Vietnamese students succeed in Australian maths competition

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In congratulating the prize-winners at a special ceremony at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi, Mr Craig Chittick, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, said “I congratulate these outstanding students on their high level of achievement in this world class competition. They have achieved much higher results than I did when I entered the competition as a young student”.

Tran Xuan Bach, Student of the Hanoi - Amsterdam High School won with perfect score at the Australian Mathematics Competition.

The AMC is one of the world’s largest school-based mathematics competitions with more than 14 million entries from over 30 countries since its inaugural year in 1978. Vietnamese students achieved outstanding results with eight prize-winners, including 1 junior medallist and one perfect scorer. AMC Year-7 medallist Nguyen Manh Quan was ranked  4th for Year-7 worldwide and the ranked 7th in the Junior category.

This year was the first time the AMC was held in Vietnam, organised by Hanoi Star School, and attracting 1,234 students from 16 cities and provinces.

Separately, the first local sitting of the AIMO at Cau Giay Lower Secondary School in September had 467 entries. There were four prize winners (out of 41 prize-winners world-wide). Fifteen students received High Distinction.

“The overall Vietnam performance was very strong and impressive given this was the first time Vietnamese students have entered the competition”, said Mike Clapper, AMT Executive Director.

For the Vietnamese participants, solving unfamiliar types of maths problems in English posed difficult but exciting challenges. The competitions provide a different perspective on mathematics education to the way maths is generally taught in Vietnam, with a greater emphasis on critical thinking rather than pure mathematics skills. This alternative approach aligns with the Government’s education reform priorities to radically renovate the teaching and learning methods. The competitions also encourage the study of STEM subjects in English – an important component of the 2020 Foreign Languages Project.

Next year’s AMC will be held on July 27 and AIMO on 12 September.