Currently enrolled in upper six at St Jago High School, Zavion Edwards recently attained five grade ones in his CAPE unit one exam sitting.

These are in the areas of chemistry, biology, physics, economics, and communication studies. These distinctions now bring his tally up to 15, when added to the 10 grade ones he achieved last year in CSEC.

Hailing from the rural community of Giblatore in St Catherine, this young man has made himself, his family and his school extremely proud.

He is a deputy head boy at his school, and the vice-president of the award-winning St Jago High Performing Arts Society. He also fills the shoes of editor of the school magazine.

With all this glory to his name, however, he has managed to stay humble and respectful. An active youth in the local Baptist Church community, Zavion soon discovered that God has blessed him with a powerful, soulful voice. He has demonstrated his talents not only at church, but also on his school choir.

What is his source of motivation?

He responds: “God and my family. They believe in me even when I don’t believe in myself, and this is essentially what keeps me going.”

Now you may say that with these grades, he must constantly have his nose stuck in a book or another, but Zavion’s study technique is quite unconventional.

He told teenAGE”Most exams were prepared for over a period of four-five days. I tried to cover at least half the content of one module each day, taking periodic breaks to carry out chores and watch TV, etc.”

Like most of us, Zavion also faces challenges while preparing for exams. His were mainly “time constraints, I found myself rushing a lot trying to cover everything, and frequent headaches when studying”.

Zavion sees himself as a surgeon in the long run, and hopes to study medicine a UWI in the next school year, but his short term academic goal is: “To complete Unit two successfully, replicating or improving my Unit one performance”.

Zavion advises those of us who struggle in a particular subject area not to be deterred by our dislike for the subject. “The key to obtaining success is praying about the issue and putting in extra work into that subject area.”