Students at St Clare's Year 12 exiting the examination room today after their first Higher School Certificate (HSC) exam - English paper one - appeared composed, relaxed and ready to take on paper two tomorrow.
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The HSC exams were pushed back a couple of weeks this year due to the pandemic.
However, that didn't seem to rattle the students, who said it was just another hurdle to overcome in what has been a very difficult year.
In fact, the general consensus today among the students was that the exam was easier than expected.
Laney Tull, Ruby Mitchell and Patrick Guthridge all agreed that "last year's question was harder," which could have been the case because of the difficult and disrupted year the students faced with the pandemic.
"The paper was a lot easier than what I thought it was going to be. I think they did that on purpose because of the year we have had," Mikayla Guymer said.
Lilli Henry admitted that overall the year has been "really hard" for herself and fellow classmates to navigate the study that comes with the HSC year while the stay-at-home orders remained in place.
"For weeks we couldn't come into school which made it hard to get practice papers and ask questions," Lilli said.
After the exam concluded, the students gathered in the Learning Centre to debrief where they were congratulated and praised by principal, Peter Nicholls, and Year 12 adviser, Tim Masters.
Mr Nicholls said he was very proud of the resilience the students have shown during what has been a very difficult couple of years.
"They have to be applauded for bouncing back from such an adverse time," he added.
"The students have been collaborative with each other and the teachers and I am very proud of the resilience they have shown."
The written examination period concludes on Friday, December 3 with Food Technology. HSC results and ATARS are released on January 24, 2022.
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