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Well, today we spoke to some of the top ten scorers who told us how they felt about the results and how they prepared for the exam. It is important to note that Bernice Yorke Institute captured a share of 1st, 3rd and 4th, and a share of the 7th place spots. This is no mean feat, and Sherry Ali, the principal of the school, said she was pleasantly surprised.

Sherry Ali, Principal - Bernice Yorke
"I expected them to do well and I expected students to be in the top ten, I didn't expect so many."

Jasmine Betancourt, 1st PSE - Bernice Yorke
"It felt great. It felt like my hard work and my studying really paid off."

Robin Schaffer
"Were you surprised at all?"

Jasmine Betancourt
"Yes at bit because I expected to do well but I didn't expected to do so well in the exam. I took evening, Saturdays and Easter classes at school and I also work along with my classmates and we help each other out. I also studied at home and got a lot of support from everyone."

Rhiki Alegria, 1st PSE - Hummingbird Elementary
"I found it kind of challenging, I put my mind to it and studied and I did well."

Robin Schaffer
"Were you all excited when you found out that you've place first?"

Rhiki Alegria
"Yes I was very excited and very happy and relieve. I expected to do really well but I didn't expect to come in first. It was a surprise."

Eric Hunter, 3rd PSE - Bernice Yorke
"I took the extra Easter classes and the Saturday classes also and I got help from my family at home and with other stuff my teacher and my classmates would help me."

Darren Alvarez, 4th PSE - Bernice Yorke
"My mom called me and told that I came in 4th, I didn't believe it. It felt really great."

Joshua Pott, 5th PSE - Hummingbird Elementary
"I was really excited when they told me that I came in 5th. I almost didn't believe it for myself but then when I look onto it I saw my grade. I am happy to know that all my work has paid off. You had to do your own individual studying. You couldn't rely on the teacher to do everything for you. The main thing was just to study and pay attention in class."

Haoxian Kang, 7th PSE - Bernice Yorke
"It felt great and my parents were very pleased with me."

Robin Schaffer
"Did you study hard for it?"

Haoxian Kang
"I studied daily and as soon as I had free time I study as much as possible."

Robin Schaffer
"Did you at all expect to do so well on the exam?"

Haoxian Kang
"No."

Orville Mohe, 7th PSE - Hummingbird Elementary
"Honestly I thought that I was in the top 20. I didn't myself to get that high on PSE and I feel extremely excited."

Alyssa Hernandez, 9th PSE - Holy Redeemer
"I didn't expect to be all the way in the top 10s and I feel really proud of myself for doing that. It feels really good. I feel like I worked very hard and that my hard work really paid off. When I went to sit the PSE I was a little nervous but after looking through it and realizing that I knew what I was doing I felt calm."

Robin Schaffer
"What was the preparation like for you?"

Dwight Santana, 10th PSE - Holy Redeemer
"A lot of extra work, evening classes, working with your teacher and listening in class. It took some time."

Robin Schaffer
"Did you expect to do so well?"

Dwight Santana
"No not really."

And as the top ten are basking in their achievements, another student also must be mentioned as coming out on top. Rowan Garel was born visually impaired, but - with accommodations for special needs students made by the Examinations Unit and facilitated by NARCIE, he was still able to sit the exam - and came out with a 93% average, that is 372 points - a mere 17 points less than the first place finisher. He told us how, with hard work, he was able to do so well, and had a message for other special needs students who want to sit the exam.

Rowan Garel, PSE participant - Hummingbird Elementary
"I just tried to tell them that things might be done in a different way for them but at the end of the day you have to do the same thing as in you still have to study and work hard and that could get you a really long way."

"I really had to study to make sure that I remember everything that Ms. Chavarria told us to remember. I would just look over my notes and stuff like what I had. I have some documents on my laptop and my speech program would like read what's on the page since I am visually impaired and I can't write my answer. They had to take me in another room because I would have to tell invigilator which answers it is and if I did that in the other room everyone would hear me."

Melanie Chavarria, Teacher - Hummingbird Elementary
"There might be a common misconception 'well Rowan got it a little easier,' no, Rowan took the exact same exam as everybody else did and his grade was all for him. He did that on his own and I think that speak volumes as to the capabilities of our visually impaired children."

"It was beautiful to see that he got through a regular environment, what you would consider a normal environment and he did so phenomenally and maybe he didn't make it in the top 20 or the top 30 but for us like Mrs. Vasquez said it's like making first place."

Due to geography, we were unable to speak to all of the top 10 PSE winners, but will try to speak to them during the award ceremony.