MANDEVILLE, Manchester — With the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations less than a month away, more than 100 high school students in Central Jamaica recently took advantage of a free Lecture Series workshop hosted by the Jamaica Observer.

Students from Hampton High, St Elizabeth Technical High and Newell High in St Elizabeth, as well as Thompson Town High, May Day High, Knox College, Manchester High, Bishop Gibson High, Glenmuir High, DeCarteret College, and Bellefield High, all in Manchester, were among those who got an opportunity to refresh their skills in mathematics and English language.

The event, which was being held in Mandeville for the second year, was accommodated at Belair High School and sponsored by telecommunications provider FLOW, Seprod Limited and Tastee Limited.

Kesi Asher, business development and marketing co-ordinator at the Jamaica Observer said such workshops have been happening for about five years and expressed satisfaction at the attendance.

“The turnout (was) good; this particular leg was actually oversubscribed,” she said.

Workshops were also held at Ardenne High School in Kingston, Herbert Morrison High School in Montego Bay and Ocho Rios High School, with videoconferencing to Spanish Town High.

Many of the participants in Mandeville said that they appreciated the reinforcement the lessons provided.

Aaliyah DaCosta, a fifthform student of Bishop Gibson and the day’s winner for her performance in mathematics, said that she will be sitting eight CSEC subjects and there is always room for improvement.

Education officer Valmarie Smith and her husband Vacon travelled to Mandeville with their daughter Alec-xena, a student of Wolmer’s Girls’ School who missed the event in Kingston.

Smith said that it is important for learning to take place, rather than focus on passing examinations. As such, she and her husband, who is also an educator, felt it was necessary to attend the workshop to better assess their daughter’s level of preparedness.

“The entire thing is very impressive. I hope the children today realise how lucky they are. I don’t think the Observer should just stop at English and maths. It’s an excellent idea. The day was well spent,” she gushed.

Like Marvin Gocul of DeCarteret College, Belair High School student Schae-Ann Salmon felt that the interactive sessions were good practice, but believes subjects of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) level could also be added. Teacher Sonia Lee empha-sised the importance of preparedness and following instructions in the examinations.

“Try to be calm,” she advised. “That serenity comes with knowledge. (CSEC) is an examination of instruction. Candidates fail because they tell the examiner what they know, not what is asked. Sometimes over-confidence can lead to arrogance; arrogance can be your downfall,” she said.

She further encouraged the students to get adequate rest, eat well, complete School-Based Assessments (SBAs), balance their studies in terms of how the examinations will appear, choose calming music, if they are so inclined, while studying, make an educated guess if in doubt about multiple choice questions rather than leave the question blank, focus on their examination paper and not get distracted by the things happening around them, be early for their examinations and not to take cellular phones in the examination room.

Lee, who is also a Caribbean Examination Council examiner, pointed out that invigilators are not allowed to have phones in the examination room either and the package containing the examination papers should be opened in the presence of the students with one child signing on behalf of the group.

Orville Warren, promotions and marketing co-ordinator at Seprod, said that his company’s involvement with the Observer workshops is in an effort at nation building.

“Ask questions, seek knowledge, be attentive. We are doing this for our country and our nation. The return is getting the best results after five years of studies,” he said.