Being surrounded by family and friends, eating good food and swimming at the beach near her South Durras home helped St Peter's Anglican College HSC student Manon Halemai get through her final year.
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The highs and lows of the HSC came to an end and Manon woke to a text message on the morning of Tuesday, December 17 - her HSC results were in.
"I went to check the time and saw I had a text from NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority)," Manon said.
"I turned it (phone) off and left it for about 10 minutes.
"I thought, 'I may as well just look at it and get it over with', then I looked at it and was really happy. I was really surprised."
With a Francophone flair and artistic eye, she scored 94 in French and 89 in Visual Arts.
The most difficult subject for her was Biology, however markers didn't think so, and she was awarded 86.
Advanced Mathematics was also hard - "I thought I completely flunked the exam," Manon said.
"They must have been pretty generous when they were marking it though."
She scored 72 in Maths and 80 in Advanced English.
At 1pm, she was messaged her ATAR score of 84.95.
"I'm very happy with it!" she said.
While Manon applied for early entry to university as plan B, plan A was to take a gap year in 2020 - working near her South Durras home before travelling in winter.
She said throughout the year, St Peter's teachers were very helpful, and she was pretty laid back during year 12.
Her advice was to take advantage of support.
"If you listen to what your teachers tell you and the advice they give you, you'll get somewhere ... just try your best and hope for the best," she said.
As for her "sanity", her friends kept her afloat - and good food.
"We were all in the same boat and we all felt the same way about it (school)," she said.
"I always enjoy being around (friends and family) in any environment - as long as people are happy and we have good food."
After her gap year, she wants to study a Bachelor of Development Studies at ANU, to further her interest in developing countries and travelling.
St Peter's acting head of senior school Luke Fuller said the 2019 year 12 group was small and there were success stories at all levels.
He said a lot of students already knew they had early entry to university, which made it less stressful during the final year.
"It's still good to get that validation from their results, but it's not as stressful as it used to be," Mr Fuller said.
He said the St Peter's ATAR dux was William Wall with 93.3. Two other students received ATARs in the 90s.
He said 24 students received 41 band fives and nine band sixes.
Across the road from St Peter's, at Carroll College, Caeden Devane said he was happy with the final HSC marks in each subject.
"I'm looking forward to moving on and starting a new chapter of life," he said.
"I can't wait to get out there."
Further north in the Eurobodalla Shire, Batemans Bay High School student Christina Edwards said going through year 12 was one of the hardest things she had to do.
"I passed every one of my exams by the skin of my teeth," she said.
"I got through it and I'm glad I finished, because without it I wouldn't have the friends I do now.
"As for the next chapter, I hope to still go to design school in Queensland, and my back-up plan would be to do hair and make-up."
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