Twice As Nice - Queen's Prep Students Get Perfect Score....Both Melissa Dell and RieAnna Barclay of the Queen's Preparatory School in St Andrew struggled to write simple stories as they prepared for the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) examinations.

Published:Friday | June 26, 2015Jodi-Ann Gilpin

Both Melissa Dell and RieAnna Barclay of the Queen's Preparatory School in St Andrew struggled to write simple stories as they prepared for the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) examinations. However, both gained perfect scores when the results were released recently.

From left: RieAnna Barclay, with her teacher,
Marcia Jamieson, and Melissa Dell at the
 Queen’s Preparatory School.

Barclay told The Gleaner in an interview recently that the grade-six journey presented many challenges, but with the help of her parents and teachers she managed to overcome.

Students who sit the GSAT are expected to do communication task, which involves story writing, letter writing and other activities which demonstrate their literary skills. "Since grade five, I have always had problems writing stories. I never had the creativity. I really struggled in that area. I read a lot, but somehow writing wasn't my best subject," she declared.

"I also remember when I was going through some of the questions with my mother after the exams, I was almost sure that I got a couple questions wrong so I didn't expect perfect scores," she said. The 11-year-old, however, got perfect scores and gives credit to her mother, who she said, assisted her in practising proper time management.

"I worked very hard, but my mother always ensured that on Saturdays I had time to rest and unwind. She didn't want me to stress too much. She always told me that if I am too nervous, I would forget everything. I was very calm throughout the process," Barclay told The Gleaner. Dell also noted that she was surprised by her results. more