A Riverton teenager has taken out the state’s most prestigious academic award for year 12 graduates, the Beazley Medal.
Perth Modern School student Hui Min Tay achieved a perfect Australian tertiary admission rank of 99.95, a general exhibition, and course exhibitions in ancient history, chemistry and physics.
What’s more impressive was Hui also competed in the international chemistry Olympiad in July.
She said she was aiming to score 99.95 but was shocked to receive the Beazley Medal.
“I was really surprised even though I did put in lots of hard work,” she said.
“My dad was the one who told me actually and I thought he was pulling a prank.
“I guess I never really expected to get the top student.”
Her study regiment was demanding but Hui said it was important to remove distractions.
“In the first half of the year it was a lot of study, three to four hours a day after school and sometimes more of chemistry,” she said.
“In the weeks before (exams) I definitely did a lot of school work and I gave up basically everything else including facebook and social media.”
She said hard work was the key for students heading into year 12.
“I would say study hard, nothing is a substitute for a lot of hard work and discipline,” she said.
“Also I guess choose subjects that you genuinely enjoy and not just to get good scaling.”
Ruochun Zhang from Rossmoyne Senior High School also joined the ‘99 club’.
Schools in the City of Canning once again performed well with Willetton High School and Rossmoyne High School being the 17th and 18th best performing schools in the state respectively.
However School Curriculum and Standards Authority chair Patrick Garnett said comparing schools solely on the basis of examination results was misleading.
