In Year 11, I'd always dreamed of coming first in a subject. At the beginning of the year, I told myself I'd come first in two subjects. I didn't come first in anything, despite putting 100% effort in. I also wasn't good at english and wanted to change that. So in year 12, I told myself I'd come first in two subjects and improve in english. In addition to the stress of school work, my grandfather died and I went through a very rough period with my friends, both of which made studying 10 times harder. My friends and I had numerous fights, and I was often sad and very lonely. I vividly remember stressing over my best friend in the weeks leading up to trials and the HSC itself. But in spite of everything, I came first in geography and biology, which was a massive achievement for me. Also, my maths improved drastically; in my first assessments, I'd gotten marks like 78, and by the trials, I got 100% in mathematics, which ranked me first for that semester.
Throughout the year, I'd been aiming for an atar of 97, which would allow me to get into combined law and Macquarie. There were many times throughout the year that I thought that was unattainable, especially after receiving disappointing assessment marks. But I kept my goal in mind and improved in all subjects, especially english, with a final rank of 4th and an HSC mark of 95.
Basically, I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd get an atar of 99+, and so, never considered applying at UNSW law. This isn't really a HSC success story; it just proves that hard work and perseverance can allow you to LITERALLY achieve anything, no matter the circumstances and no matter your perception of your abilities (excuse the corniness).
So my advice to current HSC students: find something you're willing to work towards. The only reason I worked hard throughout the HSC was so that I could study environmental law and actively strive to make a difference politically. I only discovered my passion half way throughout year 12, which gave me the determination to persevere. Honestly, if you don't have a particular goal, then it's going to be hard to do well.