Year 12 high achievers in Canberra share ATAR wins for 2026 | The Canberra Times

Alongside his studies, Michael works at a pharmacy, does kung fu and volunteers at his church, working in the youth ministry and playing guitar on the worship team.

Michael was diagnosed with ADHD and autism. He said working with his ADHD rather than against it helped during year 12.

“If I’m going to study or work on assignments, setting myself specific time periods and goals, not necessarily saying I’m going to study for an hour,” he said.

“I need to give myself a bit more slack when I’m not able to fully concentrate on something and medicating has also been helpful.”

Michael intends to study medicine and has an early offer into study health science at ANU.

Subjects: Cyber security vocational studies, graphic design, business, English and IT apprenticeship

Anastasia said her IT apprenticeship was a highlight of the year and she enjoyed spending time with her friends in the last year of school.

The apprenticeship included soft skills like communication as well as completing a certificate two in applied digital technologies, she said.

While she initially thought medicine might be a career path she wanted to pursue, during year 10 work experience at a hospital made her think differently.

“I had also enrolled in a web development class and I was enjoying that quite a lot,” she said.

Anastasia has an offer for information technology at the University of Canberra and will look to apply for other universities once she has her ATAR.

Subjects: Specialist mathematics, specialist methods, chemistry, business, English, religious studies and an ANU global perspectives and commerce course

Ishita said she enjoyed the different style of learning the ANU course was able to offer.

“It was very discussions based with all the other students, it was broad and global, one of my assignments focused on Trump’s tariffs,” she said.

When it comes to advice to other students, she said it was important to not procrastinate.

“I used to at the start, working last minute and then hope for the best in the exam but then the stress of it was bad,” she said.

At school, Ishita competed in many national academic competitions and was the co-founder and editor of the school’s new student run magazine.

Ishita is interested in studying software engineering at university – she has an early offer at ANU and will be applying to Sydney universities.

Subjects: Chemistry, english, specialist mathematics, specialist methods and physics

“After Radford, I plan to pursue either medicine or engineering, with the aim of making a meaningful impact on the world,” Brynten said.

Subjects: Specialist mathematics, specialist methods, data science, networking, business, English

Evan said he had worked hard this year and was happy with his results.

He enjoyed all of his year 12 subjects and is interested in doing more study into quantum computing next year.

He said balance was important and he tried to split time between school academics, soccer and time with friends.

Next year, his family is moving to Western Australia and he will be applying for universities there.

Subjects: Specialist mathematics, specialist methods, physics, computer science, English and religion

Alex was the communications leader at the college, which he said involved making videos for school assemblies as well as volunteering for charity events.

His advice to next year’s year 12 cohort is to pick classes and subjects you enjoy.

Alex said he made an effort to get rid of distractions while studying, including putting his phone in a separate room.