There was an overwhelming sense of relief when VCE scores were released at 7am on Wednesday.
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And for most North East students, despite two blocks of remote learning during coronavirus lockdowns, they are celebrating the end of 2020 after receiving high results.
Beechworth Secondary College had almost a quarter of their 18 students receive ATAR results of 90 or above with Yackandandah-based twins Lily and Liam McPherson receiving the dux and second in class.
Principal Trish Broom told The Border Mail despite the challenging year the class had, she was "relieved rather than surprised" with the high results of her students.
"Lily received an ATAR of 99.5 and her twin brother Liam wasn't far behind her with a score of 97.75," she said.
"Of our 18 students we had four in the 90s which just goes to show how incredibly hard this class worked during lockdown after lockdown.
"All of our students did really well considering the tough year they all had.
"I think most of the students got to a point when the second lockdown came around and we had to go back to working from home and they were a bit deflated.
"They thought 'not again what is the point of finishing'.
"But this is the type of challenges you have to face and I just said to 'get even' and they showed how dedicated they all are."
To top off the successful year, both Lily and Liam have accepted offers to study at Australian National University in Canberra, where they have both been offered scholarships.
The successful scores continued at Catholic College Wodonga where the dux, Sara Williams, achieved an ATAR of 98.85 including a perfect score of 50 in further mathematics.
The next top achievers were Taylah Phabmixay with an ATAR of 98.3, and Akira Kerr (97.55).
There were eight CCW students who achieved a score in the 90.
While surprised with her score, Sara said she was both "proud and relieved" the year was finally over.
"It was pretty tough to get through the year with learning from home twice but our class and teachers pulled together and got there in the end," she said.
"No one will forget the year 2020 and I am pretty proud of my class for getting through it and getting the scores we all worked hard for."
Sara will take a gap year before studying law and commerce at Monash University.
Wodonga Senior Secondary College dux Liam McMullen, who chose not to disclose his ATAR score, said it was a nice surprise to finish the year on a high for his class.
