Students sitting the HSC while chasing dreams overseas

As nearly 75,000 students sit their final exams in New South Wales from this week, Amy Barker is taking hers across the Pacific Ocean. 

The Sydney Secondary College student is currently completing her Higher School Certificate (HSC) in Japan, where she moved three months ago to play professional football. 

The state's most popular pathway to higher education is often associated with crammed exam halls, ticking clocks and the desperate sounds of pens scratching on paper.

The HSC exam period began on Tuesday, with 123 exams to be completed over the next four weeks.

But Ms Barker is one of 250 students taking their HSC while living overseas this year.

Most have moved recently to play elite sport, study performing arts, or relocate with their families. 

While her peers back home will be trading notes, studying late together and debriefing afterwards, Ms Barker is facing these milestones in a different time zone, without her support network nearby.

"It's definitely a bit overwhelming at times," she said.

"There's been moments where I've wanted to go home like really badly and I miss like all my friends and family ... but I think it's been the best decision I've made."

'A lot of hard work' 

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) tries to keep exam conditions for overseas students as close as possible to those in Australia. 

Students must sign a statutory declaration confirming they will not make contact with their peers or access the internet in the lead-up to an exam.

They are also monitored by an independent supervisor.

Each exam is timed to try to align with students in Sydney, without requiring overseas students to stay up late or wake up unreasonably early.

Evie Newton's friends back home will be sitting their papers before her, and there is roughly a four-hour gap between when they finish and she starts in Scotland.

She will not be able to talk to them during that window.

"I feel like it'll almost be good because then I can kind of just think about how I went and not like judge myself against others," Ms Newton said.

"But it will also be kind of hard because I won't have the support like if it was really hard, like, 'oh my goodness that was so hard, how did you guys go?'"

Ms Newton is balancing the HSC with a Bachelor of Arts in Modern Ballet in Glasgow.

"I want to do well [in the HSC] because I'm a bit of a perfectionist," she said.

"I'm working so hard to do one thing, but I'm working so hard to do the HSC."

Ms Newton moved to the UK two weeks ago, but has been studying through distance education for the last couple of years.

She said that her experience with distance education had helped her manage her time and prepare her subjects for exams.

"It's been a lot to take in but I'm just really grateful to be here, it's taken a lot of hard work," she said.

Juggling commitments

Having signed a contract with J-League side Cerezo Osaka, Ms Barker is juggling a demanding training schedule with her final exam preparations.

"I leave the house [to train] at around 6:30 and then come home at around 2 to 3pm," she said.

"And then hopefully I can go to the library or like Starbucks and study for two, three hours. And then come home and do it all again."

The 18-year-old said there would not be much time to decompress with football practice straight after her exams.

"So I'll do a few hours of training and then call my friends ... maybe I'll go eat something, who knows, have a nap and than just keep on studying I guess."

Her mother is flying to Japan to support her in person. 

"She knows it hasn't been easy, so I think just her being there is going to be really good.

"And then just someone to talk to face-to-face about everything I'm going through is really exciting."

Ms Barker said the future was looking exciting.

"I still want to go further and hopefully play in more countries ... [I] definitely plan on going to university at some point as well."

This year's cohort will receive their HSC results on December 16.

"The HSC written exam period is one of the largest public exam operations in the southern hemisphere, and our main goal is ensuring exams are delivered fairly, securely and consistently for every student," NESA CEO Paul Martin said.