Yehia Farid

Yehia completed his IGCSEs in June 2002, from Nefertari Language School in Egypt. He was the first student to be awarded the Beacon Scholarship. He is currently at the University of Bradford studying automotive engineering.

Yehia has written a small article about his first 6 months in Bradford:

I have almost spent seven months here in Bradford . These seven months have been like seven years. I have gained a lot of experience by living on my own; I have learnt how to cook, do my washing and study all at the same time, If I was still in Egypt I would only study and go out for sure, but over here I need to plan my time carefully, and I have learnt how to do that too. It is a really good experience to get to know new people from different countries, different cultures, languages and thoughts. While I was still in Egypt thinking of coming over I was really worried about the kind of people I was going to meet and whether I was going to get on with them. Also I was afraid because of the language; even though all my studies were in English but still the conversation part wasn't that good but it improved a lot within a very short period, which made me so glad. I made lots of friends from different areas, also I started improving my French as I have gotten to know some people who is first language is French. Studying abroad is full of advantages as I have gotten to know what the industry is like and which fields are growing and those declining as there is a good link between the modules we takeat university and the industry. The course I am on is really interesting with lots of practical work in addition to the theoretical which makes things more easier to understand. Really I would have lost a lot if I hadn't been awarded this scholarship.

 

Samer Daoud

Here is what Samer Daoud said for the Beacon nominees this year:

Congratulations to all the Winning Schools, Jubilee Winners, Ahmed Hisham, Cambridge ICT Award winners, Outstanding Teacher Award winners, Cambridge International Diploma for Teachers and Trainers winner.

As for the nominees, congratulations for being nominated, as reaching this level is considered an honour and an amazing reward for your hard work and efforts in studying and achieving high grades. As mentioning the nomination, at least, in your C.V. or University application has an amazing effect.

My advice for you, is to work very hard the remaining few months on the exams, start applying for universities in the UK from now, as the deadline for the top universities is earlier than other universities, look for additional scholarships in the universities’ sites, as they are easy to get with high grades and finally train well for the interview, as being a strong confident person, who knows what s/he wants and why, has a great effect.

Hope to see you next year here in the UK, as life and education here are both amazing.

 

Hebatollah Elfeqy

My life changed a lot throughout the three years of studying the IGCSE; I changed my school, met new friends & got to know more about life & the real meaning of education. Before the IGCSE years, I was like a donkey worker; I study very hard with no real rewarding, because it was not a matter of understanding, yet the number of studying hours & the amount of information crammed into my mind. On the other hand, answering the past IGCSE exams needs a lot of thinking, problem solving & analysis in addition to acquiring knowledge. This is quite obvious in biology, business studies & physics. I really enjoyed all the subjects I took, because I wasn't forced to go for anyone of them, I chose them all & all benefited me a lot. For instance, I took A level biology which I really adore, & even though I'm in the faculty of engineering now, I'm willing to go for medical engineering which is really an interesting field combining engineering skills & medical knowledge. A level physics & mathematics of course helped me a lot in college, they used to be my favourite subjects, & the GCE syllabi made me love them much more. With regards to AS computing, it was really risky to sit it because very few people would even think of it by then, but what I learned from this subject was more personal than educational; I wasn't able to attend most of the classes because there were clashes with other subjects & I was the only one to go for computing in my second IG year, so I had to study it on my own. I had no notes, but the syllabus & some badly photocopied old text books. I did the entire practical work with some help of a computer programmer. I tried my best & eventually got C. It may sound bad to some people, but to me it was an achievement to be that independent & learn how to teach myself. Self teaching is something really important, especially when it comes to university education. Engineering is a hard field of study, & its exams are challenging, so many students there needed private lessons, but frankly I didn't because I depended mainly on my own studies & notes being aided by the professors' lectures. That's what I learned from IGCSE. Another experience is that I had to sit AS mathematics twice, because I wasn't aware of some rules. I took it for the first time in Nov 2003 session & got an A (2 A's in the components), then I delayed the A2 to my last session which is June 2005, I didn't know that the duration between the AS & A2 of a subject shouldn't exceed 13 months, so I had no choice other than taking the whole A level in that last session in the hope of getting an A again, I studied the AS again on my own & could hardly find enough time, since I took many subjects in that session for the sake of the tanseeq. Also

 I wasn't able to take more than one additional A level in that session because I already have 2 O levels remaining. I was stuffed, but having faith in God, & trusting the splendid educational system that will give what I really deserve, this year turned out to be the best in my life because I was truly optimistic, & thanks God I got the best grades ever (for example, 4 A's in the A level mathematics), it was my best performance throughout the three years. My total was 118.6%, not very high but it enabled me to enter engineering which was my first wish. Now, a year passed in college, but still I can feel the benefits I got from IGCSE, practical physics made me more familiar with the physics lab sessions in college; I'm encouraged to apply in business junior councils only because business studies in IG grabbed my interest into the business world; & finally English as a second language made my writing good enough to write in a magazine like Teenstuff. Moreover, because of the IGCSE, I became more oriented of studying abroad, & I'm looking forward to have my post-graduate studies in medical engineering in the UK. I'm really grateful to this awesome education, & so much interested to join the FC's students association, as to support its reputation more in Egypt & support the young IGians in any problems they may face, so that they can be the best they can be.