Year 12 English student and school captain Genevieve Erskine said her classmates were texting each other quotes from Paradise Road over breakfast.

The film about a group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women who are imprisoned by the Japanese in Sumatra during World War II was one of four texts students at the school had studied this year.

“Everybody was just texting each other non-stop about what could be on the exam,” Genevieve said. “It was sort of like a last-minute study session.” 

But when it came to sitting the exam, Genevieve went with Life of Galileo instead. 

“I found it more interesting and had got the best grades on my essays on it,” she said. 

On the curriculum for Mount Clear College students this year were the texts texts: This Boy’s Life, 12 Angry Men, Life of Galileo and Paradise Road.

The school’s 75 VCE students put pen to paper on Wednesday morning for their three-hour English exam. 

Genevieve said the lead-up to the exam was a blur of writing essays and School Assessed Coursework (SACS).

“The exam was exactly what I had expected,” Genevieve said.

“I didn’t feel too stressed or overwhelmed. I had been a bit more worried about the analysis part of it, but it was pretty much how my teacher had said it would be.”

Fellow school captain Hugh Ebbs said he was relieved the first of the exams was over.

“It’s been a big build-up so its good to get the first one out of the way,” Hugh said.

While Hugh has more than a week to study for his next exam, specialist mathematics, Genevieve will sit her biology and further mathematics exam on Friday. 

The duo are among 43,017 students statewide participating and 50,413 eligible to graduate with a VCE certificate in 2014.

melissa.cunningham@fairfaxmedia.com.au