Qualifications and Assessment

NCEA (National Certificate in Educational Achievement)

This qualification is offered at three levels – Level One in Year 11; Level Two in Year 12 and Level Three in Year 13. To achieve this qualification, students need to accumulate a total of 80 credits across all their subjects-there can be up to 24 credits gained from each subject. At Levels 2 and 3, up to 20 credits can be used from another level.

Credits can be obtained through Achievement or Unit standards. Some standards will be internally assessed (achieved through classwork, tests, assignments, portfolios), and the remaining standards will be externally assessed (achieved through national examinations at the end of the year).

In addition, to gain Level One, a student must gain credits which meet the literacy and numeracy requirements (link to NZQA site to literacy and numeracy requirements)

NCEA provides entrance to University and Polytechnics (link to UE requirements).

NCEA certificates may be gained with Merit or Excellence endorsement. To be eligible for this, a student must gain 50 credits at Merit for Merit endorsement and 50 credits at excellence for Excellence endorsement. In addition, a student may also gain course endorsement. To gain Excellence endorsement, a student must gain 14 credits from a course in Excellence; 3 of these credits must internal credits and 3 must be external credits. To gain Merit endorsement, a student must gain 14 credits from a course in Merit; 3 of these credits must internal credits and 3 must be external credits.