In a strong display of willpower, Carroll College’s Matthew Grayson opted not to check his tertiary admission rank or HSC band results ... for now.

“I don’t want it to define me,” Matthew said.

“If you let the number define you, you kind of put yourself down and might not strive for other things, and I don't want that to happen to myself.

“If I did open it, I feel the number would define me and then I’d feel that I’m not good enough.”

Matthew, who plans to take a gap year and study art or acting in the future, joined his peers at Carroll College Broulee for a HSC morning tea on December 14.

Among them was high-achiever Jaxsen Wells, who received an ATAR of 94.8.

After a few sleepless nights, Jaxsen was pleased to finally receive his long-awaited marks.

“It’s a lot of stress which is just gone now,” Jaxsen said.

“I got more sleep than I expected; I slept until 4am.

“The marks came out 45 minutes early and I got a message from a couple of people that they were already out and had been for 20 minutes.

“So I was sitting there thinking, ‘Do I really want to look at them yet?’

“It’s done now. I tried as hard as I could.”

The Moruya teenager plans to study Advanced Science at the Australian National University in Canberra and work in the area of science research.

Joining him in team 90s was Brogan Dragisic, who received two Band 6 results and an ATAR of 90.25.

“I really wanted to crack 90, so I just slipped in,” Brogan said.

“Staying up a few late nights is what probably got me over the line, so I was happy about that.”

Brogan also intends to take a gap year and travel to South America. His university plans are already locked in, after receiving an early admission to the University of Wollongong to study conservation biology. He thanked his mentor and teacher, Peter Sutton, for helping him through his HSC journey.

Also celebrating on Friday morning was Sarah Hall, who received a Band 6 in Mathematics and an 89.1 ATAR, just shy of her goal.

“It’s a good number, but I personally wanted 90, but it gets me where I want to go,” Sarah said.

“This morning I was up early trying not to think about it. It feels good that it’s finished and I’m relieved to have it completely over now.”

Sarah also intends to take a year off from study before embarking on a Bachelor of Advanced Science or Medical Science at the Australian National University or the University of New South Wales.

Also scoring a Band 6 in maths was Molly Porter – one of five students at Carroll College to do so.

“I wasn’t expecting quite that high, but I was hoping to get in the 90s,” Molly said.

Like her peers, she was relieved to finally have her marks.

“It’s good not having the anticipation anymore and not having to stress about it,” she said.

“It’s awesome being on the other side and having it done.”

Molly plans to move to Melbourne to attend university and study biomedical science, with the aim of entering into disease research.

Assistant Principal John O’Neill on Friday said the school was extremely proud of its graduating students.

“We’re very proud of the students and their results,” Mr O’Neill said.

“They’ve worked hard for two years and the results are a testament to the work they’ve done.

“We’ve had some excellent maths results; the maths faculty is going ahead leaps and bounds.

“We also saw strong results in geography, physics and industrial technology.”