For HSC students at Newcastle Grammar, lockdowns and home learning made it hard to take a study break from their ultimate high school year.
Emma McGrath, who secured the school's highest ATAR of 99.5, saidthe most important part of her study was being able to switch off.
Every day, Emma would put on a podcast or music and hit the trails at Glenrock.
"I would go for a run or walk and really just try and forget about the HSC for a bit," she said. "Obviously you need to put in the hard work but you also need to just zone out sometimes."
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Newcastle Grammar had eight students on the NSW Education Standards Authority's (NESA) All Round Achievers list, the most of any Hunter school and three more than academically selective Merewether High which usually has the most.
Each year, NESA publish four lists acknowledging outstanding HSC achievements across the state. Along with the all-rounders, Hunter students also featured in Top Achievers, First in Course and Distinguished achievers lists this year.
Receiving the highest band possible in 10 or more units and joining Emma on the all-rounders list were peers James Fry, Jack Humphreys, Vivien Kuru, Matthew Macdougall, Fotios Petrelis, Amelia Young and Jadon Mylabathula.
Nervous and excited to see his results on Thursday morning, Jadon didn't get to sleep until 2:30am.
"Getting my marks at six and then waiting three hours for my ATAR didn't appeal to me so I went to bed late and tried to sleep through to nine," he said. "It was a fantastic thing to see when I did wake up and the feeling is amazing."
With his sights set on medicine, Jadon has plans to one day work in the humanitarian sector. He said it had been a stressful last few months but the results were worth it.
"It's good to finally be able to close the book on high school. Now it's time to celebrate."
While "touching wood", Jadon said he's hopeful of securing a spot at university.
"I've applied to a lot of medicine schools, including ones overseas. So it's going to be a pretty quick turn around if I do get accepted."
James Fry said the key to success in the HSC was to "enjoy your subjects because it's easier to learn if you're curious".
Jack Humphreys agreed, adding that if you enrol in the courses you love "it takes the hard out of hard work".
Vivien Kuru finished fifth in the state for Geography but found learning from home really hard during the pandemic. She said while there was a lot of "head down bum up" it was important to focus on her own wellbeing.
"At one stage toward the end of the year I really lost sight of how important it is to pay attention to my own state of mind," she said.
Vivien has plans to study Physiotherapy at the University of Newcastle but says she's still unsure.
"I was going to work for six months and then travel but it's too unpredictable at the moment I think."
Fotios Petrelis had been awake since 5am Thursday morning in anticipation for the results. While admitting it had been a difficult year, Fotios said it was an opportunity to grow and build resilience.
"Being hit with COVID and dealt new, unexpected challenges was hard," Fotios said. "But also exciting because it gave us the opportunity to respond to situations we were faced with."
Matthew Macdougall, who topped the state in engineering, said that throughout the year it was important to have "close friends to call on and share the experience with".
Speaking with the Newcastle Herald Thursday afternoon, Amelia Young said this bond had continued, with the all-rounders catching up for a coffee.
"After a tough few months it's amazing to see all of us here celebrating each other's achievements," Amelia said.
