Primary schoolers sit part one of P.S.E.
Teacher results caused controversy in February and prompted calls for a boycott, but tonight it appears that the 2007 Primary School Examination went off without a hitch. This afternoon News Five’s Kendra Griffith gauged the student reaction to the test.
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
According to the Examination Unit, six thousand, two hundred and eighty-six students were registered to sit the Primary School Exam today.
Jeffery Cacho, Queen Square Primary
“I mi nervous, I mi get scared, I mi nevah think I mi wah pass it, but I say dah how if I clear my mind straight, I could do it.”
Carolyn Woods, Hummingbird Elementary
“I was crying in the car, just trying to take deep breaths.”
Kendra Griffith
“But you were able to overcome the nervousness in order to do well in the exam?”
Carolyn Woods
“When I met my friends here and afterwards I just start to relax.”
Today the students sat the English I and II and Science this morning. Those we spoke after the test say they were feeling pretty good about their performance.
Kendra Griffith
“Ashanti you just sat the PSE, how you think you did?”
Ashanti Gill, Queen Square Primary
“Very well.”
Kendra Griffith
“Was it hard, easy?”
Ashanti Gill
“It just in between, it never hard nor easy, just in between.”
Jeffery Cacho
“I think I did good. It was kinda hard and kinda easy, but I think I just wish that I do good fi mi parents.”
Kendra Griffith
“Which one you think you did better on?”
Jeffery Cacho
“Science.”
Amir Bol, St. Luke’s Methodist
“I think I did good except for inna the writing.”
Kendra Griffith
“Why?”
Amir Bol
“It mi really hard, complicated.”
Latoya Williams, St. Luke’s Methodist
“Well I think I did excellent because I studied very hard during the week and I came here to do my best and I did the best I can.”
Zoraida Riverol, St. John Vianney
“I think I did good because the Language Arts section wasn’t that difficult but the Science section was a little bit complicated, so I think I did well.”
Tyrone Wade, Lake I Methodist
“It mi kinda hard, but I think I gone through it good.”
Kendra Griffith
“Which one was the hardest for you?”
Tyrone Wade
“Science.”
Kendra Griffith
“Any particular reason?”
Tyrone Wade
“They had some questions weh I mi really can’t understand some ah them.”
That sentiment was echoed by many of the students we talked to … with one particular question giving them trouble.
Julia Heusner, Hummingbird Elementary
“Number twenty-seven.”
Kendra Griffith
“What was it about?”
Julia Heusner
“It had to do with a bulb and a battery and it is asking which will not light and it had all these wires going to different certain spots and it was hard to pick out because two of them look pretty much the same.”
Shantel Sankey, St. Luke’s Methodist
“The English was very easy, but the Science you had to think a lot.”
Kendra Griffith
“What was the hardest for you in the Science?”
Shantel Sankey
“Well you had the things with the battery and then you had the ones with the animals, those were a little bit hard.”
Sherain Yearwood, St. Joseph Primary
“I think I did alright but on the science it was kinda hard for some of them but not all because some we didn’t do and some we covered.”
Kendra Griffith
“Anyone in particular gave you problem?”
Sherain Yearwood
“Yes, lot of them did, but I think I will do alright on it.”
And now that they’ve completed the English and Science, what are the students planning to do?
Eterio Castillo, St. Joseph Primary
“Study for the math. I heard it’s going to be hard. They have algebra an so.”
The primary schoolers are scheduled to sit the Math and Social Studies sections of the exam on May seventh. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
Last year’s national mean performance in Science was fifty-four point three percent, while English was fifty-two point seven.
