Esther Ishimwe is doing last minute revision at lunch time on Monday before she sat for Social Studies, the second exam for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLEs) which started Monday morning.

The 11-year-old candidate from GS Remera protestant in the Giporoso area, says the exam she had done in the morning was relatively easy and that she was ready for the next paper.

"The math exams reflected what we did in various assessments we had in class, the questions were mainly drown from P4 and P5 books and I tried to do my best to answer all of them,” says Ishimwe.

"I am optimistic that the remaining exams will be easy as well and my dream is to join a good boarding school and I know all will depend on my performance, I will do my best,” she added.

Ishimwe’s dream is to pursue sciences to become a pilot.

Ishimwe is one of the 255,578 candidates who are sitting Primary Leaving Exams that are slated to end on Wednesday.

Candidates started with Mathematics in the morning and Social Studies in the afternoon.

Other exams they will sit for include Science and Elementary Technology, English and Kinyarwanda, according to the time table.

Several other students who spoke to The New Times expressed optimism saying they had had enough time to prepare and that the first day was promising.

"The math exam was moderate, there were some questions which required more thinking and was a bit hard given the time given, but it was not generally hard and I managed to answer all the questions,” said Josiane Akumuntu, another candidate from the same school.

Akumuntu’s dream is to become an expert in the tourism industry.

Launching the exams, Dr Isaac Munyakazi, the State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education said the exams had begun across the country without a hitch and urged the students not to panic saying that this was a normal exercise to test candidates and promote those qualifying to another level.

Munyakazi launched the exams from Groupe Scolaire Kacyiru 1 in Kacyiru Sector, Gasabo District.

"This is the time for students to prove to parents and the nation that they did not invest in their education in vain, it is a time to show your ability to move from primary level to secondary one,” he said

He said the exams should also serve as an opportunity for teachers to test their level in delivering courses based on students’ performance and assess where they fell short and work hard to better their work.

Marking the exams will start in December followed by grading and placement.

PLE and O’Level results will be released in the first week of January while A’Level results will be released weeks later, according to the officials.

Exams for both O’Level and A’Level will start next week on November 20.