Are you smarter than a 12th grader? Relive HSC anxiety with a quiz based on this year’s maths exam

Around 60,000 NSW students sat exams across Maths Standard 1 and 2, Advanced and Extension 1 and 2 on Wednesday morning. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

Some HSC students were reduced to tears while sitting this year’s mathematics exams.

“Someone I know is literally crying because it was too hard,” a student wrote on a Facebook forum about the Standard 2 paper. “Real sista, real,” came a reply.

Around 60,000 students – or seven in 10 – sat exams across Mathematics Standard 1 and 2, Advanced and Extension 2 in New South Wales on Wednesday morning. Mathematics Extension 1 students have to wait another week to sit their exam.

On social media, the papers were described as “brutal”, “stupid”, “so hard” and “absolute horror”.

“Standard 2 was worse than 2020,” one student wrote on TikTok to hundreds of likes.

A question about a person owning a large quantity of sheep on the exam drew particular ire, with another student questioning: “Why did bro have 12,600 sheep in the first place?” followed by crying emojis.

“TH[E] [Q]UESTION ABOUT SHEEPS BRO,” came a reply. “I SAT THERE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND.”

For many of us, high school exam anxiety only resurfaces in an unpleasant dream or the occasional flashback. But we are offering readers the chance to relive their youth with a sample of questions pulled from this year’s Standard papers 1 and 2.

In order to make it accessible online, we can’t provide the most difficult questions – only the multiple choice options. Rest assured, though, participants are still allowed to use a calculator, which were approved by the NSW Education Standards Authority for all exams. Just don’t plug the quiz into ChatGPT.

1. Which of the following could be classified as discrete data?

   1. Colour of a car

   2. Time taken to swim 200m

   3. Temperature of an ice block

   4. Number of students in a class

2. 

   This baker makes and sells cakes. The straight-line graphs represent cost (C ) and revenue (R ) in dollars, and N is the number of cakes. What profit will the baker make by selling six cakes?

   1. $10

   2. $20

   3. $40

   4. $60

3. 

   This biased die is made from this net. The die is rolled once. What is the probability of rolling a two?

   1. 1/6

   2. 1/4

   3. 1/3

   4. 1/2

4. Frankie takes four weeks of annual leave. His weekly pay is $350 and his annual leave loading is 17.5% of four weeks pay. What is Frankie’s total pay for this period of annual leave?

   1. $245.00

   2. $411.25

   3. $1461.25

   4. $1645.00

5. 

   Consider the formula. Which of the following correctly shows p as the subject?

   1. p = nq − m

   2. p = m − nq

   3. p = n + q − m

   4. p = m − n − q

6. There are 960 students at a high school. Using stratified sampling, 240 students from the whole school are to be chosen for a survey. If there are 200 students in Year 12, how many Year 12 students should be chosen?

   1. 4

   2. 5

   3. 50

   4. 60

7. An electricity company charges customers 37 cents per kWh for electricity used, U, and pays customers 5 cents per kWh for electricity produced, P. The electricity company also charges customers a fee of 71 cents per day. Which formula should be used to calculate a customer’s daily cost of electricity, C, in cents?

   1. C = 71 + 37U − 5P

   2. C = 71 + 37U + 5P

   3. C = 71 − 37U − 5P

   4. C = 71 − 37U + 5P

8. The thickness of the skin of a spherical balloon varies inversely with the surface area of the balloon. What would be the effect on the thickness of the skin if the radius of the balloon is doubled?

   1. Divided by two

   2. Multiplied by two

   3. Divided by four

   4. Multiplied by four

9. A football game is being played in Quito (UTC −5) starting at 3:40pm on Tuesday. What is the time in Sydney (UTC +10) when the game starts in Quito?

   1. 10:40am Tuesday

   2. 8:40pm Tuesday

   3. 12:40am Wednesday

   4. 6:40am Wednesday

10. Points M and P are the same distance from a third point R. The bearing of M from R is 017° and the bearing of P from R is 107°. Which of the following best describes the bearing of P from M ?

    1. Between 000° and 090°

    2. Exactly 090°

    3. Between 090° and 180°

    4. Exactly 180°

Solutions

1:D, 2:A, 3:C, 4:D, 5:B, 6:C, 7:A, 8:C, 9:D, 10:C

Scores

1. 8 and above.

   Someone knows their Pythagorean theorem!

2. 9 and above.

   Someone knows their Pythagorean theorem!

3. 7 and above.

   Someone knows their Pythagorean theorem!

4. 6 and above.

   You passed, but without flying colours.

5. 5 and above.

   You passed, but without flying colours.

6. 4 and above.

   You need to dust off those textbooks.

7. 3 and above.

   You need to dust off those textbooks.

8. 1 and above.

   You need to dust off those textbooks.

9. 10 and above.

   Move over Fibonacci, there's a new sheriff in town.

10. 0 and above.

    You need to dust off those textbooks.

11. 2 and above.

    You need to dust off those textbooks.