CHLOE Mackenzie’s stomach was full of butterflies Tuesday morning as she checked her Year 12 results but the nerves soon turned to elation as the Tenison Woods College learned of her 99.00 Australian Tertiary Admission Rank – the highest Limestone Coast score for 2020.
Ms Mackenzie was one of 13 college students to achieve a score over 90 as part of the South Australian Certificate of Education results, with the Dux of the region also receiving merit awards in psychology and mathematical methods as well as perfect scores for all subjects.
Ms Mackenzie said she was too nervous to eat her breakfast on Tuesday and revealed she initially had trouble locating her score.
“My friend and fellow Year 12 student Dylan Leadbetter sent me a message to ask how I went and I told him that I was logged in and could see my merits but not my score,” she said.
“Dylan guided me to where the score was located, and once I had seen my score I couldn’t really process it.
“I finally texted and phoned everyone, I was excited and so was mum.”
Ms Mackenzie hopes to study Medical Science at Flinders University, potentially eyeing medical research or pharmaceuticals as specialist fields.
While confident she would score well given her application throughout 2020, Ms Mackenzie was completely blown away by her results.
“My course required an ATAR of 95, so I am happy to get guaranteed entry,” she said.
“I had a really good year at Tenison Woods College. We were impacted by COVID-19, but this did not affect us too much.
“I made really good friends amongst my cohort and with my teachers.”
Labelling chemistry as her favourite subject, Ms Mackenzie thanked chemistry teacher John MacGregor for his help.
Ms Mackenzie was born in Columbia and previously lived in Victoria, having a considerably busy 2019 juggling cricket at state level, study and part-time employment.
“I was travelling to Melbourne every weekend last year during Year 11, while holding down part-time work, as well as completing two Year 12 subjects in Year 11,” she said.
“I have been to a lot of schools during my life, and when we relocated to Mount Gambier for my family work commitments, I started attending Tenison Woods College.
“The college has been really flexible, and will accommodate you no matter what you want to do, they will make it work.”
Offering advice to upcoming graduates, Ms Mackenzie recommended as much sleep as possible.
“You are most likely to do well in your test with 10 hours of sleep and minimal revision study, than completing heaps of revision study but only getting three hours sleep,” she said.
“Time management is really important. I made sure class time was class work or my free line was for study. I did minimal homework. If work was completed, I got onto the next thing to get ahead and manage my time.”
Tenison Woods College Principal David Mezinec said he was extremely proud of the 2020 Year 12 cohort who have achieved solid final grades.
“I am delighted to find that 17pc of our students were in the top 10pc of the state and 34pc of our students were in the top 20pc of the state,” he said.
“Such results are testimony to the efforts of students, staff and families, who have worked incredibly hard to achieve this success.”
Other outstanding results rounding out the top five ATAR scores for Tenison Woods College students include Sophie Ellis with 97.1, Ruby Moore with 96.05, Dylan Leadbetter with 95.95 and Samantha Braithwaite with 95.35.
In addition to the 13 students receiving an ATAR above 90, a further 13 students gained an ATAR of greater than 80, totaling 26 students with 80 and above for the college.
