Orange Higher School Certificate (HSC) students now know what the hard work has been for.

James Sheahan Catholic High School student, Aleksandra Hough was delighted with her results.

“I got three band sixes ... It was much better than I expected,” she said.

Band six equates to a score of more than 90 per cent in a subject.

She now plans to defer university and work for a year before studying law, secondary teaching or psychology.

Orange Christian School student Asha Watson outperformed most of her schoolmates and has already been accepted to study theatre media at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.

Another successful James Sheahan student said she was glad the hard year was over.

“It's pretty stressful, you really have to pace yourself,” Tegan Bensley said.

“I don't think there's anyone here who didn't work hard.”

Students from Orange high schools have received praise from Premier Morris Iemma, their principals and the Department of Education and Training (DET) western region director Carole McDiarmid.

Kinross Wolaroi student Sophia Jorgensen-Hull was among 113 students to be commended by the premier after placing first in the state in history extension.

Canobolas Rural Technology High School student Thomas Pollard was noted by Mrs McDiarmid for his outstanding information technology (IT) result.

Mr Pollard was particularly happy with his result as he intends to work towards becoming an IT and mathematics teacher now the HSC is out of the way.

Mrs McDiarmid also congratulated Orange High School's Natalia Halcroft for her achievements in dance.

All eight students were confident their marks stood them in good stead for their long-term goals, however many were still awaiting the all important Universities Admissions Index (UAI) before they could be completely sure. UAIs are due to be released today.