FUTURE LEADERS: Year 12 students (front) Canobolas Rural Technology High School student Sam Bennett, Kinross Wolaroi School students Matt Johnston, Annabelle Carter and Erin Smith, Orange Christian School student Amanda Haddin, Orange High School students Taylor Rumney, Amanda Clothier and Lachlan Jensen. (Middle) Canobolas Rural Technology High School student Chris Rothnie, James Sheahan Catholic High School students Ashleigh Cunial and Mckenzie Battye-Smith, Orange Christian School students Thom Dwyer and Bronte Glasby, Orange High school student Angus Parsons. (Back) James Sheahan Catholic High School students Angus Niven and Harry Taberner, and Orange Christian School student Caelan Maxon. Photo: JUDE KEOGH 0204hscgroup1
THERE are 252 days until the first Higher School Certificate (HSC) exam and the stress is already mounting for Orange’s year 12 students.
The Central Western Daily interviewed 17 students from five high schools about how they were coping with the stress and many thought they might buckle under the pressure.
Kinross Wolaroi School student Erin Smith said she would focus her energy on assessments because they counted for 50 per cent of the overall HSC results.
“If I stuff those up then I am never going to get those marks back,” she said.
Canobolas Rural Technology High School student Sam Bennett said she wanted to study as hard as she could to get the marks she needed to become a kindergarten teacher.
She planned to spend hours staying back after school everyday revising, summarising and completing her assignments.
“I’m immensely nervous,” she said.
“I hate exams, I tend to crack under pressure.”
Orange Christian School student Bronte Glasby had already commenced her rigorous study routine.
Bronte wakes up at 5.30am every morning to start studying, but when the bell goes in the afternoon there is no rest for the determined student, as she gets straight back into the books.
She said it was the only way to keep on top of the workload and ensure that when the results came out she knew she had done everything she could to get the marks she wanted.
“I’m feeling pretty prepared and the teachers have really pushed us, which is good,” she said.
Orange High School student Amanda Clothier said her parents had put pressure on her to do well, but she was not too fazed by the finality of the HSC.
“I’m a little bit nervous but I just tend to do my own thing, I have been studying a lot more though,” she said.
“It’s pretty scary to think three terms can determine your whole future.”
It is not all stress, nail biting and studying behind closed doors for James Sheahan Catholic High School student Angus Niven.
Angus is taking every day as it comes.
“I’m a bit of a last minute sort of person,” he said.
Angus shares Orange High School student Angus Parsons attitude.
“I’m not nervous, it’s just one of those things you have to do,” he said.