Engineering whizz kid Brock Parsons scored an impressive 98.8 ATAR and is off to Newcastle University to follow his passion.
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"I'm pretty thrilled, all the hard work over the last couple of years has paid off. So it's pretty satisfying," the year 12 student from Armidale Secondary College said.
Brock, 17, is among thousands of students across Australia to have woken up on Thursday to find out their HSC results following years of sacrifice.
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With a five-year engineering double-degree in his sights, Brock is hoping his academic success will open opportunities for work in the high-performance car or aeronautic industries.
"I mainly just enjoy a lot of STEM subjects, and going down the engineering pathway was a no-brainer for me," Brock said.
But it has not been easy, with the 17-year-old saying he has had to give up his holidays "slaving away" at his desk to get the outcome he wanted.
"One thing that kept me going was thinking about how I would feel after getting my results, and that sort of pushed me on," Brock said.
The Armidale Secondary College student has urged all those headed into the HSC next year to not feel discouraged if they get a "bad result" during their studies.
"If you keep working at it you will succeed."
Brock will be among a group of students and teachers at the Armidale Public School's celebratory breakfast on Friday, including the school's 15 who made it into the distinguished achievers' list.
In nearby TAS Armidale, Aiden Swick was named DUX of the co-educational school after scoring an ATAR of 97.75, and said he now hopes to study engineering at UNSW or Sydney University.
"I'm really happy with my results, especially a 95 in Physics," said Aiden who has also been accepted into ENCORE, the state's top program for aspiring musicians.
"It's a really hard subject but I studied a lot, and am just glad it paid off."
The local Anglican co-educational school also posted 14 students in the distinguished achievers' list, including six with an impressive ATAR of above 90 in comparison to the state's average ATAR of 71.25.
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