Well Ruse's median ATAR last year was around 99.55, give or take a few 0.5's. Oh, and their average ATAR isn't much lower. It's really competitive in Ruse- you're expected to do extremely well in all your exams, and most of the students actually do really well. The exams are more difficult than your average selective school exams and tests... WAY HARDER- these exams require like, 10 times the brain power and knowledge. They're motivated to do well, and unlike some people, actually care for their futures.
And although you probably already know this, it's the students who make Ruse the top school high school in NSW, and Australia.. They do their homework in a structured routine (particularly students in yr10+), and on top of all that, they may go tutoring.
And this year, their selective cut off mark was around 250, which is horrendously high. I'm pretty sure that Baulko's cut off mark was/is in the low 230's (or high 220's) considering that they've dropped quite a few ranks.
Oh, and Ruse is a really supportive school! All the students support one another in different ways. There's rarely any teasing, and as a result, the atmosphere at Ruse is really... well, really relaxed (except for exam weeks). And these kids are CRAZILY smart. Most of them have this natural ability that you're born with, or brought up with. In a competitive, usually relaxed and friendly school like Ruse, this ability thrives, and that's why these students are such high achievers. As a result, all these students do extremely well in the HSC (I'm talking 99.55+!).
My sister goes there, so yeah.
It's kind of like this
:
99.7+ : good for a Rusian
99.5+ : Eh, not bad
99+ :
Could've done better... disappointing
Anything below 99 is significantly below their expected result.