Grenada Today - The National Newspaper of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique

Eleven year old Alana St. Bernard who copped the first place in the 2005 Common Entrance Exams never expected to have done so well.

St. Bernard, a student from Alpha Junior School in Mt. Parnassus, St. George's, told GRENADA TODAY when the newspaper caught up with her on Wednesday that she is still excited over the results.

"I was not expecting to place first, but was aiming for the first five because there were some questions that I did not answer properly and thought I might have lost some marks", she said.

The Ministry of Education on Tuesday released the results of the 2005 Common Entrance Exams. A total of 3500 students wrote the examination, comprising 1995 boys and 1605 girls.

St. Bernard, who resides at Bay Gardens, St. Paul's described the overall exams except the written component as quite easy. The top student said that although her parents were surprised at her high placing, she credited them with being responsible for her doing well due to the assistance and encouragement given to her during the preparation for the exams.

Alana wants to become a Psychologist and spoke of being fascinated by the way humans behave. Her second choice is that of an Earth Scientist because she finds the earth and space rather interesting.

The young St. Bernard enjoys reading, gardening and watching television while her favourite subjects are Social Studies and Science. The eleven year old who is the daughter of Doctor Allan St. Bernard and Radiographer at the General Hospital Bernadette St. Bernard will in September attend the St. Joseph's Convent, St. George's.

According to Alana, the convent was chosen because the majority of her relatives attended the institution. Alana believes she is going to get a cellular phone and a laptop as gifts from her parent for her good showing in the exams since they had made that promise to her before the exams.

The island's top student wants her peers who were unsuccessful this year to study harder since if they apply themselves they will be successful.

The Common Entrance Examination, held on May 6 was open to students who were eleven years but did not reach fourteen (14) years of age on April 30.

The exam consisted of two papers, a multiple-choice component comprising Social Science, Natural Science, Language Arts and Mathematics and a written component where candidates wrote a short composition on a given topic and provided solutions to mathematical problems