Students reflect on the year without May exams

As the world is at the juncture of a transformation, we, the graduating class of 2020, are about to embark on our own journey to university and beyond. As an IB Diploma Programme (DP) student from the batch of 2020, the drastic turnabout of worldly events has left me not only worried but also truly shocked.

When I first heard about the cancellation of exams, my thoughts were in a co-existential state of chaos and calmness. On one hand, it felt like although I worked towards these exams for two years, I would never get a chance to completely prove myself. On the other hand, cancellation seemed like the only practical solution that focused on the greater issue: our health and safety.

We vividly remember the night when our DP Coordinator, Mr. Ben Darko, announced that the May 2020 IB examinations we were scheduled to write had been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. The moment felt euphoric because we simply could not register that we would not take some exams we dreaded writing since the day we sat in our first DP classes. However, we were disappointed because we realized that we would not be able to partake in the feeling excitement our predecessors had described when they heard the final announcement to stop work and had their final papers taken from them by the invigilators.

To some, the May 2020 examinations also provided an opportunity to showcase that the Tema International School IB Class of 2020 comprised of not only risk-takers but also learned individuals, and we are grateful that our Internal Assessments (IAs) can still reflect how well we have learned.

I was relieved yet disappointed that I didn’t have the chance to experience taking the IB exams. I had wondered how it would be like to sit for those exams for hours. I understand why the IB would cancel for everyone entirely because the of different ways COVID-19 has impacted cities worldwide. Despite that, I did my part in completing the remaining internal assessments and other documents that needed to be submitted. I am hopeful that my peers and I receive the IB diploma as we have worked hard for it; being in the IB programme was not easy but it was worth taking.