A taste of the HSC

 
Text and photos by Evelyn A. Opilas
Dundas-NSW-Australia
November 15, 2018
 


“Done,” the relieved Year 12 students said in unison, raising their arms up in jubilation.



“That’s a relief for us too,” I smiled back, gathering the last paper for this year’s Higher School Certificate (HSC) tests at our exam centre, St Patrick’s Marist College in Dundas.

The days did go by quickly. We reported for duty 18 Oct to supervise the 17-day HSC exams and, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, 9 Nov, our last day, had arrived.



“You did it, and we survived,” I tell colleague Emiliana Estanislao, who invited me to join her team of examination supervisors earlier.

Mely, as we call her, had applied to be one of New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA) presiding officers allocated to conduct the 2018 HSC exams at an examination centre in the State.

She was assigned St Patrick’s Marist College in Dundas, where Mely had daily custody of the exam papers, manage a team of exam invigilators, and read the exam rules and misconduct warning to students.

“I wanted to see if I could do it,” she mused on what made her apply for the challenging role.

 That the exams went smoothly at St Patrick’s says something about the Catholic education system, according to Mely.“The Principal was very supportive of the students, teachers Sarah and Simon were around to assist our team, and the students themselves were courteous, respectful and disciplined,” Mely said.

The HSC is the credential awarded to students who successfully complete senior high school level studies in NSW. HSC results are used by the University Admissions Centre (UAC) to calculate the students’ Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), a ranking system used to allocate university placements.

A delightful taste of the HSC we had.