For Joshua Marks, it was no surprise that he would be in the top 10 of the 2014 Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA).

“I wasn’t that much surprised because the day before CPEA everybody told me ‘top five…’ I came fourth for boys and sixth for overall and my average was five,” Marks said, {{more}}as he and classmate Dana McLean, along with Sugar Mill Academy headteacher Liz Cordice spoke to SEARCHLIGHT on Monday.

The 11-year-old joked that with his position and marks (Language Arts 84, Math 96, Science 94), he won a bet that he would do much better than his sister who sat the Common Entrance two years ago, earning himself a trip to England.

Joshua, the son of Natas­ha Marks, thanked his mother and teachers, particularly Miss Agard, for his accomplishments.

Ten-year-old McLean, the daughter of Keith and Joanne McLean, said that she was excited and pleased with her results, because she could not believe that she would have “passed that high;” scoring 94 per cent for mathematics, 94 per cent for Language Arts, and 98 per cent for Science, to place second for girls and fifth over all.

“I studied hard and paid attention and put my best foot forward.

“I have to thank God for health and strength, and my parents for supporting me, and the other teachers for supporting me,” she added.

Both McLean and Marks say that they are looking forward to attending secondary school; for Dana it’s the Girls’ High School, while ‘Josh’ says that it’s “no question” that he would be attending the St Vincent Grammar School.

While the youngsters shared the same sentiment that the projects and writing portfolio posed a bit of a challenge to them during the internal assessment, they differed on what posed the biggest test during the external examinations that took place in May.

“Science was most of the challenge for me, but the Math and the English shared the same ease,” Dana stated, while for Marks: “Science was the easiest one of all, and the hardest was Language.”

Of course, the students had advice for those who would be going through what they just did over the next year.

“For the upcoming grade six, never give up,” Marks stated, while McLean added that students should “constantly revise your notes.”