Top performers at 2021 CAPE, CSEC includes Queen’s College students

Queen’s College students Sarena Razack and Bedesh Persaud are among some of Guyana’s top
performers at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Examination and Caribbean
Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), respectively.
At the announcement of the results at the National Centre for Education Resources Development
(NCERD) in Georgetown on Friday, it was highlighted that Razack performed outstandingly at
this year’s CSEC exams with 19 Grade Ones, two Grade Twos and one Grade Three.
Meanwhile, Persaud secured eight Grade Ones and one Grade Two at the first year of CAPE. “I
feel surprised to be the student with the most grade ones at CSEC,” Razack expressed disclosed
in an interview. She continued, “I was hearing of various schools and students having very high
grades and very good performances as well, so I am surprised.” Top CAPE performer, Persaud
expected to achieve high scores at this year’s CAPE exams. He thanked his teachers, friends and
family for the support they offered during the exams.
When asked about preparations for the exams, both top students explained that they found it
difficult to cope and effectively communicate with their peers and teachers. For Persaud, one of
his biggest fears was the uncertainty of not knowing when the CAPE exams would be held and
whether he’d be able to return to school. Notwithstanding that, he was confident going into the
exam. “CAPE was more rigorous, CAPE is more detailed oriented, CAPE calls for more critical
thinking skills. I actually enjoyed writing CAPE more than I enjoyed writing CSEC,” Persaud
said.

On the way forward, Razack plans on going into the field of engineering, while Persaud wishes
to complete his second year of CAPE in 2022. As for Samuel Haynes, another top CAPE
performer, his plans are to write the standardised test (SAT) administered by the College Board
in the United States. “I am not applying to any US universities, but I am writing it just in case I
need it and I would like to pursue a degree – a Doctor of Dentist Surgery degree – so I am going
to go into dental school and based on what I find enticing in dental school, I am going to select a
specialty,” Haynes revealed.

When asked what message they had for those writing CSEC and CAPE exams in the coming
year. “To my colleagues writing the 2022 CSEC exams, I would encourage them to know their
content and know your content well. Also, work a lot of past papers because believe me the
questions repeat themselves all the time,” Kelly Sankar, an Anna Regina top CSEC student said.
Meanwhile, Daniel Roopchand, another CAPE top performer explained, “First of all, whether
you are writing CAPE, CSEC or any exams, you shouldn’t find studying to be burdensome. If
you see studying as a burden then you are not going to want to study, you’re going to allow
everything to pile up and you’re gonna be in a bad spot overall. I think everyone should start
preparations early and you should also learn how to study,” Roopchand explained.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand, stressed the need for students to return to school and
highlighted the importance of-face-to-face learning. She encouraged teachers and students to get
vaccinated against the deadly CODI-19 virus. The education minister said that a total of 9,808

candidates were registered for the CSEC 2021 examinations as compared to 12,009 registered for
2020. Subject entries for 2021 were 61,437. She revealed that an analysis of the 2021
preliminary results revealed that the overall pass rate at the General and Technical proficiencies
for Grades One to Three was 66.36%. She said that improved performance was evident in four
subjects and remained constant in six subjects. Outstanding performances were noted in eight
subjects where 90% and over gained acceptable Grades (Gr 1 – 3). Some subjects with
outstanding performances were Agricultural Science (Double Award) with 93.14%, Information
Technology with 92.59 %, Physical Education & Sports with 99.28% and Theatre Arts with 100
%.
On the other hand, 723 candidates from 10 Secondary Schools and four Private centres wrote the
CAPE exams in Guyana. The overall pass rate in 2021 is 90.86%.   Further, Minister
Manickchand in the following 28 units noted the pass rate of candidates was 75% or higher with
Grades One to Five passes: Accounting Unit 1 & 2; Agricultural Science Unit 2; Applied
Mathematics Unit 1; Biology Unit 1 & 2; Caribbean Studies Unit 1; Chemistry Unit 1 & 2;
Communication Studies Unit 1; Computer Science Unit 1; Economics Unit 1; Environmental
Science Unit 2; Food & Nutrition Unit 2; Geography Unit 1; History Unit 1 & 2; Information
Technology Unit 1 & 2; Law Unit 1 & 2; Literature in English Unit 1 & 2; Management of
Business Unit 2; Physics Unit 1; Sociology Unit 1 & 2; and Integrated Mathematics Unit 1.
She said that a slight decline was recorded in Integrated Mathematics from 82.18% in 2020 to
78.67% in 2021. Pure Mathematics Unit 1 recorded improved performance with a pass rate of
58.89% in 2021 as against 54.96% in 2020. Caribbean Studies and Communication Studies
continue to record an over 90% pass rate.