UNSW Sydney's Gonski Institute for Education has released findings from a national survey that show most people want student ability and talents outside of end-of-school exam results to be factors used in determining their university entry ranking.

The HSC kicked off on Thursday, with English the first exam on the schedule.

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Three of Bega High's students who sat the exam were Anthea Charalambos, Chloe Cassandro and Ebony Evans who agreed it went very quickly.

"I studied, I just don't feel like I studied for the right thing," Ms Evans said.

Ms Cassandro said in school they had been given an idea of what the questions would be like, but Ms Evans said as the final questions were random it was hard to study for the right thing.

The Gonski Institute's survey showed 80 per cent of all respondents thought university requirements should also consider a student's ability and talents outside the classroom, which the three Bega High students agreed with.

"I feel there's some people who don't do well under pressure and maybe they could do better in long-term school stuff," Ms Charalambos said.

"People learn on different levels," Ms Evans said.

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Also, the Gonski Institute survey found while over 57 per cent said ATAR scores created unnecessary pressure on Year 12 students, that number rose to 75 per cent for people who finished high school but did not do any tertiary study.

Ms Evans said students should not stress about the HSC as there were other options to get into university other than getting a good ATAR.

"But they don't tell you that in school, they say 'HSC is your future'," Ms Cassandro said.

Gonski Institute director Professor Adrian Piccoli said the survey results supported academic research that suggests relying on an end-of-school series of exams as the primary means to gain entry to a university is not the best predictor of a student's overall ability, nor are they the most equitable.