Students shares their mood after A level results out at Jumeriah college, Dubai on Thursday. 16, August, 2018.
Abu Dhabi, Dubai - This is the first year in which the majority of students were examined in the new, linear A Levels.
Published: Thu 16 Aug 2018, 12:57 PM
Last updated: Fri 17 Aug 2018, 2:23 AM
It was smiles all around on Thursday, as students across the UAE were celebrating their A-Level results.
Over at Brighton College in Abu Dhabi, 42 per cent of all grades achieved were A* - A or equivalent; 76 per cent of all grades achieved were A* - B or equivalent; and 95 per cent of all grades achieved were A* - C or equivalent.
The top achievers this year included Edward Garemo who bagged eight A*s; Artemis Prevot with four A*s and an A; Eloise L'Her with three A*s and two As and Leila Barakat with an A* and two As and a B.
Securing the highest marks at Jumeirah College (JC) in Dubai with four A*s in Psychology, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths was 17-year-old Pakistani student Khadijah Sharjil Anwar. Her impressive results mean she will now be entering next fall term as a freshman at the Princeton University taking up Public Health Policy.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, she said: "I'm beyond thrilled. I worked so hard for this and I'm very grateful to my teachers." Her father Sharjil Anwar, who works as a CFO for a holding company, added: "I'm very delighted with my daughter's exam results. She really worked hard for it; she was very focused and now she's going to one of the top universities in the world."
Other toppers at JC included Kelly Stewart, Jasmina Eldamanhoury and Rahul Lobo who all got three A*s each; while Michael Ash, Saiqa Pirmohamed, Florence Risbridger and Jhanvi Bhojwani scored two A*s each; and Jocely Ross, Sharheel Ahmed and Cara Wason achieving one A* each.
JC principal Simon O'Connor said: "We've done it again. The A Level results at JC are, yet again, outstanding. Over 400 A Levels were sat and 11 per cent achieved an A* with 41 per cent at either A* or A grade and 55 per cent of the students achieved no lower than a B grade.
"We are thrilled that, yet again, our students have achieved such wonderful results. The majority of the subjects were new specifications this year and, teachers did not have the resources that they have had historically or a clarity of what was required. Not only that, but the new courses are significantly harder. This makes the results all the more impressive," he added.
Students from Our Own English High School - Al Ain, The Winchester School - Jebel Ali and The Cambridge High School - Abu Dhabi received outstanding grades as well. Varun Menon from The Winchester School was the GEMS highest achiever and has achieved outstanding five A*s.
Brendan Law, vice-president of education, British Cluster at GEMS Education, said: "These exceptional examination results are a testament to the hard work of our students. I would like to express how proud I am to see that GEMS Education students have once again over-achieved in their A Level exam results. We wish our students every success in their projects and studies beyond GEMS Education, as their futures appear to be very bright indeed."
Students at the Dubai College (DC) also celebrated another successful set of A Level results with 59 per cent of all examinations provisionally awarded an A or A* and 25 per cent of all grades awarded an A*.
DC head of Sixth Form, Bobby Trivic, said: "One third of our cohort achieved all As and A*s and nine students are celebrating the rare achievement of gaining a full house of A*s, ensuring they met their respective offers from Cambridge, Imperial, Yale, UC Berkeley, Queens in Canada and University College, Dublin."
Ellie O'Keeffe, who will be heading to the University of Cambridge to study medicine, garnered five A*s while Josh Kotecha, Hugo Dolan, Mitali Doshi, Satadru Sanyal, Aaron Aspinwall, Murtaza Javaid and Sungyoung Kim all got four A*s each and Rachel De Sousa earned three A*s.
"These successes are in the context of a climate of ongoing uncertainty surrounding the A Level reforms that have been taking place over the past three years. This is the first year in which the majority of students were examined in the new, linear A Levels, widely acknowledged to be richer in content and greater in difficulty than the old generation ?of examinations," Trivic said.
He expressed great pride in the students' accomplishments, saying: "We know how difficult it is to achieve top grades in these new A Levels, so for our students to achieve an A* in one quarter of all examinations sat is testament to their hard work and multidisciplinary talents. It is reassuring to see that Dubai College students are maintaining very high levels of achievement and still gaining access to the very best seats of learning in the world with three students heading to each of Oxford and Cambridge and a further six students heading to Ivy League schools."
Results in Abu Dhabi
In Abu Dhabi, Aldar Academies Al Yasmina Academy's cohort of 38 A-Level students earned a 100 per cent pass rate overall, with 87 per cent achieving one or more A* to C grades and 71 per cent of students gained one or more A* to B grades, a three per cent rise over last year's results. Moreover, eight per cent of students achieved all A* to A grades, with 34 per cent gaining one or more A* to A grades.
"We're thrilled to celebrate another year of rising A-Level results, especially against the backdrop of our "outstanding" rating as an overseas British School (BSO) earlier this year," commented Dr Tim Hughes, Al Yasmina Academy principal.
"It's been hugely satisfying to see our students exceed expectations and make outstanding progress - in particular, their exceptional performance in the STEM disciplines, which are such an integral part of our future-focused curriculum," he added.
Amber Harding, the academy's highest achiever with two As* and two A grades, who will study biomedicine at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, said: "I did cry when I opened my results - there was definitely a feeling of relief and overwhelming happiness. I was lucky to have teachers around me that were so willing to put in the extra hours to help, but this also took hours and hours of independent study."
Another school topper, Zaid Jaffrey, who earned two As* and one A and will take up Electrical Engineering at the Imperial College London, said: "Organisation, consistency, hard work and, of course, the support of my teachers were so important to my success. Their door was always open for me."
Other top performers at the school include British student Callum Lynn who earned three A grades and Mexican student Jimena Del Valle Lopez Vallejo who earned one A*, one A and one B.
Swedish student scores 8A*s
Swedish student Edward Garemo, 17, from Brighton College Abu Dhabi, got an impressive 8 A*s in eight subjects, including Core Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Computer Science, Further Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Chemistry and Thinking Skills. Previously he garnered a perfect 10 out of 10 A*s, the highest grades possible when he sat for his General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE)
He said: "Most pupils do three A-Levels. I have an innate curiosity and passion for learning, and instead of confining myself to three, I chose to pursue eight.
"I will also be graduating a year early, at the end of Year 12."
Just recently Edward won the UAE's first medal (bronze) at the International Physics Olympiad in Lisbon. After this feat he said: "If you manage to qualify for this competition you have proven that you are one of the best physicists your age in the world. At the competition itself you can earn various medals based off the score you achieve.
"I do enjoy challenging myself, and you don't get to do that at this level almost anywhere else: this is one of the most prestigious high-school science competitions in the world."
Edward lives a balanced life. Aside from excelling in his academics, he is also into sports. He currently holds a brown belt in karate and on track to achieve black by the end of the year.
angel@khaleejtimes.com
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