Valedictorian of 10th grade majoring in Humanities achieved near-perfect score

"This result exceeded my expectations," said Minh Anh, class 9D, Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted.
The female student assessed that the Geography exam was not too difficult, the knowledge was focused on grades 8 and 9, but there was one tricky question.
With a table of data on crude oil and natural gas production in the period 2010-2021, the question requires candidates to choose a chart type to draw. This type of question requires a combined column and line chart, but most of my friends mistakenly chose the combined column and line chart.
What I regret is that I didn't divide my time properly. In the first two sentences, Minh Anh was 5-10 minutes over schedule, so she was rushed in the following sentences.
"There were only 75 minutes left for the last three 2-point questions. I wrote them in a hurry so I didn't finish my ideas before time ran out," the female student recalled.
This is the first year that the Humanities Specialized School has recruited 10th graders with only one specialized subject exam, instead of having three general subjects: Math, Literature and English like previous years. Minh Anh's score is the highest among more than 1,500 candidates. The female student said she loved Geography since grade 6, when she first entered the Ams secondary school. Studying general Geography, Minh Anh learned about natural phenomena in life, and explained why in the summer, days are longer than nights. In higher grades, she expanded her knowledge about regions, economic sectors..., and developed her synthetic thinking.
"I find this subject interesting. I can study it for hours without getting bored," Minh Anh said.
The love and admiration for the Geography majors in the high school section of the school gave Minh Anh more motivation to study well. In 8th grade, Minh Anh participated in the Geography competition with her 9th graders and won the district's consolation prize.
With the goal of being the top scorer in the city's excellent student exam next year, the female student is determined to study hard. Minh Anh admits that for specialized subjects, in addition to focusing on listening to lectures in class, she has to study a lot on her own. She divides her timetable each day and is determined not to touch her phone while studying at home.
In addition, the female student asks for books, documents, and exam questions from her seniors to practice. On days when she has to study all day at school, she takes advantage of the afternoon to "plow" more.
"Every day I spend 5-6 hours studying Geography," Minh Anh said. "I want to study thoroughly and understand deeply to be able to do difficult questions that require high application."
For any content she did not understand, Minh Anh went online to watch videos and lectures. Instead of memorizing, she looked for evidence, wrote down answers based on her understanding, and compared them with the answers. A few days later, the female student went back to the review to make sure she had remembered the knowledge.
"It's easier to remember if you reason by yourself, give examples and write them down," said the female student.
Minh Anh's diligence and efforts helped her win first prize in the district and city level excellent student contests last school year.
As Minh Anh's Geography teacher since 8th grade, Ms. Ta Quynh Trang clearly felt her student's determination. She assessed that the female student had good Geography thinking, was hardworking, had goals, so she made rapid progress. She always proactively asked her to give her more questions and correct her after class.
"She must love the subject very much to have enough patience to do so throughout the past school year," said Ms. Trang.
Minh Anh is currently waiting for the results from the National University of Education High School and Hanoi - Amsterdam. She aims to take the national excellent student exam in Geography and win a scholarship to study abroad when she enters high school.