By Christopher Harris and Angus Thomson
A mix of fear and excitment swept over Willoughby Girls High student Roslyn de Lara, 17, as she logged onto her computer just before 6am on Thursday to check her HSC results.
“It’s the pressure and expectations, you try to meet those, and that’s where the terror slips in,” she said. She need not have worried, scoring band fives and sixes in maths, English standard 1, Japanese continuers and ancient history.
Roslyn was one of more than 67,000 students who received their HSC marks on Thursday morning, before the release of their Australian Tertiary Entrance Rank three hours later.
Roslyn de Lara from Willoughby Girls High was delighted with her results this morning. Credit: Louise Kennerley
“Oh my gosh, it’s a beautiful day,” she said, after staring in silence at the screen for a moment as she took it all in. “I am very happy with what I got.
She received an ATAR of 92.05 and plans to study a combined business and international relations degree at UTS.
“I feel very accomplished right now. Like all the hard work we put in through the year has paid off,” she said.
“My mum was overjoyed, and I am very happy with where I am. I feel very satisfied.”
Across the city, Aarushi Sharma woke up at 5.40am to a text message alerting her to the arrival of her final marks. The Cerdon College Merrylands student rushed out of her bedroom to open the text with her parents, who she credits with helping her get through a stressful year.
“They were really happy,” she said. “We were all surprised, but in a good way.” She received band sixes in every subject except maths, and was particularly pleased with her results in chemistry and economics.
She plans to study engineering at the University of NSW or University of Sydney.
Port Hacking High School graduate Eamonn Ryan told the Herald the hardest part of the HSC was the difficulty in improving his marks in physics.
Halfway through year 11 he was getting marks in the mid-30s, and by the end of the year, he had dropped maths.
The self-described English/humanities student decided to persist with the subject, against the advice of his peers.
“More than one person told me it was foolish – that you need to be good at maths to do well in science,” the 18-year-old. “I thought what the hell, I’ll do it anyway.” On Thursday morning the decision paid off, he achieved a band six result.
Olivia Ryan from Gilroy Catholic College opening her ATAR results at 9am with her family.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Olivia Ryan, from Gilroy Catholic College in Castle Hill, woke at 4:30am in anticipation of her marks arriving. “I was nervous and seeing [the results] initially, before my ATAR, made me feel more comfortable. It was a lot better than I expected”.
Olivia said English advanced was her favourite subject, in George Orwell’s 1984. “It’s so relevant, and becoming more so,” she said.
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