CXC examinations have officially started. Thousands of Guyanese are about to write what many consider to be the crowning jewel of high school examinations, CSEC and CAPE.
Nerves are high, and everyone is probably worried about how much they know, and how much they still need to know. I think it’s important to remember that everyone is equally as nervous as you are. It is as though we never believe we are ready for an examination until we actually write it and we see that we were prepared when we pass. There is a lot of pressure placed upon students writing these examinations, to the point where some teenagers begin to see the examinations as a determination of their self-worth and ability to succeed in life. And although examinations are important, your entire identity shouldn’t hinge upon your performance in them. Of course, you should aim to do you best, but you shouldn’t place so much pressure on yourself that it becomes unbearable.
That being said, if you’ve got a lot of last-minute studying to do, it’s time to get started. Although pretty much everyone advocates for studying continuously throughout the year, often times this isn’t exactly possible. For example, you might not have been taught something until right before the exam, you might have been stuck doing tonnes of SBAs (or IAs, for CAPE students), and didn’t get the time to study before this, or maybe you just had a really severe lack of motivation. Whatever the situation was, it isn’t going to change the date for your examination.
One of the best ways to achieve last-minute studying is to plan it out. CSEC and CAPE examinations usually have a few days or breaks in the schedules (which vary depending upon the subjects you’re writing). If you are familiar with your timetable, and you know when your breaks are, these can be utilised to push in any last-minute studying you need to do. If you haven’t already, now is the time to work through past papers. Although textbooks might be able to provide questions that test specific objectives, it’s always good to become acquainted with how the questions are asked by the examiners themselves. From my experience, examination questions are usually more involved than generic textbook questions, combining multiple objectives into one. To be sure you’re on the right track, check out the subject reports for those years. Finally, don’t simply learn what your teacher has taught you and assume that you’ll be prepared. Teachers can make mistakes too. Take the initiative and check the syllabus to be sure that you’ve covered every single objective within it to the specified detail.
Good luck to everyone writing CSEC and CAPE this year – power through. And if you think the stress and the late nights are testing you, remember that it doesn’t get easier. You have to be able to overcome this to move on to more difficult challenges like university or your first job.
