Crunch time for students with HSC trial exams underway at Oxley High School, Tamworth High School

After 2020's challenges, many students have emerged more resilient, and school principals said while there may be additional anxiety due to COVID-19, it was pretty much business as usual.

Oxley High School deputy principal Mark Baldwin said while there was understandably some stress among the 75 students about exams, the lead up to the trials hadn't been impacted by the pandemic.

"Because we aren't a hot spot, we haven't got any online learning, we're face-to-face, we've come back from holidays and nothing really has changed," he said.

"We've got precautions in place with tables set out as far as possible in the hall, we've got masks, hand sanitiser and wipes.

"Obviously the kids are a lot more anxious than what they normally would be, but the fact there hasn't been any cases up here or we haven't really been as affected by it as Sydney has been, it's in the back of their minds but not as prevalent as it would be for the kids in the city."

The first exams included the English Advanced and Standard Paper 1.

Students will sit Paper 2 on Tuesday morning, kicking off a busy two weeks of tests.

The HSC is due to commence in Term 4, but Mr Baldwin said there had been some correspondence circulating around schools that it might be moved back, however that wasn't cast in stone yet.

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Oxley High School student Lily Pinchen said while she was excited to sit her first English Advanced paper, COVID had made it "a bit difficult".

"It's more just not knowing if your trials are going to get pushed back or not knowing what's going to happen... if you're going to go to online learning, for example," she said.

She has already had an offer from Bond University, and hopes to study nursing or paramedicine.

Paige Levingston, another Oxley student, said she is feeling optimistic after the exam having already been accepted into Charles Sturt University's Bachelor of Nursing, with a long-term goal to enter paramedics.

"In Year 11 it was really hard because we were at home in lockdown, but Year 12 is not too bad since we're in Tamworth and can have trials," she said.

"Sydney aren't having trials at the moment so we're lucky in comparison, but I'm a bit annoyed about the possibility the HSC could get pushed back.

"On the other hand it would mean more time to study which would be another positive."

While Oxley students began this week, Monday was the start of a second busy week of trials for students at Tamworth High School.

Principal Keith Leyshon said the kids have reacted well to changes across the state and had shown resilience.

"I meet with the captains each week and I've been questioning them around some of the COVID restrictions," he said.

"Yes, there's some uncertainty in what's going to happen this year, but overall the kids have been reacting really, really well to it.

"A number of students have put in for school recommendations scheme for early offers, with the early offers expected to come through in Week 1 of the HSC."

Other Tamworth schools will begin their trial HSC exams in the coming weeks with HSC written exams due to begin on Tuesday, October 12.

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