And Parkes’ Year 12 students walked out of the Parkes High School’s LP Johnson Hall all smiles about 12.30pm, after their first paper.

Parkes Christian School has eight students sitting HSC exams this year, completing their first paper at Parkes High as well.

2018 Parkes Christian School Captain Emma Greenland was happy with her first English paper.

“I feel privileged to be able to sit the HSC English papers this year while in Year 11,” she said.

“It's a great advantage to be able to finish my English studies this year, and then focus on the other subjects next year.”

Parkes High School student Georgia Goodrick was happy with her first English paper but felt a little overwhelmed.

“There was so much writing!” She said.

Parkes High School’s chaplain Julie Layton took the time to call in to see how the students were feeling after their first exam.

As did Parkes Christian School’s English teacher Greg Ballantyne.

“It was a good paper, pretty fair with no surprises,” Mr Ballantyne said.  

“NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) is moving away from the creative writing section being a prepared piece, and this was obvious in the 2017 English paper.

“The kids should have been well prepared for the questions in today’s paper,” he said on Monday.

“Parkes Christian School is very proud of all our kids sitting the 2017 HSC exams - we trust they will all do their best, which is all that matters.”

A total of 77,975 students are currently studying at least one HSC course and 70,270 are expected to complete their HSC this year.

This year's exams include a total of 117 written papers and will finish on November 7.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the exams and more than 2.3 million students have done the HSC since it began, Education Minister Rob Stokes said.