A set of Wodonga twins were among more than 2000 Victorian students to receive their year 12 results five days ahead of schedule thanks to an SMS glitch on Wednesday.
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Students who registered to receive their Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks via SMS on Wednesday between 7 to 8pm were mistakenly sent their marks immediately due to an embarrassing technical error.
When Rylee and Tyler Beck heard from a friend they could get their scores early they seized the chance.
Admitting they were competitive, the Catholic College Wodonga students scored only three points apart in their ATARs.
Facebook VCE groups were swamped with anxious students wondering if their results were accurate, for better or for worse.
In response, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre scrambled to fix the problem, issuing a joint statement at 2am Thursday confirming the results sent to more than 2000 students were correct.
Suzanne Connelly, a spokeswoman for VCAT and VCAA, said the SMS service was handled by an external provider called Salmat Digital, which shut it down as soon as it could.
Rylee and Tyler said after an initial text their results were sent back within minutes.
“I was worried about whether the scores were right, but they seemed really, really accurate,” Tyler said.
“And then I saw my sister’s, and other peoples, which seemed accurate. Then I thought, maybe this is real.”
Rylee was thrilled with her score of 86.75, which she said would be enough to get into a physiotherapy course.
“I thought I’d get lower than that,” she said.
“Tyler and I were close, he only beat me by three points.”
Tyler was hoping for an ATAR of at least 90 to get into film and television studies at Swinburne University, and can now rest easy, having scored 90.5.
“It was really unexpected and it happened quickly, I won’t be up all Sunday night now waiting,” he said.
Catholic College Wodonga’s careers adviser Sandie McKoy said the school was prepared for the six students who received early results. “We have been able to adequately support families from early Thursday morning with counselling and answering enquiries,” she said.
Both VTAC and VCAA sent a joint email to students to apologise for any confusion or anxiety caused by the incident.
Victorian Education Minister James Merlino blasted the texting mishap as a serious error, and promised there would be an independent investigation into its cause.
Remaining ATAR results will be released 7am Monday.
