Putting a value on 12 years' worth of work is difficult, but for thousands of Victorian school leavers, Monday's ATAR will do just that.
A handful of students will get the ultimate validation of their hard work, the coveted "perfect score" of 99.95.
But as the years pass into adulthood, how do those who achieve perfection fare at life beyond the school halls?
Ruyton Girls School 2006 graduate Kim Crow admits she was "one of those annoying people" who chose a law degree because her perfect score meant she could.
But the 29-year-old says while she loved studying, she was always more interested in extra-curricular activities.
"While the score was really exciting ... I always felt there were so many more important skills that were external to the score," she says.
True to her word, while she may be an accomplished intellectual property lawyer by day, she also happens to be an Olympic medal-winning rower.
Though it may be presumptuous to suggest the "perfect" students tend to apply their formidable academic skills to the disciplines of medicine and law, many students contacted by The Sunday Age had done just that.
Thirty-five-year-old Alex Incani is one such student. The interventional cardiologist says his career path was not a surprise, coming from a family of doctors.
"I'm the dumb one in the family," he says, adding his younger brother Paul went on to eclipse him, becoming dux of the state and earning a PhD in pure mathematics.
But in 1997 the Melbourne Grammar student told The Age he was "over the moon" with his score of 99.95.
Now, nearly two decades later, Dr Incani is still a student. He juggles his work at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane with studying intracoronary physiology and imaging at the University of Queensland.
Others were less sure where their paths would lead.
Xavier College 2006 graduate Patrick Tehan says he hedged his bets by choosing a double degree in commerce and law. But a university study trip sparked his interest in strategy and writing business cases, and he now has a career in that field, working at global consultancy firm Bain and Company.
The 26-year-old now has his sights on tackling an MBA at New York's Columbia University after a stint at Bain's Boston headquarters.
Another 2006 graduate to follow the path to law is former Presbyterian Ladies College student Eda Seyhan. But not before earning a first-class degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University.
Not that it's all work and no play for the 25-year-old daughter of Turkish-Kurdish immigrants. Ms Seyhan proudly counts running a hip-hop nightclub at Oxford under the name DJ Esey-E among her achievements.
All agree that getting a 99.95 mark in VCE opens a lot of doors, but the marks count for little later on, when adult life and its complexities start to take hold.
For Crow, life is not unlike an Olympic sport. "There are so many zigs and zags and rollercoasters and backflips, you've just got to ride it and see where you end up," she says.
