From displacement to distinction: Region 6 top CSEC student shines with 18 subjects

After being displaced and had to change schools during COVID-19, Laurex Vandenburgh successfully sat 18 subjects at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CSEC), earning five distinctions, eleven grade ones and two grade twos.
The Linepath Secondary student is Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) CSEC student for 2025.

Vandenburgh, who only attended the school in grade 7 and 8 had to return to his home village of Orealla as a result of COVID-19 and attended the Orealla Top for Grade 8-10 of his schooling, but returned to Linepath Secondary to complete his secondary education.
He had to repeat grade 10 to be accepted back into the school.
He told this publication that he just wanted to challenge himself in sitting eithteen subjects.
“Eighteen subjects sounds fun, so why not try it. That’s the reason I wrote it and like, oh, maybe I could just challenge myself,” he said.
According to the 17-year-old, he was convinced that there were others who did much better than himself at the exams and was surprised when he was told that he was one of the top suudents in the Region.
“When they called me to attend the conference, I was not told I was the top in the region I was informed that I was among the top students, and I was invited to the conference, but they did not tell me my official ranking because they were unsure of that themselves… I was very surprised because I was convinced I did not do that well. So when they called me, that was kind of reassuring, kind of like relief for me, and I was very surprised,” he said.
Leaving the exam room, Vandenburgh said he was not confident that he had done well, especially with one subject, which is also a worry for many.
“The night before the math exam, I hardly got any sleep, and when I entered and I wrote the exam, I completely blacked out. I believe I did bad because my brain wasn’t properly functioning at the time… So math was a subject I thought I would get a low grade in, like probably grade 3.”
However, Landenburgh received a Grade 1 in Math.
The two subjects he got grade 3s in were geography and chemistry.
The other subjects he wrote are: agriculture science, biology, electronic document preparation and management, English A and B, food, nutrition and health technical, human and social biology, information technology, office administration, physical education, physics, principles of business, social studies, and theatre arts.

Hyper-focused
Speaking about this study habits preparing for the examinations, Vandingburgh said being hyper-focused, he would either be studying for hours or just sit doing nothing.
“But when I do study, I am just there sitting for hours trying to understand the content, and I use a lot of past papers trying to understand the structure of the questions and how I should answer the questions.”
He said he also reached out to teachers, showing them his answer and asking what he could have done better or whether his explanation was satisfactory.
Now having completed secondary, Vandenburgh says he has applied for admission into the Technical Institute.
“I am planning to study Mechanical Engineering, and from there, I will go on to University to further my studies in Mechanical Engineering and then hopefully get an internship at ExxonMobil and then move on from there.”

Advice to others
“When they enter exam class I would advise them to start studying whenever they have time because for the exam class – Form 5; what usually happens in the remaining terms Is that teachers try to push to complete the SBAs and that would usually leave students with limited time to study because they are trying to complete their SBAs and stressing over SBAs. So, my advice would be to study when you have the time.”
Asked about the impact social media has on students preparing for exams, Vandenburgh said it has both a positive and a negative impact.
“Social media is like a double-edged sword. It depends on how you use it. Some people would just use social media and take in whatever is on there, and some people like me, when I use social media, it is either I am using it for fun or whatever, but coming down to exam time, I use it for study tips. For study material, for things to help me prepare for the exam. So I would say it depends on how you use social media. If you use it for bad or if you don’t try to gain anything good for it, then I would not advise using social media, but if you’re using it to help yourself, then it’s a good thing,” he concluded.