On July 16, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the 2025 high school graduation exam scores. And Ngo Thanh Thai, a student at Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted, was one of 141 candidates nationwide who scored 10 in English.
Thai said that although he was confident in his work, he was still surprised to get a perfect score.
“When I checked the answers, I didn’t remember the whole question clearly, so I was only sure I got the difficult ones right. I also often made 1-2 small mistakes, so I didn’t dare expect 10 points,” the male student shared.
Ngo Thanh Thai, class 12A1, Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted achieved a perfect score in English (Photo: NVCC).
Like many others, the male student assessed that this year's English test was relatively difficult, especially for those who do not have enough reading comprehension skills.
Although the content is not much, it is very long and contains some difficult vocabulary, rarely found in high school programs. She also added: "The test uses a small font and tight spacing between letters, making it even harder to read."
Regarding the phrase "greenwashing", which is considered a difficult keyword that made many candidates cry, Thai said that "greenwashing" is not too difficult because the word is explained twice in the test.
According to a male student at Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted, the reading comprehension part of the English exam is difficult for two main reasons:
First, the article contains many rare words, which, although not directly affecting the answer to the question, can easily cause confusion and confusion.
Second, the questions have very similar answers - that is, the choices are all close to correct, differing only in a small detail. She said that for difficult questions, 3 out of 4 answers are reasonable, but only one answer covers all the information.
Before getting a 10 in English on the high school graduation exam, Thai had a 7.5 IELTS score (Photo: NVCC).
Based on his experience, Thai said that with unfamiliar vocabulary, he often uses the following methods to handle it:
The first is to use “context clues” - rely on surrounding words to guess the meaning.
Second, if the above method does not work, Thai will skip that word because many difficult words in common lessons will usually be explained later or do not affect the answer, especially adjectives or adverbs.
She also shared: "Usually nouns or verbs will play a more important role."
The third way is to use background knowledge about the topic of the reading. That is, you will look at what the passage is about (for example, the environment, technology, or economics ) to infer the approximate meaning of the word.
In case you don't have background knowledge, you will try to compare and contrast that vocabulary with another more familiar word or phrase. Through that, you can infer the opposite meaning through the logical relationship between the words.
And finally, if all else fails, I’ll analyze the word’s form – for example, by separating the prefix, suffix, or root to guess its meaning. Even if I don’t get the exact meaning, this will give me a rough idea of the nuance or function of the word in the sentence.
Talking about the process of preparing for the exam, Thai realized that the most important thing to do well in English is to be exposed to this foreign language every day.
From primary school to the beginning of secondary school, I gradually switched all my entertainment habits to English content, from YouTube to social networks. Thanks to that, I accumulated a large amount of English vocabulary and structures.
“One of my hobbies is reading English novels. So my reading comprehension is very good,” Thai said.
Besides, having an IELTS 7.5 certificate in advance helps me reduce pressure and enter the exam room with a relaxed mindset.
It is known that in addition to 10 points in English, this male student also achieved 9 points in math and 7.75 in physics in this year's high school graduation exam.
Regarding aspirations, Thai has clearly defined his goal since high school, which is Hanoi University of Science and Technology.
Thu Hien
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nam-sinh-75-ielts-chia-se-bi-quyet-gianh-diem-10-tieng-anh-tot-nghiep-thpt-20250717192242472.htm
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