And boy wouldn't it be funny if the person who comes first in the hsc exam so happens to be the person coming second or third even though he/she "didn't really work hard enough"...
Then it'd bite you back in the ass wouldn't it.
Like I said before (which you disregarded) it may not always be the case of who's working harder that gets ranked first place. When two students hand in the exact same paper, and manage to get two completely different marks, you know its not a true indication of ANYTHING.
If you're ranking first, and it IS because an accurate indication of how hard you work or your capabilities then you have nothing to worry about, whether the person below you getting a difference of 1 for the internal mark or 10, because you're still first!! The rest really comes down to selfishness.