An analytical approach to CPEA exams leads to Andre’s success

One of this country’s top 10 performers for the CPEA has an analytical approach to how he goes about answering questions on tests.

And it is perhaps that approach that led Andre Quamina to place 6th overall.

“I know teachers say when you find a question that can’t answer, you skip them, do the rest of the test and come back to it when you’ve done the rest, but for some reason, I never find myself doing that,” he told SEARCHLIGHT this week.

“Unless it’s actually one that I know I can’t answer, I stick to that question until I solve it because to me, when you have a hard question on a test, most of the questions right after it are much easier.”

The St Mary’s Roman Catholic student said this works for him because it actually saves time.

Quamina noted that COVID-19 hindered his performance at CPEA because there was not a set date for the assessments at the time. And the decision was made to not study until one or two months before the exam because he did not want to get burnt out.

While he did not get perfect scores on the tests, the Cane Hall resident said the assessments in the two-day period were easier than expected.

“I guess that’s probably why I didn’t do as well because I took it for granted,” he said.

Quamina, whose favourite subject is Mathematics, said he does not know what career path he would like to pursue in the future but he is looking forward to attending the St Vincent Grammar School.

He advised students to be aware of things going on in the world to excel in Social Studies, revising notes for Science, learning numerical tables for Mathematics and rules and exceptions for Language.

“As parents, we expected him to do very well because naturally, to us, he’s intelligent,” his mother, Rosemary Quamina said.

Andre’s father is Benson Quamina.

“We’re excited, we’re happy and we thank God”.

The mother said she promised him a trip to Canada if he placed in the top 10 performers but she is unable to fulfil that promise at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.