The valedictorian of the first round of the 2025 Ho Chi Minh City National University's capacity assessment exam is... a former valedictorian.

Top scorer of the 2025 Ho Chi Minh City National University's first aptitude test - Photo: FBNV

According to the regulations of the Ho Chi Minh City National University's capacity assessment examination council, information about the top students of this exam is not made public, so usually the top students themselves confirm it.

5 times of competency assessment, 2 times valedictorian

Last night, April 16, on his personal page, Phan Le Thuc Bao (currently a second-year student majoring in computer science at the University of Natural Sciences - Ho Chi Minh City National University) announced that he had won the "double valedictorian" award in the competency assessment exam organized by Ho Chi Minh City National University.

Thuc Bao announced the detailed results of his Ho Chi Minh City National University's first round of the 2025 aptitude test: 233 points in Vietnamese, 257 points in English, 270 points in math, and 300 points in scientific thinking. The total score achieved was 1,060 (on a scale of 1,200).

Immediately after the above information was announced, the aptitude test review community immediately recognized an "acquaintance": Bao was also the valedictorian of the 2023 Ho Chi Minh City National University aptitude test.

In the second round of the Ho Chi Minh City National University Competency Assessment Exam in 2023, Phan Le Thuc Bao - then a 12th grade student at Quoc Hoc High School for the Gifted ( Hue ) - became the valedictorian with the highest score in the history of this exam with a score of 1,133/1,200. In the first round of the 2023 exam, Thuc Bao scored 1,052 points.

Thuc Bao said that up to now, he has participated in the Ho Chi Minh City National University's aptitude test 5 times and has been valedictorian twice. This is an unprecedented outstanding achievement in this exam.

Take the exam this year to learn about the new exam format structure.

Talking to Tuoi Tre Online , Thuc Bao said: "I participated in the Ho Chi Minh City National University's capacity assessment exam this year, firstly to understand the structure and new way of making questions of the exam, secondly to become a companion and encourage my younger siblings who are taking the exam, but I have no intention of using it to apply to other majors or other schools. I am confident that I will achieve a good score, but it is also surprising that I achieved this top score."

The valedictorian of the first round of the Ho Chi Minh City National University's aptitude test this year especially impressed with a perfect score of 300/300 in the scientific thinking section - the section that most candidates consider to be the "most difficult test" in the Ho Chi Minh City National University's aptitude test.

This exam is not only a test of knowledge, but also a measure of analytical, critical and logical thinking skills at a high level.

Sharing his experience in taking the competency test, the valedictorian, who is now a student in the advanced program in computer science at the University of Natural Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University), said that the three factors to do well in the competency test are to master basic knowledge, cultivate reasoning ability and prepare a stable mentality.

"The results of the competency assessment test are a long process of accumulating knowledge from my 12 years of study, in which the three years of high school were the focus.

To solve a large number of questions of 120 questions in 150 minutes of the ability assessment test is really stressful. Candidates need to concentrate highly and have endurance to not get exhausted in the final stages.

Therefore, I think it is necessary to prepare knowledge and skills carefully and practice taking many mock tests, not only to get used to the time pressure but also to help each candidate find their own exam room strategy such as time and order of doing each part," Bao said.

Through the process of reviewing and solving mock tests, Bao realized that the competency assessment exam requires candidates to have comprehensive knowledge and abilities. Therefore, Bao absolutely does not study by rote or study "biasedly" but tries to learn well the basic core knowledge of math, Vietnamese, English and has a firm grasp of the nature and ways of thinking and reasoning.

Bao also shared: "You need to promote your strengths and improve your weaknesses, from there you can plan your review with the right focus and allocate your time effectively. This year's exam does not require much knowledge from many subjects, so I focus on improving my test-taking skills and exam strategies.

Besides, I think the most important thing is to be comfortable, so studying must be accompanied by joy. Because if you are too stressed, it will be difficult to achieve high results in any exam."

Student Phan Le Thuc Bao (left) in an online consultation session sharing "smart review strategies to achieve high scores in the competency assessment exam" organized by the Faculty of Information Technology, University of Natural Sciences - Screenshot

Know how to think - not just study for exams

Currently, Thuc Bao is an active member in the admissions and career counseling activities of the Information Technology Department of the University of Science (Ho Chi Minh City National University).

As a familiar guest in consulting sessions, sharing "smart review strategies to achieve high scores in competency assessment exams", Thuc Bao said that the learning motto he always pursues is "learning is learning the essence, knowing how to think - not just learning the form to take the exam".

He believes that this way of learning helps students understand deeply - remember for a long time - and apply flexibly in all types of questions.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thu-khoa-dot-1-thi-danh-gia-nang-luc-dai-hoc-quoc-gia-tp-hcm-2025-la-cuu-thu-khoa-2025041713393729.htm