About 60,000 Victorian year 12 students learn long-awaited ATAR results
Mansha Arora says support from her school, family and peers helped get her through her final year. (ABC News: Billy Draper)
For Melbourne year 12 leaver Mansha Arora, her final years of school came with more stress than she might have anticipated.
The teenager, from Glen Eira College in Melbourne's south-east, has spent the past year acting as a primary caregiver to her single mother as she battled ongoing health issues from cancer.
It meant her year was filled with hospital appointments, working a casual job to provide for her family and studying six Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) subjects.
Mansha and her mother are over the moon after receiving her ATAR result. (ABC News: Billy Draper)
"The whole journey has been quite challenging, but also in a way quite memorable," Ms Arora said.
"And now that I think about it, the whole journey, I am quite proud of what I have achieved with what little I had in the beginning."
Ms Arora was born in Australia and moved to India when she was a child.
Her family came back to Australia in 2021 when Ms Arora was in year 11.
"It was actually quite challenging ... I basically had to learn everything from scratch."
Ms Arora said she didn't even know what a Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) or an ATAR was.
"I was miles behind all of my peers," she said.
Ms Arora on Monday received an ATAR score of 97.20 and said she had been inspired to study health and medicine at Monash University next year.
"I have been exposed to health and medicine and have seen the vast impact it does have on lives, so naturally that field has attracted me," she said.
"So, I hope Monash will see me on campus next year."
'Do what you're good at'
Manon Maund, who was the dux at Bendigo Senior Secondary College, received an ATAR of 97.1.
Her top study scores were in French and ancient history, but she said her favourite subjects were the ones that gave her her lowest scores: music and history (revolutions).
She said she ignored advice from some teachers to do six VCE subjects over two years, instead doing five.
"I think work out what you're good at and don't do things that aren't useful for you," Ms Maund said.
Manon Maund (right) and Marta Conole (left) both plan to have a gap year before they begin studying at University of Melbourne. (ABC News)
Marta Conole, who also favoured humanities subjects, was "shocked" and delighted when she received her 97.0 ATAR score.
"I just sat in surprise for a few minutes," she said.
"I love humanities. My favourite subjects were my best subjects."
BSSC Principal Dale Pearce said the school's top scorers featured more female students and more people studying humanities subjects compared to previous years.
"Often we find a lot of our maths and science students at the top of our high performers," he said.
"This year it's the girls and … humanities."
He said the cohort had a couple of years of disrupted schooling.
"They were in year 9 in 2020 when the pandemic hit, so for those students and their families to do so well and come out the other side, its terrific."
Slight decrease in Victorian results
Ms Arora, Ms Maund and Ms Canole were among about 60,000 Victorian VCE students who received their long-awaited results shortly after 7am on Monday.
According to the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), the average ATAR for the class of 2023 was 69.41 — a slight decrease from last years' average of 70.33.
Thirty-nine students achieved the highest rank of 99.95.
VTAC CEO Teresa Tija said results were not the end of the road for students.
"There are lots and lots of options, and lots of opportunities to get advice and to change preference," she said.
"We have hotlines, we have change-of-preference activities across all tertiary education institutions."
Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll congratulated students across the state.
"An enormous thank you to all your teachers and families for their support." he said.
Victorian students are the first in the country to receive their end-of-year results, with students in Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland to find out later this week.