HSC students pushed to think on the spot with ‘curly questions’
THE first exam of this year’s HSC proved a tougher hurdle than expected today, with many students struggling with some tricky questions. About 60,000 candidates sat the first English paper but they were in for a bit of a surprise.
NSW
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THE first exam of this year’s HSC proved a tougher hurdle than expected today, with many students struggling with some tricky questions.
About 60,000 HSC candidates sat the first English paper but they were in for a bit of a surprise — with questions designed to stop them from memorising large slabs of essay material.
English teacher Jane Carter, from of Cecil Hills High School in Sydney’s West, said many of her students had to think quickly on the spot to answer “a few curly questions” in the paper.
Ms Carter said the exam punished students who had simply memorised responses before sitting the paper.
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“I feel in the last few years there has been a huge move away from rote-learning,” she said. “Even the way the questions are written these days really ask for specific ideas. “Students can’t go in with prepared answers any more.”
NSW Education Standards Authority president Tom Alegounarias told The Daily Telegraph the new approach would benefit the students.
“The HSC has evolved to prepare kids for the real world,” Mr Alegounarias said. “The real world doesn’t always give you time to prepare.”
Ms Carter said some students found creative writing questions “a bit challenging”.
Candidates were asked to “compose an imaginative text that explores two different perspectives on discovery”.
They also had to include the quote, “it is terrifying and magnificent, familiar and utterly alien,” in their answers.
Cecil Hills High School captain Jarrod Carluccio, 17, said the exam’s unusual question caught him off guard.
“The creative question was a bit of a curveball,” he said. “I think most of us prepared a piece about only one perspective.”
In Sydney’s east, however, 18-year-old triplets Noah, Caleb and Ethan Steinmann — who sat the English exam at Randwick Boys High — said the paper was fair.
“The questions were not trying to trick us,” Noah said.
“I feel confident about it and everyone had a chance to answer the different sections.
“We were well prepared — once you get through it you can look forward to the rest of your life.”
The triplets, who gave each other support through the long months of study, said they planned a surfing trip with their dad Andrew on the NSW north coast once the exams were over.
They emerged from the Randwick exam room with other Year 12 students to find Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Education Minister Rob Stokes waiting to congratulate them.
“Finishing school and entering adulthood is a rite of passage and I hope every student around the state feels confident as they complete this final milestone,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Cecil Hills student Olivia Macmillan, 18, said she had studied for about six hours a day for the exam.
“I’m not a fan of English, so to have this exam out of the way is good,” she said.
Fellow Cecil Hills student Julina Ngov, 17, said she was happy with how she answered the questions.
“I feel like I did well, the teachers have been preparing us for everything,” she said.
“I’m glad that this exam is out of the way so now I can focus on my next one.”