Victorian students put on stunning show with 650 VCE top achievers Geelong College student Annabelle Shannon scored 99.4 in this year's VCE. Picture: Leanne Churchill Source: HeraldSun AN ELITE group of 650 students has achieved at least one perfect study score in this year's VCE. The stunning showing comes as more than 14,500 students join the ranks of top scorers. They include a set of identical twins who got the same tertiary entrance rank. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority figures show 718 perfect study scores of 50 were awarded to 656 students statewide. A total 19.2 per cent or 14,636 students achieved a study score of 40 or more to earn the title of top scorer. Girls were most likely to star. RMIT University Annette Gough said achieving such a result took consistently good performance not only in exams but earlier school-assessed tasks. "It's certainly an achievement," she said. It takes a concerted effort over the whole year. A passion for the subject was also important. "You can be quite bloody minded about it but you do much better in a subject if you are interested in that subject rather than just having to do it," Prof Gough said. Woodleigh students Tully and Oscar Hiscock are identical twins and received identical scores of 99.65 in their VCE results. Picture: Susan Windmiller Source: News Limited English attracted the most students with study scores of 40 or more with 3240 achieving the feat. There were 2318 in Further Mathematics and 1264 in Mathematical Methods (CAS). Identical twins Oscar and Tully Hiscock - who both scored a tertiary admission rank of 99.65 and were named duxes of Woodleigh School - are among this year's VCE elite. Both scored 40 or over in all subjects. Oscar, the eldest of the 18-year-olds by just 14 minutes, said their equal ATAR was especially remarkable because he and his brother studied several different subjects. "We were pretty much on par with all of our subjects but we never thought it would actually happen," he said. Tully initially double-checked to make sure he wasn't sent his brother's ranking by mistake. "When I went to see Oscar I was probably more surprised that we both got the same than how high the score actually was," he said. It was a nice way to end the year. We weren't trying to beat each other in any way, we were just trying to help each other through it. And it definitely has paid off. Woodleigh principal Jonathan Walter said the mirror twins typified the Langwarrin South school's focus on developing well-rounded citizens. They made an effort to take a break from study with a surf and also performed volunteer work. "For us it really shows that by having a balanced approach you can still do well without being hothoused and just having that singular focus," Mr Walter said.