Richmond River High School student Sveva Bennett, 18, has two exams left to go in this year’s Higher School Certificate (HSC) final exams.In the future, she’d like to build tiny homes, but right now, she’s one of the 75,000 Year 12 students across Australia who are sitting the HSC this year – and one of the 26,000 students sitting in regional NSW.For Sveva, it’s been a challenge to balance the stress of study with normal life, and she’s looking forward to November 11 when it’s all over.“Knowing there’s an end date is getting me through it,” she said. “I don’t have much of a life at the moment – I’m looking forward to no more sleepless nights from studying and worrying. “I feel I don’t have time to exercise or focus on myself and my mental health, and if I put time aside for that, then I get stressed that I’m not studying.“Some of my friends have jobs as well as studying and maintaining their private lives – and they put their jobs, sport and music on hold for exams.“There’s a lot of pressure put on us over the whole year in the lead up to these exams.“Some people don’t care, but I’m one of the kids who does a lot of work.“Some nights I’m up to 1am studying and then I get up at 6am to study.”’ Sveva said the pressure put on students to do well in the HSC in order to get a good Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) score for university is all-consuming.“This sort of pressure is not needed – and not everyone wants to go to university,” she said.“You don’t learn everything you need in life at school and the way they are going about it is outdated.”Read about new university and TAFE scholarships in The Lismore App story New scholarships open for university and TAFE studentsPictured: Sveva Bennett.Gonski survey reports show “unnecessary pressure”A new national survey by UNSW Sydney’s Gonski Institute for Education has released findings that show most people want student ability and talents outside of end-of-school exam results to be factors used in determining their university entry ranking.And two thirds feel the reliance on the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) for university entry creates unnecessary pressure on Year 12 students.Institute director, Professor Adrian Piccoli, a former NSW Education Minister, said the UNSW survey results support academic research that suggests relying on an end-of-school series of exams as the primary means to gain entry to a university is not the best predictor of a student’s overall ability, nor are they the most equitable.“There is a growing body of work that shows one off exams, which are supposedly meant to measure a student’s whole of school experience, often do not accurately measure their skills, potential or overall ability,” Prof Piccoli said.“Like NAPLAN, the HSC scores are used to measure a very narrow range of student abilities which, under the current ATAR system, creates an enormous amount of pressure for all those involved.” A total of 80% of all respondents to the Gonski Institute survey agreed university requirements should also consider a student’s ability and talents outside the classroom. While over 57% say ATAR scores create unnecessary pressure on Year 12 students, that number rises to 75% for people who finished high school but did not do any tertiary study.“Schools are also under pressure to ensure their students achieve high ATAR scores,” Prof Piccoli said.“School ranking tables created from Year 12 exam results effect a school’s reputation and this measure doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of education available at schools but rather how their students performed in various tests.”HSC changes Changes made to the HSC curriculum this year to stop students memorising essays and introduce more critical thinking, have also made it more difficult for teachers to prepare students for these final exams.“it’s made me more stressed when the teachers say to us they don’t know what to expect in the exam questions this year,” Sveva said.“In some subjects, you can look at past papers, but in English, they asked us questions you couldn’t prepare for.“I’m studying 1984 and the question focussed on loneliness, so I had to think about it on the spot.”Sveva is the only student studying German for the HSC at her school and has been doing it by distance education. She’s one of the 5801 students this year who are enrolled in at least one HSC language course.“Distance education is ok for me because I’m organised,” Sveva said. “My mum is German so I get to talk about German work with her - I think it’s one of my best exams. I have an oral exam and a three hour written one.”The future - tiny housesSveva is keen to take a ‘gap’ year next year, but has already applied to Melbourne University in the hopes of studying design in the future.“When I finish the HSC, I’m going to Germany to visit family and friends and practice speaking German - and focus on more sport in my life,” she said.“I’d like to work and get some money to travel. “At first, I didn’t want to go to uni, but then I decided I wanted to build a tiny house.“Alternative, sustainable building and design – that’s the way it’s going in the future – especially because of climate change. “People are starting to think about what their impact is and don’t want a big house.“We need to be more minimal and not live materialistic consumer lifestyles.“Rent is high right now people can’t afford the rent or buying a house with a massive mortgage for years – tiny houses are cheaper to build than other homes.“It’s a good opportunity for young people to take up.”School formalOnce exams are over, Sveva and her friends are looking forward to the school formal.Sveva decided to make her own dress this year, rather than spend lots of money on a dress that would be worn only once.“Some of my friends spent $500 on dress and money on shoes and hair that has to be perfect.“My sister and grandma helped me to make my dress so there’s not so much fuss and money.“I wanted a 1950s yellow dress and I’m proud that I made it.”Sveva is spending her money on a vintage car that she and her boyfriend will arrive at the school formal in.Curriculum reviewA recently released review of the NSW curriculum has called for major changes to the HSC, including slashing the number of courses, reducing the emphasis on end-of-school exams and merging vocational and academic subjects. The NSW Curriculum Review Interim Report, led by Education Professor Geoff Masters, was commissioned by the NSW Government last year in response to concerns that the state's curriculum was too crowded, and needed to be updated for the 21st century.Some of the biggest changes Prof Masters suggested in the draft report were to the HSC, which is the major credential required for students since the school leaving age was raised to 17.The report looked at how the HSC still separated academic and vocational subjects in a way many thought was "artificial and unhelpful".Prof Masters suggested HSC subjects could be broken into attainment levels, and achievement against these could be rewarded with micro-credentials, based on teacher assessment. "In some existing subjects, these attainment levels will replace current performance bands," the report said.“There would still be external assessment, but in some courses the exam would be replaced by evaluations of students' overall performance and class work. For information about the review, visit https://nswcurriculumreview.nesa.nsw.edu.au/home/siteAreaContent/524abec1-f0f9-4ffd-9e01-2cc89432ad52