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The top student in every HSC subject revealed
Girls have dominated the top rank across subjects in the 2025 HSC, while all-boys school Sydney Grammar has received the most gongs.
Girls dominated this year’s Higher School Certificate first-in-course awards, taking out more than twice the number of top spots compared with boys.
The strong result was powered by the exceptional performance of a systemic single-sex Catholic school in Sydney’s south, Bethany College. Five students at the Hurstville school placed first in the state across subjects ranging from design and technology to dance and studies of religion.
“I was so proud of our school,” said student Charlotte D’Arcy.
She placed equal first in design and technology, tracing her success back to her passion for the subject and curiosity.
“I hammered my teachers with questions, and I was seeking feedback every day. It was constant feedback on everything from the major work to the exam.”
Numerous students who outperformed thousands of others to place first in HSC subjects also spoke about how they were motivated by curiosity and passion, rather than a desire to perform well in exams.
“I never really thought about the mark,” said Jay Chen from North Sydney Boys, who topped the state in physics. “I just thought about doing good physics.”
In total, 139 first-in-course awards were handed out at a ceremony at the University of NSW on Wednesday.
Girls won 95 of the awards, while 44 were taken home by boys.
Private school students earned 56 per cent of awards when language schools, where pupils undertake study separate from their normal schooling, were excluded.
Public school pupils made up 29 per cent of students who topped a subject, while Catholic school students took out 12 per cent, with the remainder taken out by students enrolled in subjects with TAFE.
Selective private high school Sydney Grammar continued its tradition of exceptionally high performance, taking out seven first-in-course awards, the most of any school.
Sydney Grammar student Matthew Gu came first in both Latin and German continuers – a feat he attributes to his teachers, especially in Latin.
“With a dead language, it’s quite hard to immerse yourself in it. A good teacher is super important for that,” he said.
Other private schools with three or more first or equal-first awards included girls schools Abbotsleigh and Meriden, where Selina Wang came first in music 2 and music extension.
For most of her schooling, Wang spent two hours a day practising either the piano or the violin. In her HSC year, she was forced to reduce her practice to one hour per day.
“It was definitely a relief because I was at my desk so much during the HSC, and then being able to get up and actually do something physical that I enjoyed, was an outlet for my stress as well,” she said.
Newington College also received three awards, including student Sebastian Wong for physics.
Public selective schools Baulkham Hills High and James Ruse also garnered three awards apiece on Wednesday.
James Ruse student Terry Chen, who topped the most difficult course, mathematics extension 2, said he enjoyed being creative and having fun with the unpredictability of the questions.
“I guess maths is a subject that you can’t really predict the questions to because it has such a broad syllabus,” he said.
When he found out he placed first, he was immediately suspicious. “I thought it was a scam, so I double-checked,” he said.
His classmate, Selina Ma, placed equal-first in mathematics extension 1 after becoming a “maths mentor” helping other students at Ruse.
“To be able to understand something to the level which you’re able to explain it is also one of the best strategies to learn,” she said.
This year’s standout performance was Stacy Zhang from Roseville College, who placed first in both biology and chemistry.
Her classmate Sophie Firek topped legal studies.
“I’m a really big nerd. You can get into the different case studies, and just keep learning and learning,” Sophie said.
Baulkham Hills High student Rahul Desai said there were emotional scenes with his family when he shared the news that he came first in mathematics extension 1.
“My mum was at work and she called me and started crying. My dad was really happy … he just came outside and gave me a hug,” he said.
North Sydney Girls students Emily Phi and Valery Lin were equal-first in English advanced.
Emily would ask teachers for extra feedback during lunchtime and recess.
“For me, the most interesting part was being able to see so many different perspectives on a single text,” she said.
St Aloysius’ College student Yao Xiao placed first in the state for English extension 2. He also studied extension 2 mathematics.
His major work was an essay which explored Shakespeare’s “leftover characters” – minor figures who he said resisted neat categorisation along ideological lines.
“I was interested in looking at why we value traditional texts,” he said.
But the essays, totalling thousands of words, were not a straightforward task, changing his hypothesis every two weeks.
“I felt sorry for my teacher, she was worried for a while because I hadn’t written much,” he said.
Presbyterian Ladies College student Jio Yim, who came first in English extension 1, loved the freedom she was afforded to explore her own ideas in the subject.
“I just really love English. It has been my favourite subject, I liked the freedom you got in extension 1, you could take the reins a bit more.”
Hornsby Girls graduate Alice Hynes, who topped history extension, had conflicting feelings about her results and the HSC more broadly.
“To be honest, I kind of think that HSC itself, like on an institutional level, is just kind of dehumanising and ableist, I guess,” she said.
Alice was born deaf and wears cochlear implants.
“It definitely has been a bit more difficult … I had disability provisions throughout the HSC.”
Emily Sonter, from Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College, studied seven units of science subjects and topped earth and environmental sciences.
“I have a love for nature, and I’ve had that from a very young age because my parents have taken me camping since I was little,” she said.
with Emily Kaine, Emily Kowal and Siena Fagan
Read more of our 2025 HSC coverage
- From the Opera House to NASA: Meet the HSC stars of decades gone by
- Inside North Sydney Boys’ class of 2026 island camp