By Emma Anvari, with Ciaran O’Mahony and Bianca Roberts, Harry Gell and Anna Prytz

Everyone was awake and holding their breath in the Schwarz household as 18-year-old Marty opened up his VCE results at 7am on Wednesday, revealing 99.95 – a perfect score.

With raw 50s across multiple subjects such as English, specialist maths and chemistry, the Mount Scopus student said he was thrilled.

“It’s amazing,” Marty said. “It’s definitely been a crazy ride for all of us, and I was lucky to have great support from my school, my teachers, and my family.”

Despite being an unprecedented year with COVID-19 and online learning, 2020 was not Marty’s first encounter with virtual schooling, having received a 49 in algorithmics last year after completing the subject via the Virtual School Victoria program.

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By Madeleine Heffernan, with Emma Anvari, Stephanie Clarkson, Harry Gell, Ciaran O’Mahony and Bianca Roberts

Bethany hesitated to open her results at first. But after some encouragement from her mother she made that final click.

A wave of relief immediately washed over her. “It’s a lot better than I thought” Bethany said. “I was so stressed for nothing.”

She had exceeded her own expectations, achieving an ATAR of 82.25.

It should mean guaranteed entry into either Melbourne or Monash, where she hopes to study politics and international studies.

Getting through VCE despite Melbourne’s lockdown was not easy.

“When we got back to school, I felt like I didn’t remember how to write,” she said.

You can read the rest of this piece at The Age

This piece was published in The Age’s live coverage of VCE Results day 2020