Newcastle pupil achieves 10 distinctions in IEB exam

Newcastle pupil achieves 10 distinctions in IEB exam

Dia Singh, 17, from St Dominics Newcastle School in Northern KwaZulu-Natal achieved 10 distinctions in the 2023 Independent Examination Board exam and also featured in the IEB outstanding achievement list.

Dia said that she worked very hard consistently to achieve the best possible results.

She said that matric was a hard year. “I started working from the beginning of the year to ensure I was well prepared for the exam. I had a set schedule to give myself enough time to study all 10 of my subjects while allowing myself time to rest and take care of my mental health.”

Dia added that the matric year was a successful year. “I went to Taiwan to represent South Africa at the Taiwan International Expo. I also achieved 10 honours blazers, I am very grateful to have achieved these academic milestones.”

Dia said that from the beginning she knew that matric was going to be stressful. “I had given myself time to relax every day in my routine. I had done the studying in advance to prevent stress. During finals, I was not burnt out and was not pushing myself to extreme limits. I ensured I was getting eight hours of sleep and I was resting well. This allowed me to be completely focused while writing the actual exams. I always turned to God or my family to get me through these times.”

The achiever added that she plans to study actuarial science this year. “It is a course revolving around maths and stats. Maths has always been my passion as can be seen by my three maths based subjects, which are maths core, further studies maths: calculus and further studies maths: finance.

Dia said that she advises matrics in 2024 to believe in themselves. “There is no goal that you set that is too high. If you believe in yourself and set your mind to it, you can achieve all your goals. You need to focus on your academics from the beginning of the year and plan the amount of work needed to achieve your goal.”

Dia’s parents Dr Dr Sunjesh Singh, and Narina Singh said they are very proud of their daughter and her achievements.

The Mercury