Not only has he achieved the highest Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) score in his school but also the 17-year-old has officially been accepted into the University of Western Australia’s School of Medicine.
Only 15 students in Western Australia have achieved the highest possible ATAR of 99.95.
Aldric Ratnasekera said when he achieved 99.45 in his ATAR he was shocked at the result.
“Since second semester, especially exam season I was quite wrongfully relaxed, then I opened the document and saw that my score was actually higher than I was expecting,” he said.
However the cherry on the icing on the cake came when Aldric received some great news when he accepted an offer for the direct pathway to study a Doctor of Medicine at The University of Western Australia through the Bachelor of Philosophy
(Honours) degree.
“Ever since I went on an immersion to Kununurra and saw a great lack of medical support and hygiene in rural areas, I wanted to be able to work rurally as a medical professional even just for a few years, to help the people who are being most neglected when it comes to medical attention,” he said.
The St Norbert College student said he has one piece of advice to all year 12 students this year – to remember that studying can actually make your life stress free.
Aldric said he believes good performance in examinations or tests is not based purely from academic preparation and time management, but rather confidence in yourself.
“To be fair there were many occasions when I was probably not properly prepared for a test but this type of confidence helped me to construct answers to questions which I had not prepared for based on previous knowledge,” he said.
Principal Simon Harvey said the school is proud of Aldric and is delighted to see him to achieve this amazing result.
“Aldric is a gifted student, an outstanding role model and a natural leader and we couldn’t be happier for him,” he said.
“Aldric has represented the college in a host of sporting teams, exhibited his talents in creative arts, is an active participant in student ministry putting the needs of others before himself, as well as being a member of our student representative council and a house captain,” he said.
