It was an early start for 64 Gunnedah teens as they raced to check their Higher School Certificate (HSC) results.
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The NSW Education Standards Authority released the 2018 results by 6am this morning, notifying students via email and text message.
The 18-year-old is holidaying at the Gold Coast and up until yesterday, she actually thought results were coming out on Friday.
“I woke up to one of my friends texting me saying, ‘How did you go?’ and I said, ‘I haven’t even checked yet’,” Jess said.
“Apparently, they were meant to come out at 6:30 in the morning but everyone said they came out earlier.”
People who haven’t got into university probably feel like they’re under a lot of pressure waiting on ATARs [but] you can do whatever you want.
- HSC student Jess Moore
Jess said she was “feeling really good” about her marks.
“The results I got were way better than I expected and overall I’m really pleased with all of my subjects,” Jess said.
The teen's strength has always been English and this shone through in her results.
“Maths was my second best subject, which was unusual,” she said.
“I think maybe all the work I put into Maths paid off.”
Jess is now waiting on her ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) to find out whether she will have the option of going to the University of Newcastle. ATARs are released tomorrow.
“I feel like people who haven’t got into university probably feel like they’re under a lot of pressure waiting on ATARs [but] you can do whatever you want,” she said.
“It doesn’t restrict you in your goals.”
St Mary’s College principal Max Quirk has looked over the school’s results and said he’s “quite happy”.
The school achieved seven band 6s and 35 band 5s.
The band 6s were achieved in legal studies, PDHPE, music, food technology, Community And Family Studies (CAFS), and extension two English.
“We’ve had a band six in music three years in a row,” Mr Quirk said.
Band 5s were achieved in PDHPE, legal studies, advanced English, and CAFS.
“Seven out of 11 students got a band 5 or a ban 6 in PDHPE [and] five out of six students got a band five or a ban six in legal studies,” Mr Quirk said.
“We still need to do more work in some of our subject areas and that will be an area of concentration for us next year.”
The principal said “nearly half” of the band 5s were achieved by male students.
“Boys who had been underachieving through their schooling really picked up in the last few weeks and there are some band 5s we really weren’t expecting,” Mr Quirk said.
“I think the boys are performing better than they have been in the past; that’s been an area that we’ve been working on.”
Mr Quirk said there were some “very strong individual results”, naming Eliza Perkins and Emmerson Tull.
The principal said the school will analyse the results to “see what lessons there are to be learnt for future”.
