"These students have worked extremely hard and put in countless hours of effort and study, and they should be very proud of their remarkable academic achievements," she said. Jesse Caminer from Cranbrook (left) and Adam Gottschalk from Sydney Grammar both finished first in three subjects. Credit:James Brickwood North Sydney Boys and Sydney Grammar claimed five first-in-course awards each, followed by James Ruse Agricultural High and Knox Grammar with four, and Sydney Girls High, Cranbrook and Barker College with three. There were also 18 first in course students from the Saturday School of Community Languages, and 11 from the NSW School of Languages. Government schools claimed 70, or more than 50 per cent of first-in-course awards, while there were 51 from independent schools - including independent Catholic schools - and 11 from systemic Catholic schools.

Jesse only studied language subjects for his HSC, taking three units of French and Latin as well as Chinese and four units of English. "In year 11, I had three units of math and chemistry, and I was like, 'I'm going to get rid of (extension) English because I hate English'," he said. (Two units of English are compulsory in the HSC.) Loading ''I had in fact handed in all the pertinent paperwork but then had to snatch it off someone's desk. "Obviously I changed my mind. I had an inspirational teacher ... she sat me down and said, 'I really think you should consider English and extension English'. Cranbrook allowed me to do this niche, uncommon selection of subjects which allowed me to excel." He is hoping to study medieval languages at Cambridge, and then aims for a career in diplomacy or academia.

Adam said his three first-in-course awards were unexpected. “I didn’t even come out of the exams thinking ‘Wow that was amazing’,” he said. “But it’s all hard to predict. I just tried to pick what I enjoy doing, and it was good to have a bit of a mix.” Of his course load, which also included English, mathematics and French continuers, visual arts was his favourite. “It was amazing to have a space for creative pursuits at school, and to go there and relax and paint and just be productive,” he said. Young women fared well in STEM subjects, with James Ruse students Eunice Wah Yan Cheng topping the new science extension course, Jocelin Shing-Yan Hon leading the state in maths extension 2, and Louise Godhard from SCEGGS Darlinghurst finishing first in chemistry. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Galstaun College student Pardy Kozanoghli, who finished first in Armenian continuers, moved to Australia from Lebanon only three years ago. Her family, who are native Armenian speakers, fled Aleppo in Syria when Pardy was in year 4.

“Studying Armenian wasn’t really a choice for me, I feel like it’s a responsibility to keep speaking my mother language,” she said. “My parents are really proud.” Jacinta Robertson Smith studied German beginners through distance education and finished first in the state. Credit:James Brickwood James Mirabito from Davidson High School finished first in business studies. "I was shocked by it," he said. ''I was aiming for top 20, but I thought that was a bit ambitious - I didn't think I'd achieve it. I got the call to turn up today and I thought it was a stitch-up." Robert Cicarrelli, 18, from Patrician Brothers College, Fairfield, topped the automotive examination while focusing also on his biggest goal of fencing for Australia at the 2024 Olympics. He trained for about five hours a day in the lead up to the Youth Olympics last October, when he was in his first term of year 12. "It became habitual to wake up and study and I would reward myself with the things I enjoy so I would study for two hours and then go for a drive or go to the gym," Robert said.