Ballarat Christian College school captain Joshua Van Den Hoek was one of almost 50,000 teens across Victoria to jump online from 7am to find out their score.

And for Joshua it was good news - a result of 98.15 which he hopes will gain him a place to study medicine at Monash University.

It was a few minutes before 7am when the email bounced in to his inbox.

"I was aiming for 95 and anything above that was going to be happy - this is representative of my hard work and I'm pretty happy about it," Joshua said. His mum was in tears.

Joshua had his sights set on medicine, and eventually specialising as a cardiothoracic surgeon or neurosurgeon, after his father died of a heart attack three years ago.

"My dad passed away and that was my inspiration to help people in health," he said.

Joshua balanced English, maths methods, further maths and chemistry with a Certificate III in Christian Studies. Last year he completed two final subjects in music performance and biology.

And in addition to being College Captain, Joshua was involved in two school bands and worked as a tennis coach.

He believes having outside interests helped the stress of schoolwork.

"I encourage next year's year 12s to make sure they have a good amount of breaks - still do their hobbies and not just focus on school work," he said.

There were 45,465 students across the state awarded an ATAR, with almost 50,000 students enrolled in at least one final-year subject.

The average ATAR was 67.74, with girls achieving a slightly higher result on average than boys:

A total of 37 students attained the highest possible ATAR of 99.95, 29 of them male and eight of them female.

This year, nearly 21,969 study scores of 40 or more were awarded.

A record number of students - 13,942 - completed their Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL).

"Completing VCE is an incredible moment and I congratulate the class of 2019 for reaching this milestone," said education minister James Merlino.

"Thank you to the parents, friends and teachers across the state who provided encouragement and guidance to help this year's VCE and VCAL students reach this educational milestone."

"For some students, this may not be the result you wished for but just remember that your results do not define you. There are many pathways to success including higher education, TAFE, traineeships and full-time work."

Look out for Ballarat's top students profiled in The Courier this evening.

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