The state's Year 12 students have proved their mettle to reach the end of HSC exams, the culmination of 13 years of schooling.
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Early in the piece it was COVID causing disruptions to study, more recently though some students have had to navigate a much more fluid situation.
"We have a number of borders who come from places like Wee Waa, Narrabri, Bourke. Those that have been affected by the flood," Principal of Calrossy Anglican School David Smith said.
"We had one girl who had to do do her exam at Narrabri because she was unable to get through.
"Even with the last exam there's a couple of kids that know they won't be able to get home [yet]."
David Nassim will graduate from Farrer Agricultural High School.
He plans to study mathematics at a major university in Sydney, but was clearly frustrated by the allocation of marks for certain questions in the extension maths paper.
"A level exam is an exam that rewards hard work," he said.
"What is not good is when the hard work is put in but then NESA [NSW Education Standards Authority] decides to throw in curveball questions.
"Questions that are absolutely brutal and really fail the students more than the students fail NESA.
"It's usually a thing where they [the exams] don't hit certain parts [of the syllabus]," he said.
"But when large portions of it were just not addressed ... giving questions from insignificant parts of the syllabus ... it just seems a bit not right."
While many students are yet to decide what comes next, there are those who have already secured a place at university.
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"A number of the students have gone into their exams knowing they've already got an offer," Mr Smith said, and that's due to their own initiative in applying for early entry and also the fact that fewer international students are attending Australian universities.
"With COVID there's a lot of university places that're open too because we haven't had the international students who are taking places at some of the big universities," he said.
"I think the university sector is opening up and giving kids a lot more opportunity."
Early entry to university has also been very popular at some public schools.
Deputy Principal at the Oxley High School Paul Davis, said taking the initiative to go for the opportunity early, has yielded great results.
"I actually don't know any student that didn't get at least one offer for early entry and some actually got multiple offers," he said.
But he said there will always be students who will want to take their time deciding.
"Some kids are very driven and very focused ... and other kids are more like your typical kid who aren't quite sure yet," he said.
"And that's why those offers from universities are really nice in terms of giving them some choices.
"A lot of kids are taking gap years ... take that year off to earn some money and make sure that what they applied for is really what they want to do."
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Mark Kriedemann
I take a particular interest in industry, environment, science, and technology subjects. Besides studies in media, my tertiary education covers genetics, as well as International Relations. I therefore strive to draw links between these varying disciplines to give a comprehensive analysis of developments in industry, agriculture, and the associated politics.
I take a particular interest in industry, environment, science, and technology subjects. Besides studies in media, my tertiary education covers genetics, as well as International Relations. I therefore strive to draw links between these varying disciplines to give a comprehensive analysis of developments in industry, agriculture, and the associated politics.
