Students: SEA was easy

SCREAMS of delight echoed through several schools in Port-of-Spain at around 12.30 pm yesterday, as students expressed their relief at completing the four-hour Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam. Some parents gathered outside the schools to hug and kiss their children, and take them for a treat, but for the kids it was pure pleasure to have left the examination room, as thoughts of “free days doing nothing” loom ahead. The Ministry of Education said it was unable to say how many students actually wrote the exam of  the 19,883 students registered. They said the exam was incident-free, as all arrangements were in place to have a “successful test.” Most of the students with whom Newsday spoke, described the assessment as “easy.”

At the Sacred Heart Boys’ RC, Tyrel Hong Ping said, “it was challenging. Some boys felt it was easy.” He said the Mathematics section was the easiest and he hoped to be placed at St Mary’s College. His friend Darrel Rodriguez who wants to go to Queens Royal College (QRC) said he was “feeling lighter and I could now play with my friends.” They said the practice test was harder than the exam. But other boys at the school found the Math to be difficult. By the time the boys were shouting with glee, the girls at Duke Street, at St Catherine’s Anglican, were giving their exam papers a final check. As they began leaving the classrooms, they too shouted with relief, like an echo of what was heard a stone’s throw away at Richmond Street Boys.’ Akil Wyke Osborne said the Language Arts and essays were “easy compared to the Maths.”

He said he was “stressing” in preparation for the exam and he just wanted to “play and relax.” He wants to be placed at St Mary’s or St Anthony’s College. Safina Allen said the exam “was fine, it was easy.” She is now looking forward to attending graduation and hoping to be placed at South East Port-of-Spain. Her mother Patricia Henry said she was extremely nervous and thankful that it was over. Sharing her sentiment was Kimberly Abraham, whose only child Kendra wrote the exam. Kimberly is able to laugh now over the fact that she, “couldn’t sleep last night (Wednesday) I was so nervous, and she was sound asleep.”

As for Kendra, “I was well prepared, Mommy made sure of that and I found the Maths the easiest.” She is now looking forward to going to “Movietowne and liming with my cousins and just having fun.” Khanica Douglas rushed to take her dad’s cell phone to tell someone “it was very easy.” She said she was extremely relieved and was looking forward to attending St Francois Girls College. She will leave for Tobago on Monday with her family to relax. Across at the Belmont Boys’ RC, which was closed last week, the Standard Five boys wrote their exam at the nearby St Francis RC. They have been having classes at an annex on the compound of the Belmont Boys’. The exam was the 45th anniversary of the 11-plus assessment and Education Minister Hazel Manning has assured the results will be available in the first week of July, and all students will be placed in a secondary school.

Central SEA students say —
‘Exam was a breeze’

PRIMARY school students who sat yesterday’s Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) in the Caroni Education Division, did so in a smooth, relaxed atmosphere as teachers and school supervisors confirmed that the entire operation went “without any hitch.” In fact, following the exam, some of the students told Newsday they felt they did well and the exam “was a breeze”. Principals collected the students’ Examination papers early in the morning and headed off to their respective schools to meet students who arrived early accompanied by anxious parents. Following the exam, many students said they felt they had done well enough to gain entry to their their first place choice of secondary school.

Tobago SEA students breathe sighs of relief

HUNDREDS of Tobago SEA students joined their Trinidad counterparts in breathing sighs of relief after the four-hour-plus exam was finally completed yesterday. Nine hundred and forty seven of the initial 1,028 students from more than 40 schools, including 100 from private schools, sat the examination as some teachers took the option of withdrawing unprepared students. By 12:45 pm, quiet schools suddenly came to life as students burst through the classrooms and flooded the various schoolyards, their most common expressions being, “Thank God it is finally over” and, “I hope I passed for my first choice.”

Students interviewed by Newsday agreed that the exam was “really easy” and said they were eagerly anticipating a long, restful vacation before making their debuts at secondary school. A schools supervisor at the division also sought to clear the air on recent reports that students scoring less than 30 percent in the SEA examination would have to do the exam over. The supervisor expla-ined that students scoring less than 30 percent would be placed in remedial classes with special teachers assigned to bring them up to par with other students.