HSC 2023 results: Students who came first in course revealed
Two of the state’s top schools have dominated the 2023 HSC, with multiple students claiming the top mark across a range of subjects. Search schools, student names and courses here.
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The best and brightest students in NSW have been revealed, honoured with a special ceremony crowning them top of the class in their HSC subjects while the rest of the state’s Year 12 students continue to wait nervously for their final results.
Sydney Grammar School students have dominated the list of top-ranked students, taking out first place in eight HSC courses in 2023.
Polyglot Jeremy Wong alone ranked first in four subjects; Greek continuers and extension and Latin continuers and extension.
Jeremy said he was “exhilarated” to have won four first in course honours, crediting the achievement to self-care and a balanced study routine.
The news of his success left him “a bit surprised and lost for words”.
His advice for the Class of 2024 was to eat well, “sleep well” and avoid as much extra stress as possible; “you’ll get there eventually”, he said.
Now that the “constant stream of exams” is over, Jeremy plans to take a well-deserved break.
“(The HSC) was a bit of a slow grind, which was quite mentally taxing,” he said.
“I don’t know what to do now … I’ll probably just bum around for a bit!”
Schoolmate Milo Abrahams is the state’s highest achiever in both the music 2 and extension music courses, while their peers James Lambert and Ethan Jahani topped Physics and Italian Extension respectively.
Public, but academically selective, high school James Ruse landed four students on the list in the classic sciences subjects of Biology and Chemistry, as well as taking out top spots in Software Design and Development and the Agriculture course for which the school is famed.
Inner-city girls’ school SCEGGS and upper north shore boys’ school Knox Grammar each had three students rank first in their respective top subjects.
Sydney Grammar and James Ruse were the state’s top schools outside specialist language institutions like NSW School of Languages at Petersham which secured 11 top posts across courses like Chinese Beginners and Korean Continuers. The Secondary College of Languages bagged 15 first in course placements across 10 Sydney campuses.
A celebration of NSW’s first in class students on Wednesday saw up to 128 teens, their parents and teachers descend on the University of Western Sydney to receive praise from Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car for ranking first in subjects.
‘CHECK YOUR VOICEMAIL’
After a welcome to country from Uncle Graham Davis King NESA CEO Paul Martin opened the ceremony with a quip about the students lining up to accept their rare accolades.
“Every year one of my favourite jobs is calling HSC first in course recipients … the reactions are always very funny,” he said.
“Some people scream and yell, and you can hear footsteps as they drop the phone. With others, it’s almost deadpan.
“My favourite was a young person who heard the news and then said to me, “What was your name again?” … I could tell they were googling my name.
“Problem is, there’s a lot of Paul Martins on the internet.”
Before moving on to handing out the awards, Ms Car told the audience it’s “a special day” to be the Education Minister, and apologised for Premier Chris Minns’ absence.
“He’s going to be watching online, I’ll make sure that he does,” she said.
The Deputy Premier also called out a few of the students she’d phoned to tell them they’d come first, including Lismore business services student Mya Stanley, Pymble maths whiz Angie Wang, and St Andrew’s College student Patrick Iskander from her Londonderry electorate.
“Christian Ciarroni, you’re going to have to check your voicemail mate because I left two messages,” she joked.
“Don’t you love Gen Z?”
‘IMMERSION’ IN SUBJECT
Emma Silvestri, first in the French extension course, said she was lucky to have a teacher who also had a French background, deepening her “immersion” in the subject.
“I’ve applied to study medicine, so hopefully that will work out for me, but otherwise something in STEM,” she said.
“For me, university – at least for the first couple of years – is about trying different courses and different specialities, because in high school it’s pretty general.”
For Year 11s hoping to follow in Maths Standard 2 first in course recipient Ella Fewtrell’s footsteps, the St Luke’s Grammar School graduate recommend “actually doing the homework”, and working with your mates, not competing against them.
“With maths especially, the most important thing is staying consistent; I have my teacher to thank for so much of that,” she said.
“Shout out to Mr Ayre – he was absolutely amazing, he just really kept me motivated.
“Practice papers are a lifesaver; I think I did too many practice papers but thankfully it paid off!”
DIYA GIVES TEACHER A RARE DOUBLE
One student and teacher duo from Western Sydney doubled down on success.
Cerdon College student Diya Badawi achieved first in the state in Italian Continuers on Wednesday.
Not only was the top-ranked pupil the second student in the Catholic all-girls school to take out the number one spot in the course, she was also the second high achiever taught by “Prof” Maria Marando to receive the award.
“No one worked individually. We worked in a group and practiced together and read together,” Diya said.
“It was something we really enjoyed. She (Ms Marando) would always push us really hard.”
The high-school graduate hopes to pursue dentistry next year, but wants to “keep in touch” with the Italian language.
“I might take up a job where I can teach younger kids (Italian),” she said.
“We were supposed to go as a class to Italy but because of Covid we weren’t able to. Hopefully I’ll be able to go next year. I would love to go to Florence.”
A teacher of 25 years, Ms Marando said she felt a “great sense of personal satisfaction” seeing her student achieve the top result.
“I’ve been very lucky to teach Diya and the girls in this class from Year 7, so to see them grow and develop and improve their skills is just absolutely amazing,” she said.
“That’s what makes my job so incredibly rewarding. You see them go from strength to strength and achieve these phenomenal results.”
Former student of the Merrylands based high school, Annalise Reynolds-Pace, topped both Italian Continuers and Italian Extension in 2022 under Ms Marando.
“It’s an incredible feeling (to have two students in a row be first in the state). I feel like I’m winning the Lotto,” she said.
ANXIOUS WAIT CONTINUES FOR HSC HOPEFULS
For the thousands of students who didn’t quite manage to outrank their peers in HSC exams, the wait to find out how well they did continues until Thursday morning. At 6am, students will be able to see their HSC results online, and at 9am they’ll find out their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR).
Our Lady of Mercy College classmates Stephanie Catania, Katharine Baker, Dora Abicic and Simone Tanna are awaiting their final results with bated breath, but the girls say they’re “quietly confident” of securing the scores they’re aspiring to.
“I know I’ve worked hard, and at the end of the day I have an early offer,” humanities subject specialist Katharine said.
Aspiring radiographer Stephanie admitted she was “a little bit anxious” about Thursday, seeking a 96 ATAR for her applied science degree, but is “trying to stay positive”.
“There’s nothing that can really change now – my marks are my marks,” she said.
“When I was actually doing the exams, I obviously did everything I could do in my power to perform as best as I can … I know I’ve done everything within my control, so I’m still fairly confident,” friend Dora added.
University of Sydney education researcher Jim Tognolini said despite what international tests would have you believe, NSW schoolkids are smarter now than ever, as HSC results of years gone by reveal “a general tendency” towards improved performance.
Across most subjects, the proportion of students achieving the highest marks has increased over the last decade, from 53.1 per cent of English Advanced students in 2013 to 67.2 in 2022, and from 43.1 per cent of 2013 economics graduates to 49.4 per cent last year.
“This is a fairly steady increase, and I think what we’re picking up is that students are selecting their courses better: they are doing things they want to do, and they perform better as a consequence,” Professor Tognolini said.
However, inclusive education specialist Matthew White warned an increase in the number of students taking vocational education courses and a declining proportion taking the HSC could be “squashing the curve”.
“A lot of students, especially students with disability, are going down the trades route or being put on a different track, as opposed to a HSC track,” he said.
“I don’t think the HSC is a true reflection of the state of educational achievement of schools.”
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