Coaching culture needs to end, say top HSC students

THE NSW Board of Studies should do all it can to produce sufficiently challenging HSC exam papers to build a bulwark against the impact of coaching colleges, drilling and memorisation, say two of the smartest young minds in the state.

Topping an HSC exam is one thing; topping two, especially in different subject areas, puts a student in an entirely different realm, says Tom Alegounarias, the president of the Board of Studies.

Even more remarkable is when the two standouts at the presentation yesterday of students who came first in a course are friends, debating partners and schoolmates for eight years who undertook identical course programs.     Read Here