“I do all humanities, so everyone always told me you can’t get a really good ATAR if you don’t do science and maths, so I never thought I would get this,” Sophie said.
Friends from Roseville College: Sophie Firek, who received a first in course award for legal studies, and Stacy Zhang, who was first for both biology and chemistry. Credit: Janie Barrett
Her classmate Stacy Zhang also scored an ATAR of 99.95 after topping the state in biology and chemistry.
Violinist and Meriden School student Selina Wang placed first in the state for music advanced and music extension, but she never expected to also come away with a 99.95 ATAR.
Meriden student Selina Wang, who topped both music extension and music 2, achieved the top ATAR of 99.95. Credit: James Brickwood
“These results are beyond anything I had imagined,” Selina said. “I almost started crying. I didn’t expect it at all.”
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Academically selective Sydney Grammar School took out six of the top ATARs, the most of any private school.
Sydney Grammar student Jaden Gargya achieved an ATAR of 99.95, excelling in Latin and French languages. He also received a state rank in English advanced.
“At Grammar, they teach language from the ground up. It is like building a tower … with a shaky base, the tower will fall. You need a strong foundation,” he said.
Jaden was surprised to learn of his results. “My hands were shaking when I got the news … when I state ranked for English. I think the main takeaway was, no matter what it is, if you work hard, you’ll do well.”
Presbyterian Ladies’ College student Jio Yim was one of two students at her school who landed a 99.95 ATAR, which will get her into medicine at the University of Sydney – something she said she had not even “allowed” herself to hope for.
“Medicine [at the University of Sydney] is what I was shooting for. But I honestly did not think I would get this ATAR,” she said.
Jio said she and the school’s other 99.95 student, Emma Zhang, had been “study buddies” since year 7, and helped each other excel academically.
North Sydney Boys student Jiaao Jay Chen knew 99.95 was a special rank, but he said, in complete honesty, he would have been happy regardless of the result.
“I know it is meant to be special, but I don’t think too much about it … I am happy because I gave it my all in my exams,” he said.
Overall, 32 of the students who received a 99.95 ATAR attended academically selective public or private schools. The remaining 21 students attended other private schools. No student at a comprehensive public school received the top rank.
With Emily Kowal, Siena Fagan, Christopher Harris and Cindy Yin
