No student should underestimate the difficulty of the CSEC examinations.

This is the advice of Christian Friday, one of the 2015 top performers for the St Vincent Grammar School.

In this year’s sitting, the Bequia resident sat 10 CSEC subjects and earned nine grade one passes in Mathematics, English A, English B, Spanish, Geography, Information Technology, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.{{more}} He received a grade two pass in French.

Friday also sat Economics in 2014 and he received a grade one pass, giving him a total of 11 CSEC subjects, with 10 grade ones and one grade two.

“In school, they (students) tend to think about it as something that is the norm and though it is the norm, it’s not to be undervalued,” he said in relation to the CSEC examinations. “It is still a difficult exam and the process can be quite a shift in terms of what you do in terms of daily activities and your mindset.”

For the former SVGS head boy, preparing for his examinations meant cutting down on recreational time and focusing more on studying. Friday, a young pannist, told SEARCHLIGHT that he stopped going to pan lessons about a month before exams, but he intends to pick it up again.

“I’m generally happy with how I did, though disappointed in the two for French,” Friday said.

Lawyer and parliamentarian Dr Godwin Friday told SEARCHLIGHT that he thinks that his son did very well.

“It’s a relief for him, having gone through a difficult period of preparation and so on and I think he is very pleased with the outcome,” he said.

“He has done well throughout his time at Grammar School and he is now looking forward to going to the Community College and whatever other challenges are ahead of him and we’ll support him in what he wants to do.”

Friday’s future goals include pursuing a career in economics and he expects to attend the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College in the upcoming school year.

Other top performers for the SVGS include Crislon Fraser, Addison Edwards, Kadeem DeShong and Che Grant. Fraser gained 10 subject passes with nine grade ones and one grade two and Edwards gained 11 subject passes with eight grade ones, a grade two and a grade three. Meanwhile, DeShong and Grant both obtained 11 subject passes with eight grade ones and three grade twos. (BK)