It has been a glorious feat in international competitions with Prithvi Vijay Kumar (10IG A) and Rama Srivatsan (IB 2A) of GIIS Queenstown, securing top marks in Digital Technologies and Mathematics in ICAS in Singapore. They were awarded gold medals in the prestigious medal ceremony held on November 3, 2017. 

The ICAS examinations that students have undertaken are an independent, skills based assessment program, which tracks progress of students as well it produces a new ICAS test annually so that it is able to accurately assess a particular student’s skillset.

Earlier this year, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) conducted the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) worldwide, and GIIS Queenstown being a centre for all kinds of opportunity and growth welcomed five different examinations: Mathematics, Science, Digital Technologies, English and Writing -this academic year.

Keeping in mind GIIS’ vision of nurturing global citizens, these examinations help in testing knowledge aligned to the strict yardstick of international requirement and this certainly helps foster spirit of enquiry and perseverance in learners right from the primary to the junior college and secondary levels.

An increased number of participation and success in examinations such as the Green Olympiad, the Science Olympiad Foundation’s (SOF) annual examinations and the UNSW over the last 5 years, reflects that students are benefitting steadily as their success gives them a sense of achievement , inspiring them to build on their strengths and identify aspects they can improve on.

Talking about the acheivement, Prithviraj says, “I have learnt the crucial aspect of time management and I feel more confident to face competitive exams now that I have taken the UNSW exam.” Adding to his point, Rama asserts “Once the content is studied, the next thing to focus on would be the analytical skills and logical reasoning, which cannot be learnt from the textbook, but can only be honed by practice and preparation beforehand.”

The recognition that these exams give the participants and achievers are often useful for university admissions later on. What these achievers share are not only gold medals, but dedication and effort to excel in those subjects they passionately love.

Facing challenges of an external examination system, methodical hard work and relentless pursuit of success are pivotal to personality development and these success stories inspire students to conquer personal milestones and invigorate learning journey.