Waikato students stoked at top marks

The Waikato now boasts two top national achievers and one who's on top of the world, after Cambridge exam results were released this week.

Hamilton Boys' High School students Alistair Lockley, 16, and Thomas Simpson, 15, got the best marks in the country in Co-ordinated Sciences and Economics respectively.

Eclipsing their impressive results though was Gaia Church, a Port Waikato 17-year-old who attended ACG Strathallan, in South Auckland, last year and came `Top of the World' in business studies as well as `Top of New Zealand' in history.

But Gaia was far from confident before results were released online earlier this week, and she certainly had not considered topping the list of business studies students in more than 160 countries.

"I was really worried. I didn't think I'd done very well. Before I logged on, I was shaking because I was so scared," she said.

"It's very hard trying to wrap my head around it. I can't really fathom `top of the world'."

She has enrolled at Waikato University to study management studies and law this year but said she had great memories of the past eight years at ACG Strathallan.

"It's great to be able to achieve something like `Top of the World' after being there so long – it's a nice cherry on top of the cake," Gaia said.

The Boys' High pair were stunned when told on Thursday they were ranked ahead of more than 350 other students.

"I was very surprised and also very stoked," Alistair said.

"I knew I was up there but there's a lot of really good people in the subject area so to be the best is really surprising and satisfying."

The Hamilton boys were at school on Friday to confirm their subject choices for the coming year.

They said their achievement meant there would be high expectations for their remaining two years at the secondary school.

"There will be a bit of pressure but it's also built up my confidence," Alistair said.

After studying both the Cambridge and NCEA curricula, Thomas said there was a massive difference between the two.

"Cambridge is really content-based and far wider. Because you study the subject as a whole they can ask you questions combining multiple elements of the subject," he said.

University of Cambridge international examinations senior schools development manager Simon Higgins said the results were a reflection of the enormous talent in New Zealand, not only among the learners but also within the teaching community.

- © Fairfax NZ News