For two Tenterfield High School students Stephanie Bligh and Sophie Donnolley this is how you learn an entire year’s worth of work in preparation for their Higher School Certificate exams.

Both Sophie and Stephanie, along with all their classmates, will sit their first English exam today. English is the only compulsory subject in HSC and all of Tenterfield High’s 31 year 12 students will be sitting the exam from 9.20am this morning.

English is the first of six exams that Stephanie will sit over the coming weeks, including two on October 26 - Stephanie’s 18th birthday. For Sophie, the English exam is her second after yesterday morning’s Business Studies exam.

Both students said they were not panicking over the exams like some of their friends had been because they both already knew what their plans were for life after high school.

Sophie said she would like to work in childcare. It is a career that she has begun working towards, having already completed a Certificate II in Children’s Services while studying at high school, and one she thinks will be enjoyable.

“I love kids. I connect with them for some reason,” Sophie explained.

She said she would be open to living away from home, but would like to stay in Tenterfield. So long as her parents will keep her on, she said with a laugh.

Stephanie is a bit more torn. A love of books has her looking towards a career as a librarian but with family spread across Australia and the world, the lure of travel is certainly tempting her.

“I would like a good mark, but if I don’t it won’t be a life changer for me,” she said.

Sophie agreed and said she was not too nervous about the impending exams when she talked to the Tenterfield Star on Monday.

“I’m not really too nervous. In the morning before business studies I’ll just do the usual and have a good breakfast,” she said.

But on Monday afternoon with her first exam looming, business studies was put out of Sophie’s mind as she sat with Stephanie at a table strewn with textbooks and years worth of notes to go over their highlighted English dot-points, just one more time.