Oxley College student Gabriel Kolovos achieved first in the state for HSC Mathematics General 2; the only student from the Southern Highlands to top any HSC course this year.

The achievement came as a complete surprise to the year 12 student, who had initially thought it was an elaborate joke.

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“Maths has traditionally been one of my weaker subjects, but when I switched course mid-way through year 11, I started to engage more as I felt there were more useful and practical components to the course,” Gabriel said.

“I got a call about a week ago telling me I’d come first, but that I had to keep it strictly confidential. I spent a week waiting, thinking it had been an elaborate joke,” he said.

Gabriel attended an awards ceremony at UNSW Kensington campus on Wednesday evening, where other students from across the state all met and were honoured for their achievements.

“It was a really nice mix of students at the event, the [state] education minister spoke and I got to meet the CEO of the NSW Standards of Education Authority,” Gabriel said.

Though Gabriel received early acceptance at University of Wollongong to study a Bachelor of Commerce next year, he said he wanted to keep his options open and see what’s open to him when university offers come out in January.

“UoW is a place with a lot of culture and interesting people, but I am definitely interested to see how I go overall and then make a choice,” he said.

HSC results were released on December 13, while ATARs came out a day later. Once ATAR rankings become available, students get a clearer picture of what university offers they are likely to get.

Students have until midnight on Sunday, December 16 to change their university course preferences before the first round of offers are released in the new year on January 11.

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