The 2025 HSC Distinguished Achiever awards, Subject Rank awards and All-rounder awards have been released and are now available on the Top Scores site.
This year it was, once again, a close race amongst the top students, with 11 students each chalking up eight Distinguished Achiever awards in a single year, thus earning themselves top placings on the Student Rankings list. However, it was Jackson Chan (from Sydney Grammar School) who edged in front of his peers by bagging a first place in French Extension together with five other Subject Top Achiever awards.
Seven students won two First in Course awards each, with the majority of those doubles involving language subjects. Perhaps the most notable was the achievement by Stacy Zhang (from Roseville College) of first place in both Biology and Chemistry in 2025.
Amongst the winners of Subject Top Achiever awards this year, Jackson Chan came out on top with a total of six Top Achiever awards (as mentioned above), while Selina Ma (from James Ruse Agricultural High School), Justin Tran (from Sydney Grammar School) and Selina Wang (also from Meriden School) were equal runners-up with four Top Achiever awards each.
In the HSC School Statistics for 2025, when measuring Distinguished Achiever success rates, North Sydney Boys High School has edged out James Ruse Agricultural High School for the third consecutive year, to finish the year at the top of the HSC school rankings ladder.
Which school had the largest group of Distinguished Achiever award winners? This year the gong goes to Sydney Boys High School took that particular top spot, with a total of 272 students.
Congratulations to all of this year's high achievers.
In New South Wales, students who successfully complete year 12 studies are awarded the Higher School Certificate (HSC). HSC results are the basis for determining which students receive offers of enrolment at tertiary institutions. The HSC program has a long history in NSW education, extending back to the late 1960's, when it was first introduced.
To be awarded an HSC, a student must complete four subjects or more, involving at least ten units of study.
HSC schools offer a wide range of subjects (worth 2 units) and extension courses (worth 1 unit). Each single unit of work is marked out of 50, so the majority of the core HSC subjects involve a mark out of 100. A student's overall HSC result is calculated from their best 2 units of English plus their best 8 additional units.
HSC results are divided statistically into bands, from 1 (lowest) to 6 (highest) in a standard course, or from E1 to E4 in an extension course.
Students who achieve a band 6 or E4 result are recognised as Distinguished Achievers. This is equivalent to an HSC score of 90% or more.
The NSW Education Standards Authority is responsible for administering the HSC program. It establishes and manages the curricula used throughout the NSW primary and secondary schools, from Kindergarten through to year 12. It conducts the external HSC examinations each year in November. It also oversees the assessment process and the distribution of exam results.
HSC Honour Roll - All Student Awards and Prizes (2025)
| Aamir, Sanya | DA |
| Aarons, Gabriella Romy | DA |
| Abadee, Emily | All-rounder |
| Abadee, Emily | DA |
| ... More » |
Best HSC Students, Ranked by Awards Count (2025)
| Chan, Jackson | 8 |
| Fifield, James | 8 |
| Chia, Benjamin | 8 |
| Qu, Yiming | 8 |
| ... More » |
Best NSW Schools, Ranked by D.A. Success Rate (2025)
| North Sydney Boys High School | 71.71 |
| James Ruse Agricultural High School | 70.43 |
| Sydney Grammar School | 60.99 |
| North Sydney Girls High School | 60.46 |
| ... More » |
Best NSW Schools, Ranked by All Rounders Count (2025)
| James Ruse Agricultural High School | 77 |
| Sydney Grammar School | 76 |
| North Sydney Boys High School | 71 |
| Sydney Boys High School | 49 |
| ... More » |
Student HSC Subject Top Achievers (2025)
| Aboriginal Studies | Blackmore, Madeleine | 1 |
| Aboriginal Studies | Klarich, Ebony | 2 |
| Aboriginal Studies | Breen, Sophie | 3 |
| Aboriginal Studies | Fugle, Morgan | 4 |
| ... More » |
Student HSC Subject First Places (2025)
| Aboriginal Studies | Blackmore, Madeleine |
| Agriculture | Greager, Simon |
| Ancient History | Gosling, Arielle |
| Arabic Continuers | Alamawi, Zaid Zaidoun |
| ... More » |