Vietnam's top-scoring student picks KAIST over US elite schools

A Vietnamese student who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT and topped the country's 2026 national high school graduation exam in the sciences has chosen to enroll at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, drawing wide attention.

According to Vietnamese media Thursday, Hoang Huong Giang, a 12th-grader at the gifted high school affiliated with Hanoi National University of Education, scored 29.75 out of 30 in the A01 subject group — mathematics, physics and English — on the 2026 national graduation exam, the highest score in the country.

In this subject combination, which represents the natural sciences track, Hoang earned 9.75 in mathematics, a perfect 10 in physics and a perfect 10 in English. Across four subjects — mathematics, literature, physics and English — she also ranked second nationally with a combined score of 38.25.

Hoang said she had expected a high score but had not anticipated finishing first in the country. "I thought there would be many students who performed better than me," she said.

On her approach to studying, she said understanding the essence of knowledge is key. She said she tries "to dig as deep as possible within the given conditions when approaching a problem," adding that in mathematics, for example, she tries to prove formulas herself rather than simply copying or memorizing them.

Hoang had already built a strong academic reputation before the graduation exam. While at the gifted high school, she achieved a perfect SAT score of 1600 and an IELTS score of 8.0.

She also won a promising talent award in Samsung's youth STEM development program "Solve for Tomorrow" and completed an intensive training course at Samsung's research and development center in Vietnam as a Samsung scholar.

Before the graduation exam results were even announced, Hoang had received full scholarship offers from both KAIST and Seoul National University. She ultimately chose to enroll in KAIST's computer science program. She said her goal is to contribute to new technological advances through AI research.

Her homeroom teacher, Truong Trong Khanh, described Hoang as a student with exceptional critical thinking skills and a strong capacity for self-directed learning. "Her attitude toward life is also mature and sincere, so this result was entirely expected," he said.