Across the country,2421 schoolchildren were issued with their marks in the IB,with numerous students in Sydney private schools receiving perfect scores,well above the global average mark of 30.91.
Ravenswood students Yuetong Wang,Claudia Zybenko,Tara Evans,Kayleigh Li and Jasmine Petty.James Brickwood
The marks released on Tuesday morning will be converted into an ATAR equivalent rank for students on Thursday.
Ravenswood School for Girls in Gordon,which has offered the IB since 2005,was one of the top-performing schools after four of the 30 students studying the course achieved the perfect score of 45 out of 45 – the best result in the school’s history.
Principal Anne Johnstone said it was thanks to teachers who went above and beyond,so students could focus on achieving their personal best.
“Everyone runs their own race,there is an importance placed on students achieving their best,but there has been a tremendous sense of collegiality,” she told theHerald.
For student Yuetong Wang,18,the road to graduating was not simple. A low point of the past 12 months was in July when her teacher handed her back a practice English essay.
“I got a really bad score for my draft,nine out of 20. I cried in front of my English teacher,I was like ‘help me’,” she said.
Her English teacher did. Wang went on to score 45 out of 45.
Her classmate Jasmine Petty,18,said she was never expecting to get the perfect score.
“Obviously,I am a bit overwhelmed,and relieved the hard work paid off,” she said.
She attributed her success to studying whenever she had time,such as on public transport,in addition to the support of the teachers at the school.
Unlike the HSC where students are free to choose their subjects except English,which is compulsory,IB students must study one subject each in the fields of English,languages,humanities,sciences and mathematics. In NSW,no public school offers the IB.
Trinity Grammar in Summer Hill had four of the 115 boys studying for the IB attain a score of 45. That included twins George and John Dedousis,who both hope to study medicine and eventually become psychiatrists.
Twins John and George Dedousis,who attended Trinity Grammar and both scored a perfect 45 out of 45 in the IB.Supplied.
To relax between study sessions,the twins had an unconventional approach,with John watching Formula 1 racing while George tuned into Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) matches.
“While it is a violent sport,I think many people don’t realise how much dedication and commitment is required to succeed,” John said. “The process of keeping up with the sport and its personalities outside of the fights themselves provided a well-needed break from my studies and was,in that sense,relaxing.”
At Kambala in Sydney’s east,Siqi (Alyssa) Yue and Catherine Bako were two of 16 IB students who scored the top mark.
At Queenwood in Mosman,two of the 31 students who studied for the IB,Zara Leslie and Jenni Lin,received a score of 45.
Queenwood principal Elizabeth Stone said the high success rate was thanks to the school culture created by the hard work of students and teachers.
“I think it does help that we’re a smaller school,they get a lot of very personalised contact,” she said. “I have had students come to us from other schools who said they really lifted because they were surrounded by other peers who wanted them to do well.”
At Redlands in Cremorne,67 students completed the IB. Lauren Zhang received a score of 45,six students scored 44,and five received a mark of 43.
St Paul’s Grammar School at Cranebrook also had one student with a mark of 45,another with a 44 and three students with a score of 43.
Historically,a higher proportion of students sitting the IB have secured a rank equivalent to an ATAR of 99.95 compared to those who sat the HSC. However,the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) for students applying for study in 2023.
UAC research predicted that change would mean 60 per cent of students would receive the same rank on the new conversion table,25 per cent would see an increase in their rank and 15 per cent would see a decrease.
Last year,at least 41 of 600 students in NSW sitting for the IB achieved the highest possible university entrance rank of 99.95 – compared to 48 students from a pool of 50,000 sitting HSC exams.
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