Highflying students of a reputable school in Nigeria have spoken about their feats on the 2022 Cambridge IGCSE and Cambridge AS Level Examinations.
Mmesomachukwu Okonkwo and Oluwabukolami Adeyemi, both of Chrisland High School, Lagos stole the show, winning awards at the British Council Outstanding Cambridge Learner’s Awards held recently in Lagos.
Mmesomachukwu got the highest mark in English as second Language (Speaking Endorsement) in IGSCE, winning top in the world, while Oluwabukolami got the highest mark globally in the Cambridge International AS Level Law, winning two laurels namely: the Top in the World and High Achievement Award for Cambridge AS Level Psychology.
Speaking on how she made waves and excelled at the exam, Mmesomachukwu who hails from Anambra State said English is her favourite subject and it was enjoyable writing the exam and preparing for it as well. She added that while preparing for the exam last year May/June, she faced few challenges.
“I thank God for crowning my efforts because I put a lot of work into this,” the 17-year old student recounted. Mmesoma, in an interview with LEADERSHIP Sunday, noted that most of the students wrote six subjects and she is elated to have emerged ‘Top in The World’ in English IGSCE as a second language.
On how she overcame the challenge, she said, “We wrote the exam last year May/June. The English exam was theory, there was no objective. It was in three parts, all theory. We had to do writing, listening and speaking for the exam. Because it was theory based as against my WAEC exam which was theory and objective, it was a bit daunting for me but I overcame it. I wrote Mathematics, Business Studies, ICT, Economics and Biology. My performance in other subjects was great. Mathematics and the rest were A as well. Out of the millions of students that wrote the exam, I emerged Top in the World in English.
“The next thing for me is to go to the university to study Business Management. Hopefully by this time next year, I will be studying the course. I am also thinking of internships and learning a few skills as well before going to school. I chose to study Business Management because there is something I am passionate about and I felt I could do it very well”.
For Oluwabukolami Adeyemi, her success story in having the highest mark in the world in Cambridge International AS level Law, and High Achievement Award in Cambridge International AS Level Psychology was a dint of hard work, having not written the IGSCE.
The 18-year-old from Ega, Kogi State, said she had never written Cambridge exams before but had the support of her teachers and she had to pay a lot of sacrifice.
“I wrote the Cambridge International AS levels Law exam commonly known as Cambridge A levels. A level is a step further than IGSCE. Prior to doing that exam, I have never done any other Cambridge exam. So it was quite strange to me when I started preparing for it, but I had support from my teachers and principal, Dr Agomoh, as well as my parents. With A levels, there is a lot of independent study that has to be done. So, I had to prepare for my summer in 2022 to prepare for the exam that was coming up in October. Throughout July and August, I was in school preparing for exams. I had to do past questions, analyse the maths scheme and read a lot of textbooks,” Miss Adeyemi said.
She said that with the certificate she only has three years to study law and fancy Universities in the United Kingdom. She also noted that her choice of law was something she developed at a young age.
The Kogi native said her choice of Law was to get into politics and leadership positions. She said, “Studying Law is something I had developed from a young age. I have always been interested in both civil and economic justice, so I expect to give back to society”.
The Cambridge Examinations are conducted in more than 145 countries worldwide.
Mothers of the winners also shared their experiences and roles. Mmesoma’s mother, Mrs Udora Okonkwo, said though her daughter had been doing very well in her various exams, she didn’t expect that her success would be on a world scale.
On how she encouraged Mmesoma, Mrs Okonkwo said she made a lot of books available to her children and inculcated into them the habit of reading. Her words: “Mmesoma was able to absorb the culture of reading early and took it up on her own which has helped her thus far. The school also encouraged them in the way the educators were able to push them along and God backed her up. My advice to students is hard work pays off! Don’t put your head down. Do the difficult stuff.
For Mrs Adeyemi, Olubukolami’s mother, all the glory goes to God for crowning the efforts of her daughter. She noted that her daughter is a diligent student, adding that she and her teachers were able to spur her to stretch her brain and be resilient.
She said, “My daughter topping the world in a global exam is not just a pride to Chrisland School; it is a pride to Nigeria and, trust me, Africa. It is indeed a symbolism of our resilience as a people. Olubukolami is a diligent student and the outcome of this exam speaks to that. I must also give kudos to Chrisland Schools for bringing the best out of the children we entrust to them.
