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HSC markers working at the Sydney Showgrounds.

Inside the shed where HSC marks are being decided

Hard at work marking HSC papers in a shed at Sydney Olympic Park, teachers reveal what is being rewarded – and what is not.

  • Christopher Harris

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Aska Ishfaq, a year 12 graduate of Beverly Hills Girls High School, hopes to be an English secondary teacher.

Azka was told not to write about her mum’s death for her HSC. So she wrote a book instead

Azka Ishfaq lost her mother on the cusp of beginning year 12. Her teacher says she has now written some of the most beautiful words you will ever read.

  • Emily Kowal
The Whitlam sacking transfixed the nation.

‘He’s been sacked!’: How Gough Whitlam’s downfall caused chaos in an HSC class

A legendary northern beaches teacher couldn’t contain his shock.

  • Michael Dodd
Students at St Paul’s Grammar in Penrith had the chance to test out a pilot version of an online IB exam.

‘I didn’t feel that pressure’: Students sceptical about the International Baccalaureate’s new format

An alternative to the HSC, the International Baccalaureate is moving online and students are divided.

  • Emily Kowal
It’s over: HSC students Rebecca Price, Rhiannon Trang, Tamika Rodrigo and Sarah Johnston relax following their final year 12 Higher School Certificate (HSC) exam at Mercy College in Chatswood.

‘I can have fun, guilt-free’: Relief, freedom for students as HSC exams come to an end

Over the past four weeks, close to 75,000 HSC students in 123 subjects have sat more than 400,000 exam sessions. All that came to an end on Friday.

  • Emily Kowal
Normanhurst Boys High School students Harry Shin, Ronny Jo and Lam Doan after their English Extension 1 exam on Tuesday.

Batteries taped to pens: How HSC students prepare for this marathon exam

In the lead-up to their English extension 1 exam, Normanhurst Boys High year 12s squeezed putty to build up hand strength. 

  • Emily Kowal
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Neel Erande, a year 12 student who found out his uni course selection has been cancelled, at home in Wattle Grove.

Neel hasn’t finished his HSC exams. Two of his dream uni courses have already been cut

Year 12 students face uncertain futures as universities slash jobs and units while chasing millions of dollars in savings.

  • Emily Kowal
King’s year 12 software engineering student Daniel Yang, Tyler Mitchell and James Mao.

Swapping pens for code: Welcome to the newest HSC exam

Software engineering has replaced the outdated software design and development course, and has switched to being entirely online.

  • Emily Kowal
Chantal Young, an HSC economics teacher at Ascham, where a third of students take the course, says mandating commerce in years 9 and 10 could help boost economics enrolments in senior years.

This HSC subject has an image problem. Chantal knows what could fix it

The proportion of girls taking HSC economics is at its lowest level in more than three decades, falling from almost half of students in the early 1990s to a third this year.

  • Lucy Carroll
2023 WACE exam v 2025 HSC exam.

Was the HSC biology exam a copy and paste job? Spot the difference

The chances somebody did not copy and paste elements of the 2025 HSC exam from a West Australian exam are more than one in a trillion. NESA disputes that the questions were copied.

  • Christopher Harris

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/hsc-5yf