Some schools are doing assessment tasks, open book exams, cancelling the trials and giving estimated marks, or continuing to do proper exams (like our school). How will our marks be able to be calculated fairly when every school across the state is doing something different? It is obvious that the conditions and marking criteria of assessment tasks and exams are not similar at all so a lot of the students in our grade are just genuinely confused and concerned about our HSC marks and keeping the process fair. 

Doing an exam is stressful enough as it is, and continuing with our trials as exams during a time like this where everyone is concerned for their health and safety, the health and safety of their families, and has been severely impacted in many ways due to lockdown, is only more stressful and will not allow us to reach our full potential. Changing our trials to assessment tasks instead of exams would be much fairer, safer, and would more accurately reflect and display our knowledge and understanding of our subjects as a lot of students are going to be preoccupied with other things on their mind during exams.

Also, I would like to point out that even though we are being offered the vaccine from the start of next week (9th of August), it would not be fully effective during the entirety of our exam period as Dr Kerry Chant has said that it takes 2-3 weeks to be fully effective. As a grade with almost 500 HSC students in which some are not eligible for the vaccine, some not choosing to take it, and many coming from the most heavily affected LGAs, this causes everyone great concern for their wellbeing, their family's wellbeing, and their fellow peers' wellbeing.