The ACT's college system, which was introduced in the 1970s to split years 11 and 12 from high school, continued to churn out successful results.

The Education Directorate's latest year 12 Destinations Survey showed 93 per cent of last year's year 12 graduates were studying and/or employed this year.

Sixty-two per cent of last year's year 12 graduates applied for a university place and, of those, 98 per cent received one.

Like most of his classmates, Mr West started his degree immediately after graduating, choosing one of the most popular subject fields when he enrolled in commerce at the Australian National University.

The survey found the subject field society and culture was chosen by 14 per cent of year 12 students, followed by management and commerce at 13 per cent and health at 13 per cent.

After briefly toying with the idea of taking a gap year, Mr West was lucky enough to receive a traineeship with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

This cemented his decision to go straight to university from college and gave him a chance to complete his first year of study without the pressure of having to work.

The survey found most students needed to work while they studied.

Of the graduates who were studying full-time, 65 per cent were employed, with most in part-time work.

And of the 40 per cent who were not studying, 77 per cent intended to start some form of study in the next two years.

Mr West said he had travelled to the US over his Christmas break but would wait until he completed his degree before he embarked on bigger travel adventures.

For now, he was concentrating on his end-of-year exams and would begin work with PwC next year when he would study part-time for his degree.

''I'm really lucky they are supporting me financially this year, it takes some of the pressure off,'' he said.

''I think college prepared me well for university. It gave me a lot of independence and taught me how to organise myself and stay on the ball with my assessments.''

Mr West said interstate undergraduates who were used to the Higher School Certificate-style exam assessment had found university a little tougher.

''I think our system is better because it teaches you how to study over the long term, and not just cram for exams. First year has been pretty good.''

ACT Education Minister Joy Burch said that the survey showed the former students were positive about their year 11 and 12 experience, with 96 per cent rating it a worthwhile experience.

She said the high engagement in further study and work showed that ACT students were leaving year 12 well equipped for the future.