It's October and NSW students in their final year of High School are brushing up for their final exams. Students receive an exam timetable which typically spreads itself over a couple of weeks - leaving those with exams scheduled at the end of the timeframe biting fingernails and fretting about what might be asked on the paper.

Students receive a student number specific to the HSC exam and the combined results of the exam and assessment tasks largely determines the student's likelihood of being offered a university place.

Education is managed at a State level in Australia and each State / Territory has its own governing Department to govern matters such as the State Syllabus and recruitment of teaching staff.

Australia's States and Territories:

• New South Wales (capital: Sydney)
• Australian Capital Territory / ACT (capital: Canberra)
• Victoria (capital: Melbourne)
• Tasmania (capital: Hobart)
• South Australia (capital: Adelaide)
• Western Australia (capital: Perth)
• Northern Territory (capital: Darwin)
• Queensland (capital:Brisbane)

Australia's Federal Government assists the States and Territories with funding for education and establishes national policies as required.  Recent discussions regarding the potential nationalisation of the school system in Australia may mean that in the future all Australian students will study under the one Syllabus and complete the same final exam.

Key Federal Ministers regarding Education:

• Prime MInister Kevin Rudd
• Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard

The HSC examination itself is typically partly essay based and partly multiple choice and /or short answers. The exam is designed to allow the broadest spectrum of student to have an opportunity to demonstrate their skill and learning: longer answers demonstrate a different range of abilities than shorter responses, which primarily test recall and knowledge acquisition.

Students who complete the final year of High School (Year 12) and fulfil all requirements by completing all assessment tasks and exams will receive the Higher School Certificate (HSC) and a University Admissions Index (UAI) ranking.

In the past, universities have used this ranking to determine offers to course places in the following year's intake. The question is often raised as to whether the UAI is the best indicator of potential and the system could be altered at some point in the future.

Students look forward to the exams being over with so that they can get out of the classroom and enjoy the Australian summer.  Before the exams, students have generally had noses in books with little downtime for recreation.

Students have to put up with an arduous wait for results, not receiving letters until the new year.  Course offers from universities follow shortly thereafter.