That was the consensus yesterday at Xavier High School after about 100 students breathed a sigh of relief when the bell rang to signal the end of their first exam.

Almost 77,000 students across NSW completed the first English exam, 3953 of them were in the Riverina.

Xavier High School Student Nicola Vonthien, 17, said the exams weren’t the be all and end all.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought,” she said.

Alex Eggleston, 17, and his classmate Carla Hensel, 18, are both hoping to study medicine when they leave school and while they are aiming for high ATARs, they know there are many paths they can take to achieve their goal.

“People don’t need to be defined by their ATAR,” Carla said.

The only thing students said they would change was the exam’s two-hour time limit.

“I spent too much time reading the questions,” student Connor Pegler, 18, said.

Students said it felt surreal to finally sit a HSC exam after spending the whole year preparing for it.

“English was the best one to get out of the way because you stress a bit leading up to it because it’s subjective,” Alex said.

Yesterday’s essay question asked students to ruminate on how an individual’s identity is shaped by connections with others and their environment, a query that will no doubt be raised once final year exams are over.

Xavier High School English co-ordinator Lesley Gardner said exams were also nerve-racking for the teachers.

She saw the paper 30 minutes before the exam was over and said there were no surprises.

“We were very happy with the paper,” she said.

Ms Gardner said the students were happy and relieved to have completed the first exam.

“On a whole they seemed optimistic about what happened in the exam and how they tackled the paper,” she said.

“It is rewarding to know they were prepared.”

With one paper down and six to go, the four students will be finished by the end of the month while some of their classmates will sit exams until November 5.

Some students also completed hospitality and Indonesian exams yesterday.

Students will sit the second English paper today.