Guyana has nabbed four awards and the overall Most Outstanding accolades at the regional level for the Caribbean Secondary Educa-tion Certificate (CSEC) examination and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
According to a release from the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Guyana secured several awards with Queen’s College students, Samuel Haynes and Zaynab Shaffie being the overall outstanding performers for both of the 2021 exams. Haynes was the overall outstanding student at CAPE 2021 with 16 Grade Ones and a Grade Two pass. He wrote 16 Units and got Grade One passes in Spanish Unit 1, Caribbean Studies, Communication Studies, Chemistry Unit 2, Biology Units 1 and 2, Environmental Science Units 1 and 2, Pure Mathematics Units 1 and 2, Applied Mathematics Units 1 and 2, Integrated Mathematics, Tourism Unit 1, and Entrepreneurship Unit 1. He got a Grade Two pass in Chemistry Unit 1. When contacted, Haynes who is pursuing a doctor of dental surgery degree said that he is elated but not surprised. Haynes studied using a rigorous schedule to prepare himself for the exam.
“My preparations were very structured and sometimes quite rigorous. For starters, I try to study a part of the syllabus in intervals. Every month I would ensure that I have a specific part of the syllabus covered. I knew that for year two CAPE, I was writing nine units and I knew that that would be roughly 27 modules for those nine units or 26 Units because Caribbean Studies had two. So what I did it was that I divided the amount of months that I had by the amount of Units that I was doing. Well obviously I had to divide it into weeks as well. I was keeping track of the amount of Units that I was doing. Let’s say [in] May, I was already prepared for my exams,” the overall most outstanding CAPE student said. However, he said that he was thrown off when the exam was scheduled for a later sitting. He had been planning and preparing for a May/June sitting. The exam was written in July and this
meant that he had to then revise some of the topics he had already studied. He said that this made his studies get a bit off track but he had a rigorous schedule which he was sticking to. In addition to studying he practiced the specimen paper to have a feel for the exam.
Meanwhile Shaffie was the overall outstanding student at CSEC 2021 with 18 Grade One passes and two Grade Two passes. Her Grade One passes are in Biology, Chemistry, Electronic Document Preparation and Management, English A, English B, Food and Nutrition and Health Technical, French, Geography, Human and Social Biology, Information Techno-logy, Integrated Science, Mathe-matics, Office Administration, Physics, Principals of Business, Religious Education, Social Studies, and Spanish. She secured Grade Two passes in Additional Mathematics and Economics.
Shaffie previously told this newspaper that she wants to become an entrepreneur and intends to study abroad. She advised that students must be disciplined when preparing for an exam, adding that motivation is not easy to have, especially during a pandemic.
Guyana has also won four of the nine awards established by CXC. The country has been recognised for performances in Business, Humanities, History, and Technical and Vocational education. Roshini Samaroo of Queen’s College was awarded for her performance in Humanities at CSEC 2021. Samaroo, who is currently studying for her Bachelor’s of Economics degree at the University of Guyana while studying accounting at the Cacique Accounting College, got 17 Grade One passes in Information Technology, Caribbean History, Economics, Electronic Document Preparation and Management, English A, English B, Geography, Human and Social Biology, Information Technology, Integrated Science, Mathematics, Office Administration, Principles of Accounts, Principles of Business, Religious Education, Social Studies and Spanish.
Naresh Jagnanan of Essequibo Islands Secondary was the best performer in Business. Sarena Razak, who was the top performer at CSEC for the country, with 19 Grade Ones, 2 Grade Twos and a Grade Three, is the best performer for Technical and Vocational subjects. She attained Grade One passes in Additional Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, Electronic Document Preparation and Management, English A, English B, Geography, Human and Social Biology, Industrial Technology-Building, Industrial Technology-Electrical, Industrial Technology-Mechanical, Integrated Science, Information Technology, Physical Education and Sport, Physics, Principles of Business, Technical Drawing, Textiles, Clothing, and Fashion Technical; and Grade Twos in Caribbean History and Social Studies. She also attained a Grade Three in French.
Crystal Benjamin of Bishops’ High School won an award for Accounting at the CAPE level, while the CAPE top History awardee is Abdul Subhan of St Stanislaus College, who obtained 9 Grade Ones, 5 Grade Twos and 3 Grade Threes.
