On Thursday, the Muswellbrook High School students joined more than 650 others in the Upper Hunter, completing their first Higher School Certificate exam.

Bethany Bray said now the first test was completed there was a sense of relief.

Pupils across the state sat the English (Standard) and English (Advanced) Paper 1 exams, beginning the HSC season.

The sisters agreed there was a sense of familiarity, sitting with the rest of their grade, as they had done throughout the year – which created a comforting atmosphere.

“I honestly didn’t feel like it was the HSC in there,” Bethany said.

“It was good – I came out feeling happy with what I’d done,” Olivia said.

“Because we'd done it in the same format in the trials.”

Fellow student Bethany Simpson was also pleased with what she saw in the exam.

“I feel like we’d all done heaps of preparation so there was no way there was going to be any surprises,” she said.

However, there was little time for her to have a big celebration.

Following her first paper, she had a break for lunch before heading into her Music 1 exam.

“By tomorrow I’ll already have two down out of seven exams – that’s a good feeling,” she said.

While the girls took their study serious leading up to their exams, they are confident the outcome will be fine, regardless of their results.

“It's not going to define the rest of your life,” Olivia said.