Sarah Maikari and Will Cassell credit hard work and supportive teachers for their first-in- course HSC results, awarded yesterday in a ceremony at the University of NSW.
They are among the 65,317 students receiving their full HSC results today.
More than half (56 per cent) studied at government schools.
Mr Cassell came equal first in Music 1 and did his HSC at Barrenjoey High School on Sydney's northern beaches.
He said government schools "punched above their weight".
"I think to do well, you don't need lots of money, you don't need tens of thousands of dollars in school fees," he said.
"You need passionate teachers, an encouraging learning environment and a family that is behind you. And I'm so fortunate to have had that."
Ms Maikari came first in the business services examination and attended Beverley Hills Girls High School in Sydney's south.
She credited her teachers for the result, especially their support during the COVID lockdown last year.
"We have different resources (compared to private schools) but it comes down to how much work I'm willing to put in," she said.
About a third (37 per cent) of the 135 first-in-course certificates, awarded by NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell, went to students in government schools, including Ms Maikari and Mr Cassell.
The rest of the certificates went to students in private schools.
More than 17,000 students, about a quarter, achieved a mark of 90 or more (band six) in one or more subjects.
As in previous years, 56 per cent of these distinguished achievers came from private schools, compared with 42 per cent from government schools.
Ninety per cent of the distinguished achievers attended schools in major cities, compared with just eight per cent of the distinguished achievers (1,395 awards) from inner regional schools.
Nearly three-quarters of the distinguished achievers went to schools with students from high educationally advantaged backgrounds, measured by the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA).
Just nine per cent of distinguished achievers came from schools in the two lowest quantiles of educational advantage.
Ms Maikari said she had been offered a place studying psychology at the University of NSW in 2023.
She hopes to eventually study medicine.
Mr Cassell has been offered a place in a combined arts/law degree at the Australian National University in 2023.
Ms Mitchell said it was also important to celebrate the students who achieved outstanding outcomes in the face of adversity.
"Which is why this year, we've introduced a new award to recognise the resilience of schools impacted by flooding across Australia," she said.
The 14 commendation awards were presented to principals and school captains from the northern rivers region of NSW and Western Sydney.
Moama Anglican Grammar student Brodie Jardine topped the state in her Tourism, Travel and Events exam, but it wasn't an easy road in the lead-up.
"We missed out on two weeks of school because of the floods which was actually right before my tourism exam," she said.
Moama sits on the NSW Victorian border and was devastated by almost two months of major flooding across October and November.
Ms Jardine said the natural disaster was a major disruption for the whole year 12 cohort in the town.
"It was stressful worrying about your friends and family who have been affected."
She said the results came as a "surprise", but she thinks living in a regional area worked to her advantage.
"Because we're such a small class I got a lot of one-on-one attention which really helped me in achieving the mark I got," she said.
