Nguyen Le Ha Chi (born 2004) is a student in class 12 Geography of Hanoi Amsterdam High School for the Gifted.

Reminiscing about her middle school days, Chi talked about her timidity and self-consciousness. She was terrified of public speaking, or even simply expressing her opinions. Chi often worried about her viewpoint not being convincing and captivating enough for listeners, so she remained silent.

However, since participating in debating in her 8th grade, Chi’s eloquence to deliver her point of view had improved. She began to open up, albeit not completely overcoming her “glossophobia”.

Having Geography as her strong suit from an early age, Chi started engaging in contests for excellent students at all levels from 10th grade and won many prizes.

- First Prize in Geography at the city-level competition for excellent students (2018-2019)

- Second Prize in Geography at the city-level competition for excellent students (2020-2021)

- Third Prize in Geography at the national-level competition for excellent students  (2020-2021)

- Gold Medal of the INTARG (International Invention and Innovation Competition) in 2020

- Gold Medal of the INOVA Croatia (International Inventions Competition) in 2020

- Silver Medal of the AIGC (Advanced Innovation Global Competition) in 2020

According to the Amsterdam schoolgirl, the most efficient way to learn Geography is to improve and hone your Atlas-reading skills, then analyze tables, charts, and maps accordingly to derive the necessary information. Exercises and questions in Geography are categorized into different types, so it is best to establish a separate outline for each one and apply the core knowledge learned in lessons to that outline.

“For me, this is a very effective learning method because instead of memorizing too much information, I utilize my analytical and synthetic thinking to solve the problems. I also spend time updating the latest news around the world. Additionally, in my case, traveling is a fascinating way to study Geography as well, for this is when I can experience the surroundings and practice what I have learned in reality,” Chi said.

Despite her relatively competent foreign language ability, Chi plans to continue mastering and advancing her foreign language skills. Besides English, she also studies Japanese and is aiming to take a Japanese certificate examination next year.

After the opportunity to gain many experiences through competitions for excellence students at school, district and national levels since secondary school, as well as various debate contests, Chi steadily became more composed and confident when facing important examinations.

Embarking on the final year of high school, Chi dedicates herself to maintaining her usual routine, which includes: making a to-do list for the next day on Google Calendar before going to bed; self-studying every afternoon to complete mandatory and extra homework, then practicing with more tasks in reference books. The evening is for extra classes, as well as extracurricular work for projects and clubs.

Chi also has some habits that few young people can follow, such as: turning off all phone notifications when studying and working, doing homework right after class, spending 30 minutes a day reading newspapers, rewarding yourself after studying/finishing project work or achieving a good result…

Ha Chi deems herself to be quite the perfectionist, so she would be disappointed after getting a bad mark. Therefore, Chi would review the mistakes in her tests—especially in Math and Physics—and record them in a separate notebook. “It helps me to commit the wrong answers to my memory and learn from them. For the types of questions I often make mistakes, I would spend more time practicing until I master them to avoid losing points,” She added.

Ha Chi has enthusiastically participated in many extracurricular activities, namely: Speaker 1v1 Unboxing Day 2020; leader group of speakers in Geography MASKA 2020 and Unboxing Day 2021; Head of Speakers Committee in MASKA 2021 of the High School Help Kit project; Head of Organizing Committee of the Bon Appetit project; Head of Finance - External Relations Department of the Hear Me project; Vice President of Human Resources Department of the Puzzles Ams Club.

Despite studying with many excellent students, Ha Chi has never suffered from peer pressure. Quite the opposite, the Gen Z girl feels very fortunate to have met and interacted with so many academic and non-scholastic talents to exchange knowledge in their strengths, memorable experiences, as well as effective learning methods.

For the future, Chi has set her heart on applying for a scholarship to study abroad. She hopes that her Third Prize in Geography from the national contest will be a plus point in making her dream of studying overseas come true.

Source: Tien Phong

Translator: Tran Linh Ngan