Dubbo Senior Campus students Gabrielle May and Jack Nethery sat the three-hour exam with 23 classmates, a group Senior Campus head history teacher Glen Braithwaite described as 'hard-working.'

The year 12 students did their best to answer questions about World War 1, the conflict in Europe between 1935 and 1945, German history between 1918 -1939 and 20th century personality Albert Speer.

Mr Braithwaite said the students had worked solidly all year and many had accessed the modern history tutorials held after school and during the holidays.

He said he was more than happy with the exam paper.

"It was a great paper - a fair paper - there was no question in it that the students should have had any trouble with," Mr Braithwaite said.

"I am hoping there are some good results - our students are normally quite strong in modern and ancient history.

"The HSC results over the last few years in these subjects have been very pleasing."

He said the school had improved HSC results by focusing not only on content but also on teaching students essay writing skills and exam techniques.

Mr Nethery was pleased with the national studies question in the exam and said he dedicated a large part of his study time to this particular topic. "Modern history is definitely one of my favourite subjects," he said.

Miss May selected the subject to make up her required 10 units and said yesterday's modern history exam was one of the best she had sat so far.