Josh should be in year 8 – instead he's doing his HSC
If he continues at his current rate (and this young teen is not slowing down), he will graduate from high school and enrol in university before the kids he started kindergarten with choose their year 9 and 10 electives.
And by the time these students get their ATAR, Josh could well be working a full-time, uni-qualified job.
'You get to save time and find a job earlier in life,' he said.
It's a strange world when you are one of the youngest people in the state doing the HSC. Thankfully, he isn't alone.
His two older sisters, Tammie and Rebecca, aged 17 and 16, are also doing an accelerated version of the HSC right now. Three siblings, all doing the HSC at the same time.
It's most parent's worst nightmare, but their mother, Loretta Liew, considers it a blessing.
'They are all quite independent, and they just study on their own,' she said. 'They are still managing to do all their chores and keep up with part-time jobs and helping out with various community things.
'It's pretty chill,' she says, laughing.
Tammie attends Pacific Hills Christian School in Dural, and Rebecca and Josh are completing their work at home via distance education through Pacific Coast Online Christian School.
Josh is studying accelerated chemistry, physics and maths extension one and two. Next year, he will complete English and a second subject to meet all his required units.
His sisters are set to finish the HSC this year, after also enrolling in accelerated subjects.
This year, almost 80 young people have chosen to complete at least one HSC course before they are in year 12.
Loading
'The opportunity to accelerate into HSC courses in line with your readiness and ability is one of the great strengths of the HSC,' said a spokesperson for the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).
It comes with its perks, Josh said.
'I can just roll out of bed and go to school,' he said, adding that 'it's also good because I can hang out with my family more and do extracurricular stuff'.
There's something to be said for doing the HSC at the same time as your siblings too. 'If your siblings are also studying, then you are forced to study together,' he said.
The teens work together, sharing notes and coaching each other.
Loading
'We do chemistry, physics and maths sessions together. That's a lot of fun,' said Tammie. 'We all go to the library and study together. Our desks at home are next to each other.'
It's all in a day's work for Josh, who casually finished the Cambridge year 11 maths textbook by himself in year 6.
So, what is next for the kid who will finish the HSC years before his peers?
'I am not really sure, I don't know what I am doing yet,' Josh said.
He is, after all, just 14.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
a day ago
- The Age
Never forget what happened in Hiroshima
It was a still, quiet morning with rays of sunshine filtering through dappled clouds, on the day I visited Hiroshima. November 2019, just before the onslaught of COVID-19 changed our reality. Having taught dedicated, appreciative Japanese students English as a second language in Melbourne over several years, I was elated to finally be visiting their homeland – but nothing could have prepared me for the day I spent transfixed, at the Hiroshima Memorial Park. I grew up learning about the indescribable terror inflicted on Hiroshima and Nagasaki through the atomic bombings of 1945, which ended World War II. I found it chilling to be standing on the site of such savagery inflicted on innocent civilians, which tragically, in all likelihood, could have been avoided, had Japan surrendered earlier. The magnitude of the terror rained down on this vibrant city was impossible for my mind to grasp (as it had also been a year prior, when I walked the blood-stained earth of Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland). Now, as we approach the 80th anniversary of those notorious days – August 6 when the United States detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and August 9, over Nagasaki – it remains for me an impossibility to comprehend such brutality. More than 100,000 lives were lost in the blink of an eye, and another 100,000 in the devastating aftermath, from gruesome burns and injuries, or radiation poisoning. Such numbers can become just statistics: but each is a husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, young and old alike subjected to hell on Earth, as they went about their daily routine. Loading The Hiroshima Peace Memorial offers excruciatingly distressing, graphic evidence of the cruelty and annihilation of the cataclysmic event that occurred on this meticulously restored site. Foremost in my mind have remained the heart-wrenching testimonies of the few survivors still able to share their harrowing tales these decades later, as they sit on the tortured ground of Hiroshima surrounding the memorial – supported by passionate descendants and anti-nuclear activists, many of whom have made it their life's work to preach the futility of violence and war. But, as I sit and stare, motionless and aching at the never-ending coverage of the barbarism around our world today, I ask myself if humanity is actually capable of change. Could there ever be a day when the world can be at peace, in which megalomaniacs aren't able to wield such power, in which people of different religions, race and ethnicity can live side by side in harmony? Loading History teaches that such a day will likely never come, but we here who enjoy the relative calm of life, geographically distanced from the horrors across the world, must not look away. Rather, we share the responsibility to make our world a better place.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Never forget what happened in Hiroshima
It was a still, quiet morning with rays of sunshine filtering through dappled clouds, on the day I visited Hiroshima. November 2019, just before the onslaught of COVID-19 changed our reality. Having taught dedicated, appreciative Japanese students English as a second language in Melbourne over several years, I was elated to finally be visiting their homeland – but nothing could have prepared me for the day I spent transfixed, at the Hiroshima Memorial Park. I grew up learning about the indescribable terror inflicted on Hiroshima and Nagasaki through the atomic bombings of 1945, which ended World War II. I found it chilling to be standing on the site of such savagery inflicted on innocent civilians, which tragically, in all likelihood, could have been avoided, had Japan surrendered earlier. The magnitude of the terror rained down on this vibrant city was impossible for my mind to grasp (as it had also been a year prior, when I walked the blood-stained earth of Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland). Now, as we approach the 80th anniversary of those notorious days – August 6 when the United States detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and August 9, over Nagasaki – it remains for me an impossibility to comprehend such brutality. More than 100,000 lives were lost in the blink of an eye, and another 100,000 in the devastating aftermath, from gruesome burns and injuries, or radiation poisoning. Such numbers can become just statistics: but each is a husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, young and old alike subjected to hell on Earth, as they went about their daily routine. Loading The Hiroshima Peace Memorial offers excruciatingly distressing, graphic evidence of the cruelty and annihilation of the cataclysmic event that occurred on this meticulously restored site. Foremost in my mind have remained the heart-wrenching testimonies of the few survivors still able to share their harrowing tales these decades later, as they sit on the tortured ground of Hiroshima surrounding the memorial – supported by passionate descendants and anti-nuclear activists, many of whom have made it their life's work to preach the futility of violence and war. But, as I sit and stare, motionless and aching at the never-ending coverage of the barbarism around our world today, I ask myself if humanity is actually capable of change. Could there ever be a day when the world can be at peace, in which megalomaniacs aren't able to wield such power, in which people of different religions, race and ethnicity can live side by side in harmony? Loading History teaches that such a day will likely never come, but we here who enjoy the relative calm of life, geographically distanced from the horrors across the world, must not look away. Rather, we share the responsibility to make our world a better place.
SBS Australia
4 days ago
- SBS Australia
Latest News SBS Audio Program Bahasa Indonesia for Thursday 31 July 2025
Independent news and stories connecting you to life in Australia and Indonesian-speaking Australians. Ease into the English language and Australian culture. We make learning English convenient, fun and practical.
