Major HSC change signals end of imperative practice

Can you hear that cheer off in the distance?
It’s the sound of HSC markers celebrating one of the biggest changes to the Year 12 exams, with pen and paper no longer being used for extension English tests.
The days of deciphering scrawl and mangled handwriting will be over from 2027, when thousands of students will sit their final extension 1 and 2 English exams online, joining the extension science test already being done on computer.
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The body responsible for administering the exams, the Education Standards Authority, maintains that handwriting is still considered a vital skill, but it wants to modernise the exam experience for students.
And the truth of it is, pen and paper was overtaken as the dominant writing tool a long time ago.
In offices, businesses and homes all around the country, it’s the mouse and keyboard that does all the action, and I personally find it much easier to think and write when I’m typing than when putting pen to paper.
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Admittedly my handwriting is shockingly bad, which I partially blame on being left-handed. Everything I write with ink is smudged by my left hand trailing the words on the page, and I pity the HSC exam markers who had to trawl through my English papers back in the day.
I’ve somehow ended up with a hybrid handwriting style that’s part cursive running writing, and part basic printing. My mother jokes that I should have become a doctor with my handwriting as bad as it is. I do note though that most doctors fill out their prescriptions on computers these days as well!
Neat handwriting is definitely a skill being lost. The school books of our grandparents and great-grandparents are works of art, with the copperplate style that was drummed into students more like a calligrapher at work than a young person writing in a classroom.
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Schools of today don’t put anywhere near as much emphasis on penmanship, and it is sad to see that skill of handwriting falling by the wayside as a result.
And while exam markers might wish handwriting was more legible than it is, you can bet they’ll be happy at the online change that is coming.
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