Doing an exam on a subject that is ancient history to me

How much do you think you could write about a topic you haven't thought about for 12 years?

It's the question I've been asking myself for the last few weeks ahead of the task I'm about to undertake — resitting my Year 12 Ancient History exam.

Watch the livestream from 9am AEDT above.

I haven't given any thought to ancient history since 2004, so this subject really feels like, well, ancient history to me. I liked reading about Rome and Greece as a young teenager who wasn't good at sport, but I haven't spent any of my adulthood on the subject.

But I'm going to be required to write about ancient history for three hours, a long slog. And I don't know how much I'll remember. I'm not even sure which topics I studied as a 17-year-old.

But in the wake of a maths exam that I am now considering to be a disaster, I'm not feeling the same pressure to do well. My concern is that I doubt I have three hours' worth of ancient history in my brain.

Like my Modern History exam, I'm bringing in a typewriter. But somewhat appropriately, today's typewriter is substantially older. Today I'm using my 1952 Remington Quiet-Rite, which is my best typewriter, if my least favourite. So if you're hearing a chattering sound in the livestream, that's what that is.

Ancient History has been the first exam where I've felt the temptation to study. As I went to bed last night, I started to consider how just reading about Sparta or Pompeii for half an hour could be invaluable. But I resisted that urge for the sake of keeping this HSC experiment pure.

If anything, it's notable that it was the first time ever that I wanted to study.

On a side note, I was asked yesterday if the stress of the HSC was making me lose weight. Maybe I should do these exams every year.

Follow Nick Pearson's HSC adventure on Twitter at @nickpearson87.