I Hope You Will Never Regret

Principal Glen called the Mathematics HOD, Mr Denzel Gray, into his office and said, “Mr Gray, I will give you the opportunity to set up a Mathematics question paper for our learners to prepare them for the Mathematics Olympiad competition. For the last four years, we have been in second place and it hurts. I trust that you will bring glory to our school.”

Mr Gray was over the moon; he called all the mathematics teachers to the staff room and said, “It’s been a while since our school won this competition. Let’s set up the Mathematics paper to prepare our learners. I want each teacher to submit one problem before the end of business today.” The teachers were very happy to be involved in preparing their learners.

In the blink of an eye it was exam day, learners were very excited. Even those who were weak in Mathematics forwarded their names to be included in the selection. Their teachers didn’t deny them. Three hundred learners chose to participate in the Mathematics examination.

They were told to go to the exam hall. They were surprised to see a child amongst them. Was she lost? Avery was supposed to be in Grade 0 since she was five years old but she was sitting at the front desk ready to write the Mathematics examination.

Mr Denzel Gray looked at the learners and said, “As Principal Glen indicated, the exam will be two hours and the pass mark will be 60%. Please attempt all the questions. Don’t leave any blank spaces. The paper consists of twenty multiple choice questions. When marking your paper, we want to see how you get to the answer. We will be marking each step. So, please don’t guess your answer. For the first hour, no learner is allowed to leave the venue.”

Then the invigilators distributed the question papers, the answer books and pencils to the learners. Those who were weak in Mathematics were shocked when they saw the question paper. It was extremely hard; it was different to those previous Mathematics Olympiad question papers they had practiced.

The paper consisted of Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry problems. Most learners started with Algebra problems because it was less tricky than Geometry. There were solve for x problems.

Some learners felt that Geometry was more challenging, they decided to do Geometry problems last. Avery started with the Geometry problems. It was very easy for her. Then she tackled Algebra and followed with Trigonometry.

When the hour was up, Mr Denzel Gray indicated that those who were finished writing could leave the venue should they wanted to. Avery raised up her hand, and then Mr Gray walked to her and asked, “How may I help you, Miss Martins?” He thought she wanted clarity on the question or she wanted to take a bathroom break.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Avery told him that she had finished the examination. Mr Gray was so surprised because the exam paper was very difficult and long. He took Avery’s paper and looked at it. He was dumbfounded to see that all the questions were answered. Her hand writing didn’t look like five-year-old hand writing. It was neat and beautiful.

He sat down and marked Avery’s paper. He couldn’t believe his eyes. She obtained a perfect score. He walked out of the exam hall to the principal’s office. He knocked on the door, when he got the permission to enter he said, “Principal Glen, Miss Martins obtained 100%. Is she not in Grade 0?”

Principal Glen laughed out loud and replied, “She is currently in Grade 2 with her elder brother, Aiden. Last week, she told her father that she was learning nothing in Grade 1, so I’ve promoted her to Grade 2. She is a genius. She will finish her high school education when she is ten years old.”

Mr Gray was so shocked and replied, “I will go to the department and ask for her to be included in the competition.” However, Principal Glen took a letter from his desk drawer and handed it to Mr Gray.

His eyes were as big as saucers when he saw the approval letter. It indicated that Miss Martins was allowed to participate in the Mathematics Olympiad competition.

He was overjoyed and said, “I believe our school will win this competition this year.” Principal Glen nodded his head because he believed that the competition would be interesting because they had a secret weapon. Mr Gray went back to the exam hall.

After two hours, the invigilators collected the papers from the learners. Mr Gray indicated that the results would be posted on the school notice board the following day, Friday, at 10 am.

When the students went out of the exam room they indicated that the paper was difficult, especially the Geometry questions. However, they had faith that maybe they would be able to get at least 60%.

As soon as Mathematics teachers received the papers, they started marking them. When the Mathematics teachers finished marking the papers, only one hundred and fifty learners obtained 60% and above. The highest obtained 100% and the lowest got 10%. Mr Gray made copies of Avery’s answer book and handed them to the teachers.

When they saw the way she answered the questions they were surprised. Mr Gray said, “Would you believe it if I told you that this answer book belongs to a five-year-old learner who is doing Grade 2?” Everyone was shocked to hear that. They wanted to see the brilliant learner.

The following day, the results were displayed on the notice board. Their eyes were big as saucers when they saw that someone managed to get 100% on that difficult question paper. Avery didn’t even go to look for her results because she knew that she did very well. The paper was too easy for her.

Mr Jacobs walked to her and asked, “Miss Martins, don’t you want to check your Mathematics results?” Avery smiled and replied, “Sir, the exam paper was very easy and I think everyone did well.” She was surprised when Mr Jacobs told her that only one hundred and fifty learners passed and the rest failed.

At that moment, Mr Gray approached Mr Jacobs and Avery; he greeted them with a smile and said, “Miss Martins, congratulations on getting a perfect score in your Mathematics exams. It gives me pleasure to tell you that you are now part of the team who will represent our school in the Mathematics Olympiad competition.”

Avery smiled back at him and thanked him. Mr Gray told her that from Monday next week those who passed the exam would be attending a Preparation class at 9 am. He asked Mr Jacobs to bring her to the venue. Then he went back to his office. Mr Jacobs smiled at Avery and said, “As a reward you can leave early today.” It was ten thirty in the morning. Avery took her phone and called Aunt Bridgette and asked her to fetch her.