Lake Macquarie HSC students have described their most recent exam as "hard, difficult, challenging. All of those words".
Abbey Bramley, Liam Mistelbauer and Tyler Neilsen of Glendale Technology High School were three of the over 17,000 students who sat this year's Mathematics Advanced paper on Monday.
Liam said the first ten multiple choice questions "were just something to breeze past" but found the rest of the paper to be significantly harder.
"There were a lot of long, high mark questions that were definitely challenging to the mind," he said.
"It was about having to retrieve the information from the question then apply our knowledge to the paper."
The three students were unanimous in saying that while last week's English papers were a pleasant surprise, the Mathematics exam was more complicated than expected. There were a few energy-based questions which Liam said he wasn't expecting.
"We looked at energy from time to time throughout the year but I think in our revisions we under prepared in that area."
Abbey agreed with Liam and said two questions in particular stuck out in her mind.
"I prepared from past exams and a lot of what I prepared for wasn't in our exam," she said.
"Liam mentioned to me before one about a lightbulb which was hard and there was also one about a solar powered phone charger. That was a long one."
As well as the energy questions, Abbey said there were a lot of graphs involved in the paper.
"There were a few where you had to draw them. I don't like graphs."
Abbey has received an offer of early entry into a double degree of Psychology and Cognitive and Brain Science at Macquarie University. Liam, who has received an offer to study a Bachelor of Business at the University of Newcastle said early entry eased his exam nerves a bit but he's still aiming for top marks.
"At the end of the day I still want to do my best and know that I could have got in off my ATAR," he said.
Naturally, Liam said he's looking forward to the Business Studies exam next Tuesday.
"It is content heavy but the concepts themselves are easy to digest and link between."
Tyler Neilsen plans to take up an electrical apprenticeship in 2022 and said the delay caused by COVID lockdowns played havoc with his post-exam plans.
"I was supposed to go camping this month but because the exams got pushed back I couldn't go," he said.
Tyler said he struggled with Monday's Mathematics exam and that "the trials were a lot easier". Tyler's technique to working through long questions is to look past the words and to extract the figures he said.
"Really try and get your head around what the question is asking you for."
According to Liam Mistelbauer, getting through the last two years of schooling has made him and his cohort "more resilient".
Glendale Technology High School Principal Anthony Angel told the Newcastle Herald this year was much smoother than 2020.
"Already having all the structures and resources in place made it a bit easier to cope with lockdowns this year," he said.
"A lot of the remote and online learning techniques will certainly continue post-COVID."
Abbey's advice for future years is to put the HSC in perspective and to stay "one step ahead" of the workload.
"I know it's hard but keep being self motivated. Think of your future and think of what you are doing this for and then work towards it," she said.
