This report ranks the best NSW HSC schools in order according to the total number of Distinguished Achiever award winners at each school in 2017.
Please note that this ranking method ignores the relative sizes of each school's year 12 cohort, so larger schools will, on average, tend to be favoured by this ranking method.
Also note that this report is an excerpt. To see the complete set of award statistics for each school, please refer to the NSW School HSC Statistics report.
| 1 | Sydney Boys High School | Surry Hills | 681 | 251 |
| 2 | Baulkham Hills High School | Baulkham Hills | 778 | 237 |
| 3 | Knox Grammar School | Wahroonga | 660 | 231 |
| 4 | James Ruse Agricultural High School | Carlingford | 785 | 220 |
| 5 | Barker College | Hornsby | 493 | 193 |
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| 6 | North Sydney Boys High School | Crows Nest | 579 | 183 |
| 7 | Pymble Ladies College | Pymble | 508 | 174 |
| 8 | Fort Street High School | Petersham | 448 | 173 |
| 9 | Merewether High School | Broadmeadow | 337 | 172 |
| 10 | St Ignatius College | Lane Cove | 402 | 170 |
| 11 | Sydney Girls High School | Surry Hills | 570 | 169 |
| 12 | The Kings School | North Parramatta | 380 | 164 |
| 13 | North Sydney Girls High School | Crows Nest | 478 | 156 |
| 14 | Sydney Grammar School | Darlinghurst | 644 | 153 |
| 15 | Cherrybrook Technology High School | Cherrybrook | 374 | 145 |
| 16 | Normanhurst Boys High School | Normanhurst | 363 | 138 |
| 17 | Abbotsleigh | Wahroonga | 389 | 133 |
| 18 | Gosford High School | Gosford | 282 | 133 |
| 19 | Oakhill College Castle Hill | Castle Hill | 266 | 133 |
| 20 | SHORE Sydney Church of England Grammar School | North Sydney | 345 | 133 |
| 21 | Cheltenham Girls High School | Beecroft | 277 | 132 |
| 22 | Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus | North Curl Curl | 393 | 130 |
| 23 | Hornsby Girls High School | Hornsby | 416 | 129 |
| 24 | Penrith High School | Penrith | 329 | 127 |
| 25 | Killara High School | Killara | 245 | 122 |