Wolmerian overcomes autism to ace six CAPE subjects
Published:Friday | August 16, 2019 | 12:30 AMNickoy Wilson/Gleaner Writer
After struggling with mild autism when he was younger, Wolmer’s Boys’ School student Ibrahim Duffus is crediting his recent success in the 2019 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) to his parents, who he said helped him to overcome the challenges related to his condition.
“As a child growing up, I was having a hard time learning, and I wasn’t really developing as fast as the other children were – not physically, but more mentally. So if it wasn’t for my parents taking the time and effort to put into me and my development, I wouldn’t have done as well as I am doing now,” said Duffus, who will be entering upper sixth form in the upcoming school year.
Forward thinking
The 18-year-old attained grade ones in physics, biology, chemistry, pure mathematics and entrepreneurship and a two in communication studies.
In an interview with The Gleaner yesterday, Duffus, who is a prefect, said that his good grades were as result of forward thinking.
“From the start of the school year, I start preparing for the exams. I start preparing as early as possible. I do not wait until the last minute to do my studies,” Duffus said, adding that he even assesses the capabilities of his teachers.
“I do my own assessment of them (teachers) to see if they can help me or the class in that particular subject, and if their standards are not as high as I was expecting them, I seek help elsewhere,” he said.
Duffus, who wants to study biological and chemical engineering at his sister’s current school, Princeton University in the United States, discourages procrastination.
“If you procrastinate, you’re just guaranteed to fail. That’s how I look at it. ... It has affected me the in past … . There were times I’d gotten poor grades because of procrastination. Procrastination is just that enemy that lies in the shadows,” Duffus added.