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JASMINE van Aken received “the best birthday present” yesterday in the form of a text message with her high VCE score.
On the day she turned 19, the Wodonga Senior Secondary School student kept the nines coming with an ATAR of 90.
“I woke up at about 6.30am and the results aren’t sent out until 7am,” she said.
“It was the longest 30 minutes of my life.”
She needed a score of 82 to study science, majoring in mathematics at Monash University.
When the news arrived, she quickly texted her dad before telling her mum later in the morning.
“I left her hanging — she was confident I would do well and was very happy for me,” she said.
Jasmine planned to extend her weekend birthday celebrations with her boyfriend this week.
“It’s the best present,” she said of her score.
The casual McDonald’s worker, who also delivers pizzas for Dominos, decided early this year she would not stress too much.
“I played it pretty cool and made sure I balanced school with my social life and two jobs,” she said.
“I gave up tutoring maths because it was getting too much to juggle.”
One of her peers, Jesse Bartlett, 18, was also over the moon with his result, although he refused to reveal his score.
“It was much higher than I expected,” he said.
“I don’t want to disclose the score because I want to tell people myself.”
His score landed him his dream course in software engineering at RMIT University.
His study strategies included a study class where students quizzed each other on maths.
“I also put flash cards around the bathroom,” he said. “It didn’t feel like it worked at the time but the information came spilling out at exams.”
Sarah Tilev, 18, another secondary college student had dreamt she had only scored 49.
“It felt so real and I was crying and everything,” she said.
But she need not have worried — her 82.05 score was all she hoped for.
Principal Vern Hilditch said the school had had “some extremely pleasing results”.
“Less than half our 113 students completed VCE because we have other options, such as VCAL,” he said.”
The top boy, who scored 99, would not be named.
Six students had scores in the 90s and 25 per cent 70 or above.
Dux at Wodonga’s Victory Lutheran College, Brittany Lyons declined to reveal her score.
NSW results will be available tomorrow.
