Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Nam Long, a 6th grade student at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted, achieved a TOIEC score of 920/990 and aims to achieve a perfect score in two years.
Long said that taking the TOEIC certificate exam started from a bet between his father and son. His father believed that his English ability was better than his son's, but Long thought he could "give" his father 50 points. Accepting the challenge, the father and son took the exam on February 6. As a result, Long achieved a total score of 920, of which his Listening skill was 485/495 and his Reading score was 435/495. The father achieved a total score of 840.
"This result is not too surprising because I also guessed that I could get about 900 points," Long said.
Currently, the common score that many universities in the world require for international students is 550-750 or higher. In Vietnam, the output standard for university students ranges from 450-700, depending on the school.
Nam Long and his TOEIC test results on February 6. Photo: Family provided
The 6th grader said that before taking the TOEIC test, he only looked at the structure and format of the questions but did not practice. The reason is that Long uses this language every day and can express everything easily and naturally in English.
In addition to studying in class and talking to his family, Long uses English, for example when talking to friends during recess or when playing sports. He also watches videos about programming, the world, and space science on Youtube and watches movies on Netflix, also in English.
"Being good at English helps me read, watch all documents, videos , movies, and music easily. That's why I like this language," said the male student, aiming to achieve a perfect score on the TOEIC in two years.
Sharing more details, Mr. Nguyen Binh Nam, 40 years old, said that his son was exposed to English from about 2 years old, when he started going to kindergarten. Every week, at school, there are two periods for children to be exposed to foreign languages.
From the ages of 4 to 6, Long and three friends living nearby studied with an American teacher. After the teacher returned to Vietnam, Long’s family sent him to a foreign language center for a year, but it was ineffective. In second grade, Long studied with a Filipino teacher for 3-4 months and then stopped.
According to him, Nam Long talks a lot, is very talkative and is willing to communicate and speak English. This is an advantage when learning a foreign language. On the other hand, Long has a good memory. Mr. Nam said that his son once read a 60-volume series and boasted that he knew the whole series by heart. When his father tried to pick up any volume and read a paragraph, Long could say the next sentence.
"My child's English ability is good but it's not something miraculous. He has a good memory and his family cares for him, giving him a learning path early on, plus the advantages of the environment and friends around him," Mr. Nam acknowledged.
Long is passionate and self-taught in programming. Photo: Family provided
Mr. Nam added that his son has been passionate about game programming since he was 6 years old.
"Recently, Long wanted to try his hand at game design so he asked to play games more. I agreed to let him play games two hours a day because his academic results were still okay," he said.
Last semester, Long achieved an average score of 9.2. In addition to Math and natural sciences, which are his strengths, Long also does well in History and Geography, partly because he has traveled to many places with his family. At each location, his parents introduced him to and suggested that he learn about the history and geography of that place.
The father affirmed that the family wanted their child to develop freely, not placing too much emphasis on academic achievement, as long as he was not at the bottom of the class. He determined that the most important thing was for parents to spend time actually playing and talking with their child, instead of keeping an eye on him.
"Each child's intelligence may be different, but if they are encouraged and accompanied properly by their parents and those around them, they will all develop well," the father shared.
Le Nguyen
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