"I could only answer the first part. I didn't know what to say for the rest. I felt very helpless," recalled Nguyen Kim Ngoc, who recently achieved an IELTS score of 7.5.
Nguyen Kim Ngoc achieved an IELTS score of 7.5 starting from zero.
I've been very sad and disappointed before.
Kim Ngoc (25 years old), a graduate in International Business from the University of Economics and Law (Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City), was born and raised in a district of Ben Tre province. Learning English from a young age was something completely new to Kim Ngoc.
"In junior high school, learning English was mainly about grammar and memorizing vocabulary, so I could still get 6 or 7 points and didn't feel too bad about it. But the shock came in 10th grade, when I was a literature student at Ben Tre Specialized High School. On my first English test, I only got 5 points, while my classmates were all very good at it. I realized that my situation with English was very bad and I cried a lot," Kim Ngoc recalled.
Later, the girl born in 1998 studied with a tutor but couldn't improve her English, which was almost at a complete zero. "That year, I felt very lucky that I applied to university based on my academic transcript with the A-block subjects and got accepted. However, in the high school graduation exam, my D-block subjects (mathematics, literature, English) didn't score high," she recalled.
In her first year of university, according to school regulations, students had to take an English placement test to be assigned to Business English classes (divided into levels 1-2-3-4). Ngoc failed the test on her first attempt, not enough to get into the lowest level, Business English level 1.
Ngoc was very disappointed in herself and had to take an intensive English course for about four months at school before retaking the exam. She studied with classmates from remote areas who knew almost nothing about foreign languages.
A life-changing moment
After that review session, Ngoc took the exam and scored enough points to enter the Business English 2 class. She also tried her best to study diligently in class, practicing pronunciation more, but still lacked fluency in speaking. "This made me very discouraged and insecure. I thought I couldn't learn English anymore," Ngoc recalled.
However, one requirement is that students like Ngoc must have an IELTS score of 5.5 to graduate from university. Otherwise, all their efforts over the past four years will be wasted.
One afternoon, she went for coffee and met Phan Huynh Thao, a close friend from her specialized high school in Ben Tre. She was a girl who excelled at English and had a great passion for the language.
"When I told Thao that I was feeling discouraged, that I was studying English constantly but not getting any better, and that I didn't know if I would be able to graduate, Thao immediately said she would teach me. At that time, Thao was a student majoring in international economics at the Foreign Trade University's Ho Chi Minh City campus and had a part-time job as a tutor. I immediately agreed," Ngoc recounted.
Ngoc (far left) and her colleagues. Phan Huynh Thao, her close friend who helped her discover her love for English (second from the right).
Twice a week, Ngoc takes two bus rides from her dormitory in Zone B, Ho Chi Minh City National University (bordering Binh Duong province) and then walks another distance to the student study area of the Foreign Trade University in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, to study with her friend.
In the first session, Ngoc focused on speaking, not grammar or vocabulary. With encouragement and detailed feedback after each speaking exercise, Ngoc gradually gained confidence. She suddenly thought, "Oh, so I can speak English too!" For the first time, she felt a glimmer of hope about her language learning.
Her friend gave Ngoc lots of homework, reading materials, vocabulary to learn, and sentence structures. What was special was that her friend's emotional explanations of vocabulary helped Ngoc avoid getting bored with studying.
"My friends in the dorm at that time were used to me waking up, having breakfast, and studying English from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., taking a short break, then studying English again from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Every night, I would sit and study again from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. I memorized many pages of vocabulary, many sentence structures, and could memorize a very long passage of new sentences," she recounted.
After one-on-one tutoring, Ngoc switched to group classes with five friends. Once her speaking skills improved, she moved on to improving her listening, reading, and writing skills. Her initial goal was just an IELTS score of 5.5 to graduate from university, but after a year of hard work and dedication, she achieved an IELTS score of 6.0 on her first attempt (speaking 6.5; listening 6.0; reading 6.0; writing 6.0). Ngoc realized that when English learners overcome their inner insecurities about "I can't learn a foreign language," their learning becomes much more effective.
"From zero to hero"
Ngoc (on the right) and her close friend Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong
Dissatisfied with her 6.0 IELTS score, Ngoc continued to self-study English. After graduating from university, Ngoc retook the IELTS exam several times but still couldn't surpass the 6.0 mark. She decided to temporarily stop her part-time jobs to focus solely on studying. On New Year's Day, January 1st, 2020, Ngoc burst into tears upon receiving an email announcing her results: she had achieved a 7.0 IELTS score.
In the latter half of 2022, in her most recent exam attempt, Ngoc achieved an IELTS score of 7.5 – something she never dared to dream of three years prior. From being a student of her best friend, Ngoc has become her colleague, and together they teach English to many people who are still struggling with the language.
"From being someone with no foundation in English and ineffective at learning, I'm now like someone newly in love, always finding something fascinating about the language. I can read books and watch English movies all day without getting bored – something that was terrifying for me before. I can empathize with many people who have studied for a long time but still can't confidently use English, and I can help them rekindle their passion for the subject," Ngoc said.
Commenting on Ngoc, Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong, a graduate of the International Relations Department at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, a close friend and colleague at an English center, said: "It's common for someone to go from zero to a 5.0-5.5 IELTS score, even though it requires a lot of hard work. Going from zero to a 6.0 IELTS score is much more challenging."
"Anyone who has studied and practiced for the IELTS understands that going from a 6.0 score to 6.5, then 7.0, and finally 7.5 requires a long period of hard work, willpower, and incredible effort. I always tell my friends, 'Ngoc went from zero to 7.5 in IELTS, like a 'zero to hero,' conquering her fears, winning against herself, and turning her dreams into reality step by step,'" Thuy Duong shared.
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