Passionate, ambitious and goal oriented. That’s how Aniyah Couchman describes herself. With big plans for her future, she was certain that she would be successful in this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Examinations (CSEC).

The 17-year-old emerged as one of the country’s top performers in this year’s CSEC exams, placing 17th in the country and gaining the top 6 spot at her school.

The Queen’s College student, who is already furthering her studies at the CAPE level has successfully secured passes in 16 subjects, inclusive of 15 grade ones and One grade two.

Aniyah, in a recent interview with Stabroek News, shared that while she was confident she was going to pass all 16 subjects, she did not expect to secure one of the top spots in the country.

“I was surprised but overjoyed as I had not expect to make it there with just 16 subjects,” explained Aniyah.

She puts as much effort as she can into her academics so as to achieve favourable results. With a deep passion for science, Aniyah is intrigued by Physics and Biology and hopes to one day enjoy a career within this field.

“My interests lie with astrophysics, astronomy or the medical field,” she simply explained.

Her passion for science led her to focus her studies on subjects like Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Human and Social Biology, just to name a few.

The young lady’s road to success was not a smooth one. There were many bumps along the way. She noted that the transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic was extremely difficult for her.

“Leading up to my exams I struggled with paying attention to lessons, especially those online since there were myriad distractions.”

Despite this, Aniyah knew the hard work and effort placed into her studies would pay off.

“I sacrificed hours and hours of sleep and all my leisure time to study for my exams,” she shared.

While Aniyah considers herself a hard worker, she noted that preparing for the CSEC exams was not as simple as she thought it would be. However, she is very thankful she was not alone throughout her journey.

When asked who were the persons who contributed to her success, Aniyah answered, “my teachers, both school and lessons, who guided me and ensured the various syllabi were covered, the ministry of education that provided free textbooks and worksheets so that I could have access to the content, my parents who continuously supported me, my relatives with their endless prayers and encouragement, and my friends who shared in my challenges and studies.”

Aside from the sciences, the teen also has a deep love for music, which stems from growing up among a family with a strong musical background.

After the pressure from her exams had eased, Aniyah focused on the things she enjoyed, more specifically singing. She enjoyed her first stage performance early in September at the Amerindian Heritage month 2022 Cultural Extravaganza, which was held at the National Stadium.

Aniyah’s encouragement to the next batch of CSEC students is to “start their studies early and not leave it for the last minute.” She strongly advices each student to make a study timetable, to eat healthy, get adequate rest and avoid procrastinating.