The May/ June O level Cambridge exam was surely a very distinct one. From a different time period to do the SC exams to different format of papers, some may agree that students were lost in the middle of the ocean. Some months prior to the exams, the scholars were questioning themselves on whether they would even be examined or if the exams would be held online. Without the help of face-to-face teaching, we were left on our own. Revisions, notes and even past exams papers had to be done unassisted. Then again, thanks to Zoom and WhatsApp, teachers were able to lend a helping hand and comfort us virtually!
“It stressed me out at first, as none of us were sure about what was going to happen to our exams. They had already been postponed once and pushing them again would have had serious consequences on our academic life,” said one of DMC’s students, Adweita Beeharry. However, shortly after, the Ministry of Education confirmed that the exams would still take place in May and June 2021. This was a relief for most of our students.
“Once it had been confirmed that exams would still be happening, I was relieved and very excited to start and get done with these exams soon,” continued Adweita. The sanitary measures taken at school had some repercussions on the students. For instance, wearing a mask during the examinations was very uncomfortable and even distractive. On top of that, social distancing was troublesome. Invigilators would make sure that we were 1 meter apart from everyone. Also, not being able to communicate with their friends, resulted in students being more disturbed and less comfortable. Let’s not forget how much our friends help us to stay calm!
“Social distancing at school is no easy task,” mentioned Alizée Athalie. This has been observed by many of our students. How can we not hug or even congratulate our friends after completing one of the most important exams in our life?
Furthermore, due to the increasing cases of covid-19, the English Oral exams were cancelled which also brought much tension to the students.
“We prepared for this particular exam for more than 2 years and hearing about it getting cancelled made me anxious since I did not want to lose any marks,” confirmed Sefora Gersey. “Oral English was definitely my strong point as I usually did very well on this exam. I was worried this would affect my performance,” added Adweita Beeharry. That being said, we can all confirm that having 2 English papers cancelled had us very worried. The special consideration had no such definition to it and we didn’t even know what to expect for our English results.
However, many students think that the pandemic also had a pretty good impact on their revision work. “The pandemic also had a positive impact on my results. This was mainly because I was able to devote more time to my studies, revision and practiced as many past papers as possible” narrated one of our students.
Despite all the hardships faced by the students, our girls were able to complete their exams impressively. As it is usually said, ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ Well our SC students undoubtedly made that statement come true when they succeeded in their exams and brought the school the satisfaction of having a 100% pass. 56 students excelled with aggregate 6 and 75% of our students got below aggregate 10, showing how strong, competent, and promising all of our students are. We congratulate all of our grade 12 girls for your great results, which was a challenge to achieve during a pandemic. In complete honesty, all of us went through a hard time, the covid-19 pandemic being the major origin, in the middle of our SC exams, but nevertheless, we still did a great job!
Editors: Oorshia Mulung
Luvlynn Bholah