CIE results: Of disappointment, ecstasy and relief

Count of A*s and A’s at Roots Millennium School crossed 1,000; 565 scored straight A’s.

ISLAMABAD:

Saifullah dragged his feet through the slush and mud that had accumulated near his upscale neighbourhood in the capital. The overcast weather complemented his pensive mood and slumped posture. “I just got my AS results - all Bs and Cs,” he mumbled, trying to conceal his disdain. “Not sure where I will end up with such grades. My O’ Level results were so much more promising,” he said.

Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) announced the results for Cambridge O’, AS, A’ Level and IGSCE exams on Tuesday. Congratulating all students on their exam results, CIE Chief Executive Micheal O’Sullivan said, “We must uphold the integrity of our examinations so they continue to be recognised worldwide as reliable indicators of students’ attainment levels.”

“I was lucky!” said Fatima Abbas, a student of Beaconhouse Margalla Islamabad (BMI), who scored A’s in Psychology and Accounting and B’s in Math and World History. “Generally, my friends were disappointed with their results, but that is normal because they are very unpredictable. Even I was expecting to get an A in World History,” she added.



Meanwhile, Minahil Ahmed, a mother of three, said her daughter was so upset after finding out her O Level results that she refused to speak to anyone. “Teenagers are naturally rebellious and when put through such pressures, they cannot cope up sometimes,” said Ahmed. But for parents, she added, it is equally stressful.

“It is a matter of hours put into school and then additional hours after that. The ridiculously high tuition fees are another story altogether,” she said.

“I’m happy with my results. The marking was quite lenient, maybe because of the retakes. The percentile dropped and it worked in our favour,” said Ibtihaj Khalid, a BMI student who scored an A in Pakistan Studies and an A* in Islamiat in O-2. His friend, Taimoor, who bagged two A’s and a B, said he was so flustered the previous night that he could not sleep at all. “I kept refreshing the British Council’s official website, muttering prayers under my breath. But as they say, all’s well that ends well,” he said.

Roots Millennium School Chief Executive Officer Faisal Mushtaq said the count of A*s and A’s had crossed 1,000 at the school. “The result was remarkable this year. Around 90 per cent of A*s and A-scoring students include those who reappeared in the Pakistan Studies and Islamiat exams,” he added.

Of the 1,250 students who appeared in the exams, 565 scored straight A’s whereas a total of 2,100 A’s were attained by the school’s students. Mushtaq said many students secured admission in reputable colleges abroad, which lends prestige to the institution.

Aggregated results from other schools were not available when this story was filed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2013.