You would probably be hard-pressed to find a Jamaican who cannot recite the gem, “Labour for learning before you grow old, for learning is better than silver and gold. Silver and gold will vanish away but a good education will never decay”.

Sixteen-year-old Lijé Johnson, is no different. In fact, the teen said it has permanently imprinted on her to the extent that it guides her study even today, years after learning it in kindergarten.

Johnson, who migrated to the UK in 2010, wowed her family and peers with her outstanding performance in this year’s sitting of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams — equivalent to the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate. The former Clapton Girls’ Academy student boasts 12 A’s in biology, statistics, Spanish, drama, English Language, English Literature, religious education, mathematics, chemistry, physics, sociology and history. What’s even more impressive, is that she attained A* (pronounced A star) — the highest in the British grading system— in eight of these subjects.

“I am extremely happy with the results, especially as I’ve earned the title “top scorer” of my secondary school, and have gained the grades required at GCSE to go on and study medicine after sixth form.” Johnson told the

Jamaica Observer via e-mail from her home in London.

“As soon as I learnt the word ‘paediatrician’ I knew that was what I wanted to be. Of course there has been vacillation over the years, but my ambition always comes back to medical sciences. My grandmother used to call me her ‘little doctor’.”

Her grandmother, Sonia Lewis, lives in Barbican in St Andrew. She helped raised Johnson, who attended Trafalgar Christian Prep at the time, until she migrated.

“I was on top of the world!,” she told Career & Education. “The entire family expected it (great results) from her.”

“When she was growing up she was always putting stuff back together. Like if a doll was broken, you know how dolls can pull apart, she would put on back the head and make bandages. She always said she wanted to be a paediatrician,” Lewis added.

As for Johnson’s mother, Patrice Hamilton, the GCSE success was a birthday gift like no other.

“It was my birthday so I said to her ‘this is the best gift you could have given me’ and I gave thanks to the Lord Almighty,” Hamilton said.

Johnson’s results were much better than she thought they would have been. She was particularly impressed that she scored a A* in English Literature, which she said was always a difficult subject. But she put in the work. She sat extra classes during the holidays and weekends, spent hours at different libraries in the evenings after school, and schooled relatives on different subjects as a means of revising.

“I found that a particularly effective method of revising is by explaining it to someone else, which allows the knowledge to be cemented. For example, one of my family members who didn’t know at all what I was talking about, by now should certainly be able to get an A* if they took the test themselves,” she said.

“She was always coming with pop-ups of information, even from childhood,” Hamilton, who was one of her daughter’s ‘students’, shared. “She would always pop up with her interesting facts. It was comforting to know that she was retaining her own knowledge and to such a high level that I myself could recite it.”

“Halfway through our exams we were given study leave, which permitted us to only come into school when we had an exam. However, with all the free time, it became slightly difficult to focus. I found myself at the library almost every day of the week to ensure that I was focusing on revision, for if I had stayed home I would most certainly have slept away my revision opportunities,” Johnson confessed.

Her own temptations in perspective, the teen shared some advice for students preparing for exams. “I would very much advise a separation from social media as the pressure to stay in the loop with social events very easily distracts from focus on (school) work and revision.”

The ‘little doctor’, who accredits her exceptional results to her work ethic and continuous support from her family, is currently studying for her ‘A’ levels at Mossbourne Community Academy and hopes to pursue medicine at Imperial College London.