Seven hours. That’s how long Jett Thompson has to complete his HSC mathematics extension 2 exam.
While students around him furiously scribble their working out on a piece of paper within their three-hour time limit, the legally blind Mosman High School student will stare ahead, complex calculations happening inside his mind.
For Jett, maths is a puzzle that just makes sense.
“There is no ambiguity in maths,” he said. “That works well in the way I think. As I read the questions I imagine the equation in my mind’s eye … I can solve it by moving things around in that imagined area.”
His calculator speaks to him, reading out the numbers and he writes his answers with a brailler. It has been this way since Jett was eight years old and suddenly lost his vision.
“I fell down the stairs one t