An attempt to make the HSC English exam more unpredictable has left some students stumped on the first day of the state-wide exams, but teachers have praised the "obscure" questions.

Over 66,000 students were tested on the new English syllabus for the first time on Thursday, which was focused on "texts and human experiences".

But while students were expecting to be asked how their text related to the broad theme of human experiences, as was the case in sample papers provided by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), thousands were instead faced with questions asking them to relate their text to a specific sub-theme.

Year 12 students from St John's Park High School, from left: Kevin Tran, Mel Lim and Cynthia Nguyen-Huynh. Tran said the exam was "unpredictable". Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Students who studied George Orwell's 1984 were asked specifically about loneliness; the question for Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice was about deception.