Writing 100 essays in 6 months, a female student achieved an IELTS score of 9.0 on her first attempt.

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - Nguyen Linh Chi (17 years old, Hanoi) achieved an IELTS score of 9.0 after only 6 months of self-study.

Nguyen Linh Chi is a student in class 11A9 at the High School for Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University , Hanoi . On the evening of February 1st, Chi was surprised to receive a perfect IELTS score. Previously, her target score was only 8.0-8.5.

Chi achieved a perfect score of 9.0 in all three skills: Listening, Reading, and Writing, with a score of 8.0 in Writing. This was Chi's first time taking the IELTS exam, after about 6 months of preparation.

Nguyen Linh Chi - a student in class 11A9, Foreign Language Specialized High School (Photo: Provided by the interviewee).

Having started preparing for the IELTS exam in July 2025, Linh Chi has always felt the pressure of balancing her schoolwork with her exam preparation plan, aiming to enter the exam at the end of January 2026 in the best possible state of readiness.

During those six months of self-study, the biggest challenge for the 11th-grade student wasn't the difficulty of the exam, but the problem of time management.

From the beginning, Chi established strict study discipline. Each week, she tried to complete two listening, reading, and writing exercises. For speaking skills, Chi maintained daily practice, dedicating about an hour to monologues, asking and answering questions as if in a real exam.

In parallel, Chi often proactively invites a group of classmates to practice speaking together to improve her communication reflexes and get used to exchanging opinions.

However, a packed school schedule and frequent exams disrupted Chi's plans. During those times, Chi chose to catch up on her studies, even staying up all night to complete each small goal she had set for herself.

Nguyen Linh Chi practices speaking daily using the monologue method, asking and answering questions as if she were in a real exam room (Photo: Provided by the interviewee).

"My body was exhausted, but I kept telling myself to just keep going a little longer, just a little more and I would get through it," Chi recalled, viewing it as a period of mental fortitude.

Of the four skills, writing has always been Chi's biggest challenge. Throughout six months of preparation, Chi completed nearly 100 essays, maintaining a consistent pace of two topics per week, equivalent to four complete essays.

Chi's principle for practicing exam questions is to always time herself to get used to the pressure of the exam room. After completing the essay, she proactively uses AI tools to check for errors and suggest ways to develop her arguments, but still self-evaluates her work based on IELTS scoring criteria.

However, according to Chi, AI cannot completely replace the human thinking process, especially for highly academic topics. These topics require knowledge from multiple disciplines, ranging from economics , medicine, and law to philosophy.

To broaden her perspective, Chi often reads scientific articles in international journals or follows YouTube channels specializing in academic analysis, viewing it as a way to accumulate foundational knowledge for developing her arguments.

Since childhood, Linh Chi has had a habit of reading classic literary works in English, among which "Pride and Prejudice" (Jane Austen) is her favorite book.

Through this work, Chi first encountered a vocabulary system with a classical flavor, reflecting the elegant expression and communication standards of the 19th-century English aristocracy. Her love for English literature was also nurtured from this experience.

Reading the original text not only helped Chi expand her vocabulary but also honed her ability to perceive linguistic nuances, understanding how a word can change meaning depending on the context and the character's emotions.

For Chi, each page of the book is like a living language class. The student maintains the habit of looking up new words and carefully noting them down in her notebook.

Over time, the vocabulary accumulated by Chi not only helped her form a deep foundation for linguistic thinking, but also played a crucial role in her journey to master academic English.

Chi has had a habit of reading classic English books since she was a child, especially English literature (Photo: Provided by the interviewee).

Outside of school, Linh Chi finds balance through hobbies like crocheting and crafting – passions she's enjoyed since childhood. She primarily learns these skills through English-language instructional videos.

This is also how Chi naturally learns the language, from specialized terminology to everyday expressions used by native speakers.

At the age of 17, Chi had clearly defined her future path: to become an English teacher.

“Both my paternal and maternal grandmothers were teachers. They were ideal role models who nurtured my dream of pursuing a career in English Language Teaching since kindergarten,” Chi shared.

Mai Thu Duyen

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/viet-100-bai-luan-trong-6-thang-nu-sinh-dat-90-ielts-ngay-lan-thi-dau-20260208001541761.htm