Four students from Taichung First Senior High School won three gold medals and one silver at International Science Olympiads last month.

Tzang Chih-chen and Lee Hsiang-yu won gold medals at the International Biology Olympiad held in Szeged, Hungary, from July 14 to July 21.

Both students said that their preparation included reading a wide range of materials, including texts from college-level courses and foreign-language books, as well as biology journals and papers.

The test was held over 12 consecutive hours, because the venue’s air-conditioning had malfunctioned and the organizers had failed to provide the answer cards, Tzang said.

Wang Yu-hsiang also won gold at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Paris from July 21 to July 30.

Wang said that he had become fixated on the first four questions, out of a total of nine, and used four of the five allotted hours on the theoretical part of the test.

He had “given up” on the test and simply enjoyed solving the problems, as he thought that he would not finish on time, Wang said, adding that this change of mindset is what helped him complete almost all of the remaining questions.

Lin Chin-yi ranked 39th and took home silver at the International Physics Olympiad in Tel Aviv, Israel, from July 6 to July 15.

Lin said that he had worked hard since junior-high school to enter the competition and finally realized his dream in his final year of high school.

He received a silver because the total number of gold medals awarded were reduced due to a boycott by Arab countries of the event in Israel, Lin said, but added that he wanted to tell other students not to limit themselves.

“Give yourselves a chance, because without that, you will not be able to prove yourselves,” Lin said.

Other Taiwanese students also participated in the competitions, winning gold and silver, while more still are waiting to compete in the International Earth Science Olympiad that starts on Monday next week.