According to his teacher, Do Duc Tu, HUST Thinking Skill Assessment 2022’s valedictorian, is a man of few words, but a passionate student with great determination. Despite earning a high score on one of the most difficult university entrance exams in Vietnam, Tu still had a regret...

A sudden party!

Early morning of July 24, Do Duc Tu - a 12th student at Bac Giang High School for the Gifted - was woken up by a phone call from a HUST teacher who announced that he had become the valedictorian of the HUST Thinking Skill Assessment (TSA). “Hearing the news, I was wide awake, just wanting to scream, but I had to hold back because I was on the phone with a teacher!” - Tu recounted.

Tu's mother sat right next to her son when he received the phone. Looking at his happy face, she could guess part of the story. She immediately told her husband and... prepared to go to the market for a celebration dinner!

Tu continuously received congratulatory messages from his teachers, friends, and relatives. “Everyone knows after a post about the TSA’s valedictorian was published on HUST’s Facebook page. I've been replying to congratulatory messages all day and it's still not over!" - Tu happily told.

“If only I had come up with a solution sooner!”

Do Duc Tu is especially fond of solving real-life mathematic problems similar to those questions in the TSA. He can do Math all day. During the exam preparation period from grade 9 to grade 10, Tu was so absorbed in his studies that he lost 3kg in just a few months!

What Tu enjoys the most is self-study. At first, self-studying online materials made Tu "dizzy", as the young student did not know where to start. Tu later knew how to be more selective to find reference books or trusted documents.

Do Duc Tu and teacher Vu Thi Van

The person who sparked Tu's passion for Math was Ms. Vu Thi Van, his high school math teacher from his 10th to 12th grade. Tu has learned from her to be careful and enthusiastic in each goal he pursues. He always remembered her saying: "I believe in you!", which is the driving force for Tu to strive every day!

Tu is very passionate when it comes to Math. What impressed him the most in the TSA is the practicality of the questions in the Math section. And yet, he still felt regret because he did not get a perfect score in Math. After submitting the assignment, Tu calculated that he would "only" earn 14.6/15 points! Just right after he finished his lunch, preparing for the exam in the afternoon, he reviewed the question and immediately found the solution. “If only I had come up with a solution sooner!”, he regretted that he could not earn the perfect score in Math.

Determination to conquer HUST

Some of Tu’s classmates won the National prize for gifted students and were admitted to HUST by early admission. Tu was happy for his friend but also a bit impatient. He secretly wished to quickly take the TSA to enter the university he loved.

Do Duc Tu và mother

Tu's parents are very dedicated to their child's education. The day Tu sat for the TSA, the whole family got up at 4 AM to bring Tu to Hanoi. During the time he took the test, Tu's family visited HUST’s campus and imagined what his life would be like as a HUSTer.

“I am impressed with the friendly staff and teachers,” Tu shared about his experience on the test day. It turned out that Tu had dropped all of his pens before entering the Natural Science exam room and one teacher gave him a pen so that he could complete his test.

Part of the reasons for Tu's determination to conquer HUST is his admiration for his brother-in-law, a former student of HUST’s School of Information Communication and Technology and now a department-level leader of FPT Corporation, one of the biggest IT companies in Vietnam.

Tu has been "targeting" HUST for a long time by carefully researching its study programs, disciplines, and admission methods. His brother’s stories about student life at HUST and opportunities after graduation… further motivated his dream of becoming an IT student at this long-tradition university.

Tu was so excited to find out he was the valedictorian before he even knew his test scores! “Now I can imagine the life of student Do Duc Tu. I will learn to live independently, do everything by myself, and take an IELTS test…”. For a person who often does household chores for the whole family and enjoys self-studying, Tu’s student life should not be too challenging!

Always thinking to himself: Consider the exam as an experience, and the results will exceed expectations. He could not wait to sit for the difficult HUST exams. Tu joked: “My teachers used to say that if studying at HUST, be prepared to fail and retake the exam. I'm curious to know if people are exaggerating!".

He imagined one day, during his school break, he went home and told his brother about his student life, the people he meets, and the knowledge he gained at HUST to raise the love for this university in his younger brother. "It would be great if we could study HUST together!", Tu wished.

HUST’s TSA (Thinking Skill Assessment) is a new admission method that was introduced by HUST in 2020. The test includes the main part in Mathematics and Comprehensive reading, and an optional part to choose between Natural Sciences and Language, depending on the candidates’ intended majors.

The TSA’s results are widely accepted by 20 Vietnamese universities in the science and technology field. HUST’s TSA is organized after the national college entrance exam, thus giving the candidates another opportunity to enter their favorite universities

With this new exam, HUST is the first Vietnamese university to ever win THE Asia Award’s student recruitment campaign for 2021.

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