ANOTHER ONE DOWN: Emilie Miller, Aleisha Conn and Nicola Ball celebrate finishing their biology exam.
ELATED cheers and pretend tears greeted Kinross Wolaroi School Year 12 coordinator Cherie Byrnes as she waited nervously for students to file out of the Higher School Certificate (HSC) biology exam yesterday.
Some students were happier than others but the general consensus was that it was a tricky one.
The section that stumped Emilie Miller was section three. The section was about genetics.
“Genetics was not my strong point,” she said.
“They weren't the questions I was expecting.”
'What is the Human Genome project?' had Emilie stumped.
“The questions were more based on applied knowledge you had and they were really complex,” she said.
Biology is the third most popular subject for HSC students this year behind English and maths.
Mrs Byrnes believes students who take it still want to do science but aren't interested in the mathematics behind physics and chemistry.
Biology is more popular this year than last. In 2011 the subject was ranked fifth. Biology was more popular with girls making up 61 per cent of enrolments out of 16,756 students statewide.
Nicola Ball sat the exam with a cold. She is a little nervous how her illness may affect her marks.
“It was ok it was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be,” she said.
“Some questions I didn't recognise.”
Nicola powered through her exam with a water bottle and box of tissues at her side. She thinks the stress of the impending exams brought upon her sickness.
“It's partly stress, it all builds up,” she said.
Nicole and Emilie studied non-stop since school broke up three weeks ago.
“Study got me through,” said Nicola.
With blue hands she headed home to have a rest.