I think it's typical to view ourselves as the victims. We see questions from past HSC papers and think, yeah, I could do that. We do these questions, under 'exam conditions', and we might perform admirably, but nevertheless, nothing can compare to the actual conditions we experience during the HSC exam. Last year's Module A was certainly far more difficult than this year's, in my opinion (I do Letters to Alice and Pride and Prejudice) and last year's Module C would have limited pre-prepared responses with a heavy focus on language rather than form. Module B was obviously more difficult if you hadn't prepared for the content in the excerpt, but it also gave you freedom in the thematic concerns you could discuss, which last years question did not. I think that once we look past the initial shock of Module B, this year's exam was more straightforward than last years. The band 6 cut-off will most likely be around 83.