On Tuesday, May 2nd, 258 Standard Six students from across eight schools on Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker returned to San Pedro High School to sit the second portion of the Primary School Examination (PSE) exam. Nearly a month after taking the first segment, the last phase of the PSE challenged the students in Mathematics and Social Studies.
After taking the exam at 8AM, students were released at 1:45PM, where many of them were relieved to be done with the PSE. Collin Greif of The Island Academy was confident about his performance. “I figured if you studied really hard for the PSE, anyone could have done pretty well. I am confident I did great, because I thought it was easy,” he said.
Julissa Bartley of New Horizon Seventh Day Adventist School couldn’t thank her teacher enough for preparing her for the PSE. “The PSE was kind of easy, and to me, every math problem was everything that I have learned through my teacher. I have to thank her because she spent the majority of her time reviewing for the PSE, and it paid off because it was just as my teacher taught me,” said Bartley.
Meanwhile, Annie Harris of La Isla Cariñosa Academy told The San Pedro Sun that the math portion was indeed challenging. “I definitely know I passed, but I did encounter a few problem solving issues during my math exam. I think it is a subject that no matter how much you study, you really have to think when you do problem solving. However, I did my best to prepare myself, and I feel that I might score 85%. I was most familiar with the Social Studies exam, and I was able to answer the questions right away,” said Harris.
SPHS Teacher Giselle Lobos commends everyone’s efforts during the exam. “Students arrived on time, and they followed all of the procedures. All of the supervisors had a pleasure working along with them. I must commend the schools for preparing their students in terms of their behavior, and being prepared for today’s exam,” said Lobos.
A total of 79 students from San Pedro Roman Catholic School, 41 from Holy Cross Anglican School, 64 from New Horizon SDA, 14 from La Isla Bonita Elementary School, seven from The Island Academy and five from Ambergris Caye Elementary School sat the exams. There were also 40 students from Caye Caulker Roman Catholic School and eight students from La Isla Cariñosa Academy.
According to Nelson Longsworth, Director of the Examinations Unit at the Ministry of Education, problem-solving is a critical skill that most students find difficult every year, but it is a subject that is included in the math curriculum. “For the two exams for Math, one is a fifty multiple-choice question paper and the second is problem-solving, which comprises of ten structured answer questions. Our test is derived directly from the curriculum. Because of the Table of Specifications, which the teachers have copies of, it describes especially for the problem-solving paper, exactly which type of questions would be asked. A teacher could literally list what type of questions would be coming on Paper Two, which is the problem-solving paper,” said Longsworth.
The results of the PSE is scheduled to be released on the first week of June.
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