After three years of dealing with changes and restrictions brought about by COVID, year 12 students across Orange, and some year 11 students, are set to begin their first HSC exams next week.
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The first exam will be English, which will start at 9.50am on Wednesday. Everyone will complete a version of that English exam and they will also complete another English exam the next day with the rest taking place until November 4.
Calista Krkac from Orange Christian School, and Andreas Kuegler and Ella Lamrock from Orange High School are among the students who are busy cramming in as much study as they can before then.
Calista is studying advanced maths, advanced English, extension English, biology and community and family studies and said the COVID pandemic did cause a few challenges during the lockdown.
"It made initial learning kind of interesting," Calista said of the impact of COVID.
"In prelim last year when we were doing year 11, it kind of had the basis for a lot of subjects so we were learning a lot of the fundamental stuff and it made that a bit difficult but we caught up and our teachers have made up for it this year by working extra hard with us on preparing us for our exams.
![Calista Krkac from Orange Christian School is ready to sit her first HSC exam next week. Picture by Jude Keogh Calista Krkac from Orange Christian School is ready to sit her first HSC exam next week. Picture by Jude Keogh](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/GpZJ7bTi6nvXt5tnNdnKeU/30a12f47-505e-4739-ba7b-a57b3276bdb6.JPG/r0_220_8256_5082_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"It was harder than learning face-to-face at school because if you had questions you couldn't just ask a teacher there on the spot, it kind of was a bit more difficult to communicate but because of all the technology that we have nowadays it wasn't too bad.
"You could still contact all your teachers, you could still have classes over zoom, it wasn't the end of the world."
Ella is studying advanced English, standard maths, agriculture, biology, geography and music and also said studying year 11 from home was a challenge last year, particularly studying the prelim exams online, which she said didn't really prepare her for the lengthier trial HSC exams earlier this year.
Andreas is studying advanced English, advanced maths, extension maths, business studies, ancient history, earth and environmental science and a placement at Orange City Library for the business services School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships initiative, which also involves an online college course.
He is more relaxed about the upcoming exams but also faced some challenges in year 11.
"Learning at home during the COVID lockdown and stuff, that was a bit more of a challenge," Andreas said.
However, all three of them have been working hard to make sure they are prepared for next week.
Preparation in full swing
Calista said she has been completing a lot of practice exams such as past HSC and trial papers as well as practice questions.
She said maths will be her most difficult subject so she has been putting a lot of effort into that subject but she is also keeping focused on the end goal.
"I am looking forward to seeing how I go, it will be nice to see how my preparation between my trials and HSC has improved, it will be nice to see how much I know by the end of it because I know I've learnt a lot in class this year so it will be nice seeing that being applied," Calista said.
"I am a little bit nervous because I am not sure what's going to come out of it because sometimes they just throw you interesting questions that are a little tricky to answer but I'm also just kind of excited to see how I go in it."
![Ella Lamrock Andreas Kuegler from Orange High School have been studying hard ahead of the start of HSC exams. Picture by Jude Keogh Ella Lamrock Andreas Kuegler from Orange High School have been studying hard ahead of the start of HSC exams. Picture by Jude Keogh](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/GpZJ7bTi6nvXt5tnNdnKeU/3b48741e-2524-475b-bbd1-be12befb4850.JPG/r0_183_8256_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Ella said her preparation for the HSC "is very stressful" and she has been studying at the Orange City Library every day since she graduated on September 23 to avoid any distractions she might face at home.
"I just find it easier to study when I'm not home because I get distracted by everything," she said.
"If I'm here or I'm at school I find it easier to focus."
Andreas was less stressed and said in the first week of the holidays he did "little bits here and there" but now he is in the second week he is doing a lot more and mostly focusing on maths and English.
"They are the two big ones, and then doming some of my other subjects as well as need be," he said.
I am looking forward to seeing how I go, it will be nice to see how my preparation between my trials and HSC has improved.
- Calista Krkac
Andreas said he also looked at his trial marks so he could determine where to focus his attention.
"Getting the trial marks back was quite good because it allowed me to say, yes I do know what I'm doing here," he said.
"Earth and business they were really good so I don't have to do too much there, and then maths is probably the biggest area where I just need to do a little bit more focus because it's the hardest subject, which makes sense."
Both Calista and Ella said their favourite subjects were biology.
"Because it interests me I find it comes a lot more naturally," Calista said.
Ella said she was doing the best in maths but she loves biology.
"Bio's my favourite, that's where I'm headed with life I hope," she said.
"Business studies should be pretty fun," Andreas said, "because I really like business studies and last time I wrote like a really nice business report and I really enjoyed writing that business report and then I wrote a second business report and that one wasn't too back either.
"Business is what I'm good at and what I know the most."
Plans for the future
Once their exams are complete all three students plan to go to university.
Calista said she will take a gap year first during which time she will continue tutoring flute, which she has already been doing.
"I want to keep doing that and maybe another job in there at some point," she said.
Although she is hoping to focus on playing the flute next year, Calista said she would keep that as a side hobby and would like to focus on a career in the medical field, such as medical imaging.
Ella said she is undecided about whether she will go straight to university where she hopes to study in the medical field or whether she will take a gap year.
"I'm looking at medicine but I have to get there first," she said.
"I didn't actually do the [University Clinical Aptitude Test] this year so I can't go straight into medicine so if I go to uni next year I'll do either health and med or biomedical science or something to get myself into medicine."
"I hated science until about half-way through year 11 and now I just love it.
"I wanted to go into medical research but now I'm thinking if I just do medicine then if I change my mind I can go either back into medical research or work as a practicing professional."
Andreas said he will go straight to university at the University of Newcastle and hopes to study business, leadership and management at Newcastle University.
He said he was concerned that if he does a gap year he will get out of the habit of studying.