Year 12 students right across the nation have completed their trials for the Higher School Certificate and some have already begun their final exams.
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It is no surprise students often succumb to a large amount of stress and pressure to not only study and complete the exams but to meet their own expectations, and even surpass them.
Four Griffith High School students shared their thoughts, anxieties, and even excitement in completing the HSC.
Student Sienna Hardwick said she wasn’t expecting the amount of work she has, with the assignments and studying her biggest struggles at the moment.
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“The assignments, I know that for sure – just trying to cram everything in,” Sienna said.
“One day you have an exam and then another the next, so you stay up until a ridiculous hour studying and cramming in all the information for the exams.”
Aduny Takele said he didn’t imagine the amount of work to be much greater than that in years 10 and 11.
“I didn’t expect it to be ‘cruisey’, but I expected it to be pretty stable – it hits you hard,” Aduny said.
“Every other year people told me year 10’s hard, year 11’s hard, so I expected the same with year 12.
“But I think I’m doing all right.”
The students agreed the school had prepared them well enough for the HSC however, as Sienna said, “I think we weren’t as prepared as we thought we would be.”
And, while one would typically imagine the students to feel the most stress of having to undergo the dreaded HSC, for Year 12 Adviser Libby Ridgway it seemed all the fears and stress were instead resting on her shoulders.
“We just finished the trial exams last week, so these guys have just had the experience of what an actual HSC-style exam would be like under exam conditions,” Ms Ridgway said.
“And I think for a lot of our students, the actual exam itself – and seeing what it would really be like – is a bit of an eye-opener – it’s a different sort of expectation.”
Ms Ridgway said she felt more stress than her own students, who when interviewed exhibited a relatively quiet calm.
“Sometimes I think I have more mental health stress on me than [the students] – I worry about [them] more than [they] worry about [themselves].”
Ms Ridgway however said she does have complete confidence her students will succeed.
“The teachers can only do so much and then it comes to the point where we actually have to do the work,” Aduny said.
“It’s our life as soon as we walk out – it all depends on us.”
