The City-ranking Contest for Excellent Students is annually held by the Department of Education & Training - Ho Chi Minh City in order to help students systematize and enhance their knowledge as well as encourage their awareness of self-study. The contest includes: Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science, Literature, History, Geography, English, French, Japanese, and Technology. The tests are based on the content of current textbooks. There were 2,916 students taking the tests at Tran Van On High School in district 1, and 374 others at Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, and the Centre for Career and Technical Education in District 11. In the contest, each district had about 12 contestants per subject. If a district had at least one winner in a subject in the previous school year 2010-2011, they could send 5 more students to take part in the contest in that subject this year. (According to the website http://edu.hochiminhcity.gov.vn)

On March 27, 2012, Tran Anh Khoa of class 9/8 at Cong Hoa campus of The Asian International School, together with over 3,000 other students in Ho Chi Minh City, entered the city-level Contest for Excellent Students 2011-2012 – Ninth Grade; finally, he became the second-prize winner.

Mr. Jefferson R Lotz helped Anh Khoa with his homework

Meeting Anh Khoa, it is absolutely certain that everybody will be attracted by his great educational diligence. He gains excellence in all his subjects, both in the Vietnamese program and the International English program at school. Being one of the greatest representatives of his class, Anh Khoa was extremely honored to join in the contest, thanks to his teachers' faith in his ability. Not only does Khoa have a passion for English but he is also crazy about Math. At the district-level contest, he was unsure in which of his two most interesting subjects he should register, and finally decided to register for both. Although his Math result was not good enough, he brilliantly gained the rank of second-prize winner in both the district & city-level English contests of the school year 2011-2012.

Tran Anh Khoa was in Art class

Tran Anh Khoa said: "I was very nervous when taking part in this contest; thanks to my teachers' enthusiastic supports, I recovered my self-confidence and a level of comfort. During preparation for the test, the school created the best conditions in order to help me to concentrate much on studying English, as well as support me in other subjects to keep pace with my friends' learning."

The process of preparation left him a lot of good memories. Sharing some of these, Khoa said: "It took me a lot of time to study English, but fortunately all teachers did always encourage me to have plenty of confidence. Besides, I was trained by many different teachers having their own exciting teaching methods, which made me so excited, giving me a good opportunity to learn useful things, and I felt a strong loyalty for my friends and The Asian International School as well."

Anh Khoa was working in a team of friends
who took the contest

Concerning the academic environment at The Asian International School, Khoa added: "I am honored to be able to learn at The Asian International School. Having been learning at the school for 9 successive years, I am very proud of and satisfied with its great qualities. Initially, it did not take me a lot of time to accommodate myself to this new environment as all teachers and students here were very good and friendly; they greatly helped me much to integrate rapidly into a modern and dynamic academic environment. I will try my best to prove all my abilities in my beloved school – The Asian International School."

Being a good student and always trying his best in education, Anh Khoa has always spent time on sport as well, especially in soccer and Chinese chess. He revealed a secret: "I received the third prize in Chinese chess for 2011-2012. Whenever being free, I play chess with my relatives and friends. Truly, it helps me relax, and I always try to improve my ability."

Although happy and satisfied with his own achievement, Anh Khoa said in a modest way: "The Contest for Excellent Students was truly a good chance for me to access my own knowledge and absorb some great experiences so that I can strive for greater achievements in the future."

Tran Anh Khoa was surfing the Internet at break

Anh Khoa craves to study abroad to raise his level of knowledge, so, apart from completing other subjects, he always concentrates on studying English. He said: "I have always wanted to win a scholarship to study abroad. Since achieving the second prize in the city-level English contest, I have felt more confident. I have already planned a schedule for myself; that is, every night I spend at least one hour studying English. At school, I work in a team of friends, and ask any questions on what I have not fully understood."

Because Math is his interest, he has set many goals, with the aim of becoming a good computer programmer in the future. We believe that, striding ahead with his constant determination and The Asian International School's great study environment, Tran Anh Khoa will achieve more success in the future.

List of The Asian International School students achieving the city-raking prizes in the academic year 2011-2012:

No.	Full Name	Class	Subject	City-level Prize	Campus
1	Phan Thi Minh Tam	9/16	English	First	Cao Thang
2	Vasudevan Janani Quynh Mai	9/2	English	Second	Pasteur
3	Tran Anh Khoa	9/8	English	Second	Cong Hoa
4	Phung Nguyen Khang	9/5	English	Second	Tran Nhat Duat
5	Ho Vuong Anh Khoa	9/14	English	Third	Cong Hoa
6	Tran Chan Hung	9/19	English	Third	Cao Thang
7	Liu Khai Hung	9/16	English	Third	Cao Thang
8	Tran Ngoc Phuong Thao	9/4	Math	Second	Tran Nhat Duat
9	Nguyen Duy Hai Dang	9/5	Math	Second	Tran Nhat Duat
10	Pham Hoang Phuc	9/11	Chemistry	Third	Cong Hoa