By Tiffny Rhodius and Candace Phillips
Eileen Marray of New Amsterdam Multilateral who gained five Grade One passes in five subjects is this year’s top performer at the Carib-bean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), but there was a drop in the overall pass rate and the poor performance in Mathematics was singled out.
Education Minister Shaik Baksh reported yesterday that the pass rate for CAPE this year is 80.4%, down from 87.5% last year. During a news conference at the Ministry of Education (MoE) on Brickdam, Baksh said the low pass rate in Mathematics in particular remained an “area of concern.” Neverthe-less, he was hopeful that this year’s CSEC results will produce satisfactory figures. The pass rate in Pure Mathematics Unit One was below 50% for this year’s CAPE. Baksh said that a specialist at the National Centre for Education Resource Development along with teachers in the system “are working to see how we can improve” on results in the subject area. He also noted that the number of persons writing the examination this year had increased. This year 474 candidates wrote the May/June exams compared with 426 last year.
There were improved performances in some subject areas, especially Physics (from 58.33% in 2009 to 70.97% in 2010) and Econo-mics (from 50% in 2009 to 96.23% in 2010).
The centres where CAPE was written were Mackenzie High School, New Amster-dam Multilateral, Berbice High, Adult Education Association-New Amsterdam Branch, President’s College, The Bishops’ High, Queen’s College, St Rose’s High, St Stanislaus College and the Adult Education Association.
Meanwhile, Marray, 18, was at a loss for words when Stabroek News contacted her and broke the news of her Grade One passes in Carib-bean Studies Unit One, Communication Studies Unit One, Accounting Unit One, Economics Unit One and Management Unit Two. “This is the first time I’m hearing this. I’m so happy I don’t know what to say,” an astounded Marray said.
Marray, of 16 New Street New Amsterdam, completed CAPE with minimal assistance from teachers. “I studied a lot and made sure I completed my internal assessments which were very important. There’s a lot of work I had to do on my own,” she said, while noting that with the help of text books, syllabuses and old CAPE exam papers she applied herself to each subject. Her father, Rohan Marray, explained that “There weren’t teachers for some of the subjects. I am glad for her. She worked hard. She did a lot of the work by herself.”
The results mark the end of her time in Sixth Form. Last year she wrote four subjects and gained four Grade Ones—in Accounts Unit Two, Economics Unit Two, Management of Business Unit One and Law Unit Two.
Marray said she is awaiting acceptance at the University of Guyana’s Turkyen Campus where she will pursue an Associate’s Degree in Busi-ness Management. She added that she is not sure what her career choice is but “it’s definitely something in business.” Her father noted that the girl “always been topping her classes” and he was confident that she will do well at whatever it is she sets out to accomplish.
Other outstanding students this year include Rebecca Khan and Dinello Mahabir of the Bishops High School, Yana-Marissa Edwards, Kia Persaud, Kibwey Peterkin and Yonette Streete of Queen’s College and Danielle Anthony of St Roses High School.
, who is currently in Jamaica on holiday, told Stabroek News by telephone that she was also surprised at her performance. She was happy and said the news was still sinking in. “It was a challenging exam which required a lot of hard work and studying,” she said of her studies. She attributed her success to the help she got from her teachers at Bishops’, her parents, God and a lot of her parents, God and a lot of her own hard work. Her future plans include returning to complete her second year of CAPE then to pursue her tertiary education in either law or history. She urged students to “have faith, study hard and believe in your selves.”
Mahabir, meanwhile, said he expected to do well and was happy with his performance. He said that while preparations were challenging, if you study it is not that challenging. He recounted lots of sleepless nights and extra lessons, which contributed to his success. His parents, he said encouraged him in his studies and knew that he was a hard worker. He planed to continue second year studies at Bishops’ and is currently enrolled in CAT classes where he works towards his goal of being an accountant/entrepreneur. Mahabir was one of the school’s top performers at the CSEC examinations last year.
Edwards, who topped the country in 2008 at the Caribbean Secondary Educa-tion Certificate (CSEC), was stumped at the news of her success. She eventually managed to say, “I’m elated and of course thankful to God.” Edwards wrote six subjects and gained four Grade Ones and two Grade Twos. The subjects she wrote were Caribbean Studies Unit One, Biology Unit Two, Chemistry Unit Two, Environmental Science Unit Two, Pure Mathematics Unit One and Sociology Unit Two. In 2009, Edwards completed Unit One in Chemistry, Environmental Science and Communication Studies and gained Grades One in all subject areas. Her plans now are to enjoy camp “with some great news” as she awaits a response from the University of the West Indies, where she hopes to study medicine.
When contacted, Yonette Streete’s reaction was initially sceptical; she thought one of her friends might have been playing a prank on her. When reassured of the news, she was full of excitement. She said CAPE was hard work but she got assistance from her teachers and the support of her parents which saw her through. Streete, who hails from Linden but resides in Georgetown to attend school, was in praise of parents for their constant encouragement and contact with her.
While she enjoys her summer vacation here, she has applied to a Canadian university to pursue studies in Medicine come September but is unsure of the field of study. She excitedly added, “I am going to call everybody I know.” Her advice for students was “study hard and pray—prayer is good and it helps.” She added that they need to also realise that CAPE is different and harder than CSEC and requires a lot of focus and hard work.
Danielle Anthony’s first words were, “wow! wow!” I am just overjoyed.” She explained that she was aware results were out and had recently spoken to a friend to whom she expressed the hope that someone from their school had gotten into the top ten.
“I was expecting to do well in my school but not this well,” she said. Her preparations for the exam entailed lots of sleepless nights and extra lessons. She says her parents though divorced were always behind her and told her to put her education first. She also expressed gratitude to her uncle whom she said was very involved in the law aspect of her studies. Further, she singled out her teachers Ms. Singh, Ms. Adams and Mr. Baksh for the encouragement they gave her.
She is currently on work attachment at the law office of her father Nigel Anthony in hopes of getting more exposure to the legal field as she aspires to be an environmental lawyer/ambassador. When school reopens, she will continue to upper sixth to obtain her associate degree before heading to University of Guyana to study law.
Kia Persaud was one of the top students at last year’s CSEC exams and was honoured by the Education Minister for her achievements. Her first year at Sixth Form, Persaud gained four Grade Ones and one Grade Two out of five subjects. The subjects she wrote were Unit One in Biology, Chemistry, Communication Studies, Pure Mathematics and Physics.
Peterkin gained four Grade Ones and one Grade Two in five subjects.
