"I found that this exam we did was pretty well balanced. It had a good mix of the easy questions,the medium questions and a couple of hard questions,like the one I just did. Compared to previous years it was pretty even,"he said.

"I reckon this question we just did was easier than the hardest question in last year's paper. There were no surprises. Since it's a pretty stable syllabus we've got an idea for what to expect."

But next year's HSC cohort might not have the same luck:the longstanding Extension 2 course will be updated in 2020,along with the syllabuses for Advanced Mathematics and Extension 1.

Of the 57,799 students who enrolled in an HSC maths course this year,9023 sat the Extension 1 exam and 3169 also sat Extension 2. The Extension 2 course teaches students to model and solve problems in the areas of proof,vectors and mechanics,calculus and complex numbers.