UAE students declared world toppers in Cambridge exams

Filipina student Paula Arissandra Dizon was the world topper in the 'English as a second language' category of the CIE.- Alamy Image

Thousands of students worldwide took the Cambridge International Exams but it was the UAE students who emerged as toppers in some subjects.
The results were released in August, however, pupils were told just recently that they had topped the exams.
Filipina student Paula Arissandra Dizon was the world topper in the 'English as a second language' category of the Cambridge International.
"I scored an A-star and a mark 'one' in the speaking part of the exam. I was told about it this morning and I was not expecting to be the world topper at all. I was very shocked," said Dizon, who goes to Our Own English High School in Al Ain.
"At first, they had told me I was the topper in my school, but then I was informed that I was also the world topper. I was very excited to hear this news - and very happy."
To prepare for these board exams, Dizon, 16, said she read several fiction and non-fiction books to improve her sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and speaking skills.
"The English subject wasn't that difficult for me because, since I was young, I've always loved English and I studied by reading a lot of books. Reading helps me see how sentences were formed, and our teachers did such a great job preparing us for the test," she said.
Math whiz
An Egyptian student at Wesgreen International School in Sharjah, Salma Hany, clinched the top spot in mathematics.
She took three subjects in total during the board exams - including biology, chemistry and math - and received an A-star in all of them.
"I really enjoy math and it's really fun. I was kind of expecting it (become a world topper) because I thought the test went really good," said Hany, who hopes to pursue either medicine or astrophysics in the future.
"I mainly did lots of practice and went through a lot of past papers. It sounds tough but it really wasn't. I just focused on it and spent three hours daily on all subjects," she said.
Another Filipina student, Princelle Abbie Palmes Binobo, received a high achiever mark in the combined science subject. She goes to Pristine Private School in Dubai.
"I was really happy to see my mark, and I wasn't expecting this at all. They told us we will be receiving a Cambridge award," said Binobo, thanking her teachers for helping her prepare for the exams.
"I did a lot of past papers and went through the resources provided by the teachers. I studied approximately seven to eight hours every day, on and off," she said.
SECRETS TO TOPPING THE GLOBAL EXAM
>I read a lot of fiction and non-fiction books to improve my sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and speaking skills. (Paula Arissandra Dizon, Filipina student, English topper)
>I mainly did lots of practice and went through a lot of past papers. (Salma Hany, Egyptian student, math topper)
>I went through the resources provided by the teachers and studied seven to eight hours every day, on and off. (Princelle Abbie Palmes Binobo, Filipina student, science topper)
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com