Exetat 2023: "During these 4 days, we found in the items everything we had worked on at school" ( Jeannette Dikamba/ EDAP-UPN)

Over four days, from June 26 to 29, 2023, high school seniors took their final exams of the school year—and perhaps of their entire academic career.

 This is the State Exam, which consists of tests on general knowledge, science, elective courses, and languages. On this final day of exams, the graduates interviewed by the editorial team of the EPST Communication Management Directorate (DGC-EPST) mostly reported that all the exams were manageable. This was particularly true for Nyemno Saïdi, a student at the Banza School Group, who said that everything went as planned. “It wasn’t too easy either, but it went as we expected; there were some slightly difficult questions, but we did the best we could. I’m proud of what I did; I answered the questions fairly correctly, and I’m fairly confident that it will go well,” he said. Jeannette Dikamba, from the EDAP/UPN school, added, “The school had already prepared us very well; we were guided by our teachers, who calmed us down and reassured us that it wasn’t the end of the world. We covered several topics, and during those four days, everything we went over with our instructors was exactly what we encountered on the exam.” Iyoko Isabelle, a student at Munganga Excellence Middle School, noted that she used past exam questions to prepare for these tests. “It went very well, except for the first day. We arrived late, and that put us at a disadvantage. To prepare, I reviewed every night. In any case, I’m sure I’ll pass with no less than 60%,” she said. It should be noted that the 56th session of the State Exam registered a total of 1,002,806 candidates, including 411,621 girls and 591,185 boys, spread across 2,827 testing centers. The National Board for the Short-Term Vocational Program, meanwhile, registered 5,447 candidates, including 1,031 girls and 4,416 boys, spread across 275 testing centers throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Ouriel Mangitukwa