Jordan Foster is confident his ‘’relentless’’ studying in recent months will serve him well during his HSC exams.
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He still feels that will be the case but the Corrimal High School student was nevertheless surprised at how nervous he was heading into his English Advanced exam on Monday.
"I got stuck on the first one ... but I just smashed it out."
But those nerves were long gone after the exams.
‘’My brain feels a little bit scrambled at the moment, but I’m pretty happy with how it went,’’ Jordan told the Mercury.
‘’I really got stuck on the first question but pushed on and I just smashed it out.’’
Read more: A message to Year 12 students
Jordan was also reassured by Corrimal High School head English teacher Alicia Van Loo, that he didn’t do as bad as he thought in analysing an extract from the poem Mango, by Ellen Van Neerven.
This pleased the 17-year-old, who needed no reassuring about how well he went in the essay component of the exam.
‘’I know I went really well in my essay. Let’s just say it was the exact question I was hoping it would be,’’ Jordan said.
Hoping to get a ATAR score of 90 but expecting to get a mark in the 80’s, the pressure to do well in his next seven exams ‘’isn’t as great’’, with Jordan already assured of a place at the University of Wollongong in 2018.
He was successful in his early entry interview for a Dean Scholar of Chemistry and Dean Scholar of Medicinal Chemistry.
‘’It took away a lot of the pressure but I still want to make sure I maintain my marks,’’ Jordan said.
‘’I'd love to get a 90 ATAR or anything above that but personally I think I'll get an 80.
‘’I want to go into anesthesiology and become an anesthetist. The aim is to get into medical school at the University of New South Wales.’’
But first he has another English exam on Tuesday, followed by Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Extension Mathematics and Legal Studies.
Jordan’s final exam, Infromation Digital Technology (IDT) will be on November 6.
Ms Van Loo was glad to see so many smiling faces after Monday’s English exam.
‘’They are looking really happy at the moment. It’s good for them to get the first exam out of the way and settle the nerves,’’ she said.
‘’We are a small school which allows us to give our students individualised support. They have put in so much hard work and have had fantastic teacher support and tutoring.’’
English exam kicks off HSC:
D-Day arrived for thousands of Illawarra students on Monday when they sat for their first Higher School Certificate (HSC) exam.
More than 60,000 NSW students taking English Standard, English Advanced or English as a Second Language sat for exams on Monday morning.
In the Illawarra, 2756 students are this year enrolled in one or more HSC subjects.
A total of 77,975 students in NSW are enrolled in one or more HSC courses.
Mathematics, Biology and Business Studies are the most popular elective subjects in 2017.
Japanese is the most popular language followed by French, while Hospitality is the most popular vocational course.
The 2017 cohort of students also includes 913 sets of twins and 16 sets of triplets.
Joshua and Emily are the most popular first names for students, while Smith and Nguyen are the most popular surnames.
This year marks the 50th anniversary since the first HSC exam was held.
NSW Education Minister, Rob Stokes said more than 2.3 million students have studied the HSC over the past 50 years.
‘’That’s millions of Australians educated, nurtured, and guided to adulthood by our wonderfully dedicated teachers,’’ Mr Stokes said.
The Minister joined NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in congratulating students on reaching this point of their HSC journey and wished them well in the coming weeks.
‘’While this is the last leg of your 13-year school journey, remember at the end of the day it’s just an exam,’’ Mr Stokes said.
The 117 written exams will finish on Tuesday, November 7. Results are sent out via SMS and email from 6am on Thursday, December 14.