Working at charcoal chicken shop secret to ATAR success

Working at 'Parky Charky' has been the secret to success for year 12 graduate Zac Angus, who is one of just a handful to have received the perfect ATAR score.

The 18-year-old has been chipping away at Parkdale Charcoal Chicken since he was in Year 10, and managed to juggle part time work while studying a mix of mathematics and science.

Zac, who plans on studying medicine at Monash next year, has put his extraordinary achievement down to "keeping busy" which included keeping his weekly shift on the fryer.

"It really helped me keep a balance, and to clear my mind. It was a good release from doing other things at school," the Mentone Grammar student said.

Zac woke up early - like more than 45,000 other year 12 students - to check the all-important end of year score.

When he realised he'd achieved a 99.95, he informed his family – and then his boss.

"The bosses are awesome, they look after all of us boys," he said.

The teenager even took his friends to the chicken shop for a celebratory lunch.

He is one of 37 year 12s to have managed the elusive perfect score – 18 of them were boys, nine were girls.

This year's average ATAR score increased by two points, compared to last year – jumping to 67.74.