The HSC starts tomorrow and the feeling in the air around me is nervous apprehension, excitement at the impending relief that will be felt once this ordeal is over and lots of the fear of the unknown.
The truth is that most of the kids writing these exams will never again know as many facts about as many topics. Their heads are filled with information, most of which they will never need again.
The question this raises is how relevant are these exams and should there be an HSC at all ?
I remember the pre-exam nerves, the sleepless nights and the sweaty palms making it hard to hold your pen. I remember the night before-cramming and the feeling on the morning of each exam, almost of defeat, where the voice inside my head said, "well, if I don't know it now, I will never know it".
The flip side of this is the sheer freedom you feel when you finish writing your last exam. Enjoy this feeling, there are very few times again in your life when you will have such little responsibility. Between ending school forever and embarking on your career is the short breath of holiday that will never be repeated.
If you have sat this set of exams, you may never forget how you felt writing them. They were such a big part of school memories. For those of you reading this who are sitting the exams this year........... GOOD LUCK! and for all those people behind the scenes egging you on.......................... well done for getting to this point.
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feeling the pain
Yes I agree - every time the HSC rolls around I remember it like it was yesterday and feel for the current students who may never experience stress and nerves like they do throughout the exam period.
The thing I'd like to hear and see more of is a fresher, more positive outlook on life after Year 12. In my experience, far too much emphasis is put on your marks and what you plan to do with them. While university is a great experience, there are many avenues students can explore to start and build a successful career.
That being said, work hard and it will be rewarded - you only get one chance!!
It's not that bad
Sitting the serious exams once in a lifetime is not so bad. Consider that in other countries such as Russia, for example, high school students used to go through both end of school exams and then admission tests to universities, all over the course of two-three months, with each university having their own admission standards regardless of the applicants' school record. For some students, that meant doing the school exams in May-June, trying for a prestigious uni in July and, if failed, sit for yet another set of exams to a 'second choice' uni in August (with the school year starting in September). Quite a rollercoaster.
With Russia more and more embracing western ways, however, this system is now changing to have a unified state examination programme (USE) similar to the HSC, which is going to be mandatory by next year, notwithstanding a lot of criticism and resistance from both public and academia who believe the old system was fairer and more objective in estimating pupils' knowledge.