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Courses, Credits and endorsement.
What does it all mean??
Courses, Credits and endorsement.
What does it all mean??
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the main national qualification for secondary school students in New Zealand.
Each year, students study a number of courses or subjects.
In each subject, skills and knowledge are assessed against a number of standards. A standard details the key knowledge and skills within a given topic or context. It provides clear expectations and requirements for each level of achievement - Achieved, Merit and Excellence.
Schools use a range of internal and external assessments to measure how well students meet these standards.
When a student achieves a standard, they gain a number of credits. Students must achieve a certain number of credits to gain an NCEA certificate. There are three levels of NCEA certificate, depending on the difficulty of the standards achieved. In general, students work through levels 1 to 3 over their school years 11-13.
Credits gained at a higher level can be used for (or count towards) more than one certificate.
All students must gain their 10cr Literacy and 10cr Numeracy Credits before any National Certificate can be awarded. These will generally be achieved through the Corequisite national exams offered in Year 10. (see below for more details)
Click here for all the details of the ASHS expectations for each NCEA level.
Level 1
60 credits at level 1 or above
In 2026, our Year 11 students will be working towards completing a full Level 1 certificate through Specialist subjects, Impact projects and as part of the Tutorial curriculum.
All students will work towards Course Completion (10 credits) in all 5 subjects by completing both NCEA and ASHS assessment work.
Successful engagement and completion of a project in Impact during the first year at ASHS offers access to some Level 2 credits. During Tutorial, all learners are presented with the opportunity to complete some assessments worth NCEA credits within the 'Planning or Success' element.
English and Mathematics are required at Year 11 as there is an additional opportunity for the Lit/Num Corequisite requirement to be completed through their study over the course of the year.
Level 2
60 credits at level 2 or above
The Co-requisete literacy and numeracy requirements must also be met if not completed in Y10 or Level 1.
All students will work towards Course Completion in all 5 subjects by completing both NCEA and ASHS assessment work.
Level 3
60 credits at level 3 or above
The Co-requisete literacy and numeracy requirements must also be met if not completed in Level 1 or Level 2.
All students will work towards Course Completion in all 5 subjects by completing both NCEA and ASHS assessment work.
Literacy & Numeracy - 2025
Literacy & Numeracy - 2025
Literacy requirement
Minimum of 10 credits through either:
Meeting the requirements through the National Corequisite examination - a total of 10 credits = 2 x 5cr standards. (available at all NCEA levels of study)
OR
Achievement standards - specified assessment standards available through Level 1 English (2025 course) - (total of 10 credits);
OR
Specified assessment standards - specified assessment standards available through English for Academic Purposes unit standards 22749, 22750 and 22751 (minimum total of 10 credits);
Numeracy requirement
Minimum of 10 credits through either:
Meeting the requirements through the National Corequisite examination - a total of 10 credits. (available at all NCEA levels of study)
OR
Achievement standards - specified assessment standards available through Level 1 Mathematics (2025 course) - (minimum total of 10 credits)
Endorsement of NCEA certificates & courses
Endorsement of NCEA certificates & courses
Endorsement of NCEA certificates occurs following the release of results in January each year based on credits on a Candidate's New Zealand Record of Achievement at that time.
Where a Candidate qualifies for Excellence or Merit endorsement under paragraphs c. and d. of this Rule 8.4, subject to paragraphs e. and f. of this Rule 8.4, only the highest eligible NCEA Certificate endorsement from the following list will be recognised on the Certificate awarding the NCEA Qualification: NCEA Level 3 Excellence NCEA Level 3 Merit NCEA Level 2 Excellence NCEA Level 2 Merit NCEA Level 1 Excellence NCEA Level 1 Merit.
An Excellence endorsement of an NCEA certificate is issued to Candidates who have achieved 50 or more credits from standards with a grade of Excellence at the same or higher Level as the NCEA Certificate being endorsed.
A Merit endorsement of an NCEA certificate is issued to Candidates who have achieved 50 or more credits from standards with a grade of either Merit or Excellence at the same or higher Level as the NCEA Certificate being endorsed.
Where a Candidate qualifies for an NCEA Certificate at more than one Level in January of a year, each of those Certificates will be checked for endorsement.
A course endorsement is gained at the Level of the lowest standard making up the eligible 14 credits. Subject to the exemptions in paragraph d. of this Rule 8.5, NZQA will grant a Candidate a Course endorsement of:
Excellence where a Candidate achieves 14 or more credits from standards within the Course with a grade of Excellence, including at least three of those credits from internal standards and three of those credits from external standards:
Merit where a Candidate achieves 14 or more credits from the assessment within the Course at Merit or Excellence, including at least three of those credits from internal standards and three of those credits from external standards.
Scholarship
Scholarship
Scholarship is a monetary award to recognise top secondary school students. Scholarship exams are externally assessed and are an additional set of exams. They do not attract credits, nor contribute towards a qualification, but the fact that a student has gained a Scholarship appears on their Record of Achievement.
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