The Nhill Secondary College dux received an ATAR score of 97.55, much more than the 70 enter score required for her university degree preference.

"I didn't need a very big score, but obviously just for my own personal reasons I wanted to get a high score, just because I am like that," Mikayla said.

Mikayla wants to study Urban and Regional Planning at RMIT University but plans to stay in the Wimmera for her first year and work remotely.

She was confident she would achieve the required ATAR to get into the course, but was still nervous on the night of the big reveal.

READ MORE:

"I wasn't going to set an alarm or anything, I was just going to look at it when I got up," she said.

"But I was sharing a room with my cousin at the time because we had family over for Christmas. I woke up at six, which was annoying because it was an hour until the results came out and I couldn't get back to sleep."

Mikayla had her mum look up the results online and was pleasantly surprised.

She said the COVID pandemic restrictions made her focus harder at school.

"I am fairly self-motivated so it wasn't too bad for me," she said.

"I didn't have to say no to things this year because everything was cancelled anyway. I didn't have to say no to my Saturday hobbies.

MORE NEWS:

"All my teachers were very helpful and supportive. Even at home it still felt like the teachers were right there next to us, pushing us."

Her advice to the class of 2021 was to be consistent and do practice exams.

"Be consistent with your study. All their schooling has kind of led up to year twelve and they've had a chance to figure out what kind of studying techniques work for them, so just don't burn out at the start of the year," Mikayla said.

"Make consistent habits that you can carry throughout the entire year, and do lots of practice exams."

Did you know you can receive updates straight to your inbox? To make sure you're up-to-date with news from across the region, sign up below.