about his future plans, Duong said he will continue to study for a master's degree to fulfill his dream of becoming a Philosophy lecturer at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities or another university.