Despite the odds that have been stacked against her while preparing for her 2021 exit examinations, lower sixth-form student, Samantha Davis, remains determined to put her best foot forward and sit her Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) as planned this year.

In an interview with Our Today, on Tuesday (May 11), Davis explained the many ways in which the going’s been tough in the last nine months of the academic year.

From transitioning to a new school, pursuing science subjects never before done, and doing all this without having a single face-to-face class, Davis admitted that she was “not 100 per cent positive that all will be okay”.

“I am doing my best, studying as hard as I possibly can and I do believe that whatever is set forward for me will be for me.”

Given this, she said while she was aware that the possibility for a deferral from her exams was a very viable option she could take, she opted not to defer as it would only set her back in her plans for the future.

“I decided to take the examination this year mainly because I want to be out of sixth form and go straight into university. I do have a set time in which I would like to accomplish all of this…and, as I said (before), if it is for me then (I know) I will get through all of this,” said Davis.

Considering the challenges she has faced over the last nine months of the school year, the Ocho Rios High School student said her regrets were twofold.

For starters, she regrets her decision to pursue Biology, Chemistry, and Physics at the CAPE level since she did not do any of these at the CSEC level, as she believes this is the reason she finds them so “difficult”.

Additionally, she regrets not having any physical classes because she feels she would “learn better that way (given the fact that she) is a visual and auditory learner”.

Davis said she would welcome the opportunity to be around others in class, and the freedom to ask questions, that this setting affords.

Despite the fact that the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Information has now given permission to schools to resume face-to-face classes, Davis said she had yet to receive a directive from her school that physical classes would resume anytime soon.

However, given the fact that examinations are fast approaching, she eagerly awaits the resumption to aid in the preparation for her exams.