Girlie Eggheads Conquer

It's that time of the year again - approximately 65 800 students who sat their HSC exams this year received their marks and UAI yesterday and today. Geez, I remember it was only a year ago when I got my results - oh the pressure and anxiety. I think the waiting is worse than actually sitting the examination!

Anyhoo, it seems this year the lasses have performed better than the lads with five girls topping all the science subjects, a branch of study that has typically been dominated by boys. So it's got me wondering, are the tables turning? It's the same story in maths - this year a girl managed to top Maths Extension I (although Maths 2 unit and Maths Extension II were topped by boys again). Girls made up about 60% of those who sat the HSC as opposed to the 40% of boys. I'm not trying to make any sweeping generalisations here or anything, just that its interesting to see that girls have managed to conquer the subjects that were originally male-dominated. Also Hornsby Girls High school has climbed to second place in the state ranking of HSC school performance this year - just behind James Ruse of course - higher from last year's third ranking. This article, along with another one I unearthed at the tres confusing site that is the Daily Telegraph, makes a whole bunch of references to the heightened academic performance of girls. But then again, this is not to say boys aren't trying - its been reported that boys' performance overall has increased this year despite girls making up the majority of the high achievers in this years HSC.