“Energetic” doesn’t seem to cover Mahalakshmi Kasavaraj.
A school debating captain, successful cricketer and member of her school orchestra, Mahalakshmi also made time this year to become one of Victoria’s top students.
Balwyn High School students Mahalakshmi Kasavaraj and Nathan Lee.Credit:Chris Hopkins
The Balwyn High School graduate scored an ATAR of 99.7 after excelling in an extraordinary nine VCE subjects: biology, English language, maths methods, economics, English, chemistry, psychology, politics and German. Most students only study about five subjects.
Mahalakshmi is part of a large group of Balwyn High School students who take on more year 12 subjects than necessary to explore their interests and maximise their ATAR for university entry.
Studying extra subjects maximises the chances that the primary subjects used to determine a student’s ATAR are their top-scoring ones.
This year, four students from the government school in Melbourne’s east received 40+ scores in seven or more year 12 subjects – an unusual achievement in VCE.
This included school dux Nathan Lee, who was one of the 39 students across the state to achieve a perfect ATAR of 99.95.
The school’s select entry accelerated learning (SEAL) program, of which Mahalakshmi was a member, allows advanced students to begin their VCE in year 10 and study between seven and nine year 12 subjects over three years.
Principal Deborah Harman said while the highly sought-after government school had many talented students, its SEAL students had achieved “unbelievable” scores.
Beyond the SEAL program, Balwyn High School runs an early entry VCE program that enables students to study two VCE subjects early and end their VCE with seven year-12 subjects.
Harman said the programs allowed high-achievers to advance past the typical course load of one English, two maths and two science subjects.
“I suppose a lot of [these] students, if they were only doing five or six subjects, [they] mightn’t include things like politics or psychology,” she said.
“It is a fantastic opportunity for students over those three years to develop their passion, and also enrich the subjects they may not have had access to, and then more students benefit from their role-modelling.”
Education expert Peter Adams said: “Typically, kids who choose to start VCE in year 10 have high potential and are looking to maximise their ATARs.”
Adams, an honorary principal fellow of the University of Melbourne, said these students tended to do well.
Mahalakshmi said being in the accelerated program gave her the opportunity to figure out her interests and familiarise herself with the requirements of VCE.
“Just doing it over the period of time gives you that experience with doing VCE and doing the work demands of VCE, it was definitely useful to me,” she said.
There are 40 Victorian secondary schools offering SEAL programs.
This year, the Department of Education changed the rules so that SEAL schools are only allowed to test or interview students who have already accepted a place at their school. Enrolments are also confined to students who live within a school’s designated zone.
The department no longer accredits SEAL programs, so schools have developed their own accreditation process.
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