Port Stephens Year 12 students have reported positive feedback to their teachers following the completion of the first and compulsory Higher School Certificate (HSC) exam, for the subject of English, last week.
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This year around 73,000 Year 12 students across NSW are for the first time sitting for their end of year exams with strict COVID-safe protocols in place.
The written exams started with English on October 20 and will conclude on November 11, with results available on December 18.
Five weeks ago, four Port students expressed their fears and expectations following a most disruptive year of schooling which included shutdowns, study from home and online learning.
The Examiner caught up with three of those students to ask how they felt after their first exams.
Medowie Christian School's Kiara Dawe, who said that the COVID-19 disruptions had brought the small Year 12 student group closer together, was pleased with the English paper.
"I did standard English and overall I thought both paper one and paper two were quite good. I preferred paper 2 as some of the unseen texts in paper one were a bit of a challenge," Kiara said.
"The essay questions for my prescribed texts were really nice and broad in my opinion, so you had a variety of ways to approach the question.
"For Module C, we had a 20 mark imaginative writing piece to complete. This was a slight shock as all year we had been preparing for a reflection in that section. But I guess that's the thing with HSC, you can't predict what's in the exams. Overall I though it was pretty good and I'm glad it's all finished."
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Prior to the exam, Irrawang High School's Sierra Noffke said she felt that she had prepared well for the big day.
"I did the English Advanced paper and I found paper one to be more difficult in terms of the unseen texts," Sierra said.
"The paper two section relating to 'The Craft of Writing' was also different and a little surprising. We had been prepared to write a reflection on our imaginative writing, but it turned out in the exam that we weren't required to write a reflection."
Irrawang High's Nicholas Hopper said that the first English paper was challenging but ultimately the preparation he did helped with the common module essay at the end of the test.
"The second English paper was more difficult as it was based on three modules which each had their own prescribed text that I had to revise prior to the exam.
"But ultimately I'm glad they are both finished and I won't have to worry about English in the near future."
