For a subject remembered by some as dry and plodding, HSC English has an astonishing ability to generate its own brand of public controversy in exams.

Last year, authorities were forced to admit that a question about human experiences had used artificial intelligence to create a stimulus picture. In 2017, an online mob of students racially abused an Indigenous poet before being told to apologise . In other years, oddities which irked students included texts canvassing apricots, tweezers and a poem about crystals.

So when 67,000 students put pen to paper for their first English exam on Thursday, not everyone was going to be happy.

For South Sydney High School student Laila Nekrasova, 17, the lack of any picture to analyse in her English Standard exam was a disappointment.

“I’m reall

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