Phuong Nguyen, 20, Thao Nguyen, 19, and Ngoc (Ruby) Ly, 19. Picture: Tim Carrafa, Herald Sun

The class of 2009 broke all records at Braybrook College this year, the Australian local newspaper the Star reported on Dec 22.

Not only did three students – Ngoc Ly, Phuong Nguyen nor Thao Nguyen – achieve ENTER scores over 99, but six other students netted an ENTER score over 90, 18 students received scores in the 80s, 19 students in the 70s and 16 students in the 60s.

ENTER (Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank) is the national Australian tertiary entrance rank.

The scores are the highest the school has ever secured. The top 3 students' scores mean they are in the top 1 percent in the state of Victoria.

Thao, who became dual dux with an ENTER of 99.7, moved to Braybrook four-and-a-half years ago from Vietnam to get a good education in Australia.

She hasn’t seen her parents, who still live in Vietnam, since she arrived here, but will visit them in January to celebrate her score. She hopes to study biomedicine at Melbourne University next year.

“You just have to believe in yourself and make no excuses for not studying,” she said.

Fellow dux Ngoc said she was shocked at her score, especially because she wasn’t confident with her ESL exam.

Ngoc achieved a perfect study score of 50 in maths methods and hopes to study science or engineering at Melbourne University.

“With the other exams, you had an idea if you got a question right or wrong, but ESL was the hardest,” she said.

Phuong, who got an ENTER of 99.05, first came to Australia three years ago and spent hours watching the news and reading newspapers to get his English up to scratch.

Next year, he hopes to study biomedicine at Melbourne University.

“I couldn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I studied hard and it all paid off.”

Also among the school’s top Year 12 graduates is Nhi Huynh, who had to work two jobs during the school year to support herself.

Nhi, who achieved an ENTER of 96.95, lives on her own. “I tried to do my homework before I went to work,” she said. “I have Sundays off, so that was a big day of homework and revision.”