Look, I go to Ruse, I don’t know why in the world they let me in, but they did. But most people there are incredible; state-level athletes, great performers, have social lives that extend beyond what I would even imagine to be apart of, they are great with people, disgustingly nice, and yet the median ATAR is incredibly high. To be honest, I would love to hate them too because I’m the most socially inept person imaginable but I also struggle considerably more to attain the same marks that they do. So no, I’m not ignorant at all as I have first-hand experience with these 99.95 ATAR-getting, HD- averaging people who are not ‘missing the bigger picture of life’.
But yes, those who leave early (it’s not a generalisation), are not trying their best. Their best would be just to stick it out the extra half an hour to see if they could an extra mark or two and even if they do not, know that they did in fact do their best after actually trying their best.