HSC begins as Parkes High School leaders share words of encouragement with their peers

The leaders of this year's cohort of HSC students from Parkes High School had some inspiring words for their peers as the first of their exams get underway.

The HSC written exams begin today, October 11 with English Paper 1 and will finish on Friday, November 3.

Parkes High School captains Maely MacGregor and Toby Collins, and vice captains Heidi McPherson and Harry Bligh aren't letting the pressure and stress HSC exams are famous for affect them.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Maely laughed.

And they're encouraging their classmates not to let the exams overwhelm them either and to give it their best shot, that's all that matters.

"It's not the be-all and end-all, just do your best... There are so many ways to do what you want," Harry said.

"In the end it's just numbers on a piece of paper."

As for some advice, Maely said to make sure your study notes are up to date, while Toby suggested taking regular breaks while studying.

"Don't go flat out all the time," he said.

The four admitted that their early university entry offers has allowed them to relax a bit with the exams.

"I'm usually really stressed, this is the most relaxed I've been before a school assessment," Heidi said.

"But obviously we still want to do well," Toby added.

"The courses still have requirements."

Both Maely and Toby want to study exercise and sport science and have had several early entry offers. Maely is looking to accept the University of Wollongong's offer and Toby said he'll probably go with the University of Newcastle.

Heidi too has had several offers to study primary education and she's leaning towards attending Wollongong University, while Harry is looking at studying mechanical engineering at either the University of NSW or Wollongong University.

They've been using study cards, visual techniques and doing past HSC exam papers to help them prepare for the month ahead.

"The syllabus has some really good check points too," Maely said.

Harry said the best way he's been able to prepare is doing the old exam papers, especially with subjects like maths.

"It's the only way you can prepare, especially with maths. It shows you the way the question will be asked," he said.

Their trial exams at the end of last term gave the students a taste of what the HSC might be like but they're expecting it not to be as onerous.

Their trials were compacted within a week and a half whereas they have more than double that for the HSC.

"We were also still learning some new content when trials began, now we're just revising everything," Toby said.

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