At 13 years, Chase Academy boy aces CSEC English Exam

At just 13 years old, Tyrone Austin, a student of Chase’s Academic Foundation in Georgetown, pursued English Language at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

The teenager was only in second form- three levels below the grade this examination is usually written at. Still, he prepared, he wrote it and he aced it- earning himself a Grade One pass.

“The things that motivated me were my parents, my teachers… and God,” Austin told the News Room on Monday.

And for him, writing this examination was no overly difficult task.

He continued attending his normal Form Two/ Grade Eight classes like his peers but he attended extra English lessons (four days weekly) and studied diligently, late into the nights.

“I would’ve studied, been committed to my work and prayed before the exam,” he said, reflecting on what helped him ace this subject.

But how did this happen in the first place?

Well, early in his high school life, his teachers Franklin Langhorne and Henry Chase realised that Austin had a strong command of the English language. They both agreed that with the right amount of guidance and his existing hunger to learn, he could excel.

Sir Langhorne also provided invaluable advice to help keep young Austin focused: Forget about a girlfriend for now, delete TikTok and reduce the time spent on Facebook.

So the two teachers convinced Austin’s parents that he could ace this examination and they all worked together to help him do just that.

“As the mother of a student writing an examination three years before his time, it took a lot of dedication and sacrifice.

“There were some things that we had to forgo just before that so he can get the requisite studying and so forth (and) he was able to do that by prioritising,” Holly Austin, Tyrone’s mother, said.

With his achievement, the teenager will spend the next few years completing his studies at the academic foundation. Afterwards, he hopes to focus on a legal education in hopes of becoming an attorney-at-law here in Guyana.