ONE week down, three to go for almost 6000 senior students in the Hunter sitting their Higher School Certificate.
The students of St Mary's Catholic College Gateshead walked out of their Community and Families Studies exam on Friday with a sigh of relief.
October 18 marked the halfway point for the students with three out of seven exams complete from the timetable.
"Three exams are down and I have four to go. Week one is over so I'm feeling happy," Annabel Brown, 18 said.
She said she found the CAFS exam to be quite approachable and finished with 15 minutes to spare.
"I thought it was really good. The questions were really well written. I reckon some were hard to decipher but at the same time I think they covered all the things we did in class," she said.
But for peer Holly Hayes, being sick in bed the day before didn't allow her to give the exam her all.
"I hated today's exam. I haven't really been able to study so it definitely showed but it is what it is. I'm not too worried about that," she said.
"I don't often stress but I was a bit stressed this morning when things weren't aligning."
With mathematics coming up on Monday, Holly said she would use the weekend to reset and get on top of her notes.
"I think you've just got to study at your own pace and do a little bit each day," she said.
Emma Bryant, 18 said using past HSC papers made her feel confident heading into the exam.
"I feel like it was pretty good I thought it was easier than the trial, and using flash cards helped me the most," she said.
After school Annabel hopes to enter the NSW Police Academy, Holly has plans to study social work at the University of Newcastle and aspires to one day be a lawyer, while Emma wants to become an early childhood teacher.
This year more than 76,000 students are sitting the HSC across the state. With a record 80,166 students completing at least one HSC course in 2024, the HSC remains the most popular high school credential in the country.
