Two students from Chrisland School in Lagos, Oluwabukolami Adeyemi, 18, and Mmesomachukwu Okwonkwo, 17, who recently achieved the best position in the world in the Cambridge exams, have attributed their excellent performance to God and the contributions of their teachers and tutors at school.
While Miss Adeyemi obtained the best score in the Cambridge AS-Level International Law Examination, Miss Okwonkwo obtained the first position in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGSCE) for English as a Second Language.
Students who aspire to study Law and Business Management at universities described their experience when taking the exams as wonderful.
Studying law, my life’s ambition – Adeyemi
Miss Adeyemi, who hails from Ega in Kogi State, said she attended Chrisland School from the age of 1 at Chrisland School, Oluwole, Lagos, and enrolled at Chrisland Pretitle College in preparation for her admission to the university in abroad.
She said it was also a surprise for her to be recognized by the British Council and Cambridge International Assessment Education “for having the highest qualification in the world in Cambridge International AS Level Law and achieving the High Achievement Award in Cambridge International AS Level Psychology.
Speaking about her ambition in an interview with Newslodge, Miss Adeyemi said she had always loved things to do with “civil and economic justice.”
“So I hope to give back to society and, as a lawyer, I will want to conduct pro-bono programs. And I think it’s good ground for politics. So, by the grace of God, I want to hold leadership positions in Nigeria and give back to the society that helped me grow,” Miss Adeyemi said.
He thanked the school management for investing time, energy and “the winning spirit” in them, and said the school principal, whom he described simply as Mrs Agomoh, always gave detailed evaluations of each student “on the spot of the meeting”.
“Academically, I would say the professors were intentional about everyone’s individual journey. So when I sat in class, I never felt like a teacher was teaching the class, I felt like my teacher was teaching me. The academic experience was very intentional…” he said.
Miss Okwonkwo speaks
For her part, Miss Okwonkwo said she has always liked business and would be willing to study Business Management at university.
He said that before returning abroad, he hopes to have a chance to do internships and learn some skills.
She said: “I prefer Business Management because it is something I am passionate about and I felt I could do it very well. I started a small business when I was 7 years old and it was something I loved doing. I also feel that business management is very versatile. So, in a world where artificial intelligence is increasingly emerging, you want to take a course that is versatile and that you can move around with.”
Miss Okwonkwo, who studied Mathematics, Business Studies, ICT, Economics and Biology, said that in addition to achieving the best results in English, she achieved excellent results in other subjects.
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Speaking on their preparation for the examination, Miss Okwonkwo, who hails from Anambra State, said the school engaged them in extensive activities, including constant testing of past questions on the Cambridge website.
She said; “Our teachers made us choose some topics on essay writing and grouped us into teams. Within those teams, they would teach other subjects to other classmates. I think that’s what really helped.
“I would address the above questions one by one until most of them are covered. That way I was able to familiarize myself with the exam pattern, which made me feel very comfortable during the exam.”
Honor
To celebrate the feat, both Miss Adeyemi and Miss Okwonkwo were part of over 60 young Nigerians who were recently recognized and celebrated by the British Council in Lagos for their excellent performance in the June and November 2022 examination diets.
The British Council presented the students with the British Council Recognition and Cambridge Outstanding Student Award (BROCLA) at a ceremony held in Lagos.
In 2022, Nigerian students from 8 schools He received the BROCLA award for obtaining the highest grades in the world, in different subjects.
Speaking at this year’s event, Cambridge Regional Director of International Education Juan Visser said students took similar exams with their counterparts around the world and achieved the best results in the overall test.
“The Cambridge exams set in Nigeria are the same as those held in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, England, France and South Africa. Therefore, it is an identical exam that is conducted under strict exam conditions. It means that these students are competing on a level playing field with other students globally and have done fantastically well,” she said.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter for Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which pairs local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the world.