About NCEA

NATIONAL CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

To complete an NCEA certificate students must earn credits.  They attain credits by meeting standards in their chosen subject areas.  Some standards, such as practical work, will be assessed internally by the school.  Others will be assessed nationally in external examinations.  Credits may be gained by achieving either achievement standards or unit standards.

LEVEL ONE CERTIFICATE - 

• Students need to gain 60 credits at Level 1 

• In addition to the 60 Credits, students must achieve 10 Credits in Numeracy and 10 Credits in Literacy

• Pathways to get Numeracy and Literacy Credits include:

• Through co-requisite assessments in numeracy and literacy (exam)

• Through additional internal and external assessments across a range of subjects at Level 1 and Level 2 (2024 and 2025 only)

LEVEL TWO CERTIFICATE

• Students need to gain 80 credits.

• Of these, 60 must be from Level 2 or higher. The remaining 20 credits may come from Level 1.

• Students must also have met the Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirements (nb: this is under the previous system)

 LEVEL THREE CERTIFICATE

• Students need to gain 80 credits.

• Of these, 60 must be from Level 3 or higher.  The remaining 20 credits may come from Level 2.

• Students must also have met the Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirements.

NB:     Level 3 courses are academically demanding and have recommended prior learning. Completing NCEA Level 2 does not guarantee entry into Level 3 subjects. 

CERTIFICATE ENDORSEMENT

• Students are able to achieve Level 1, 2 or 3 NCEA with Merit or Excellence Certificate Endorsements. 

• Merit Endorsement at a particular level requires 50 credits at “merit” or “excellence” at that level or higher.

• Excellence Endorsement at a particular level requires 50 credits at “excellence” at that level or higher. 

• Students can accumulate merits and excellences over more than one year and their record will be checked annually to determine whether they are entitled to an endorsement of any NCEA certificate.

SINGLE SUBJECT ENDORSEMENT

• Students who perform exceptionally well in individual courses are recognised with a course endorsement at Merit or Excellence. 

• The course name is the school name for the course eg: English, Science For Future Studies

• To gain an endorsement for a course a student must gain all of the following:

  • • • 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence from the course 

      • At least 3 credits from an externally assessed standard 

Note: It is not possible to get a subject endorsement from a course that is made up of unit standards as these standards are not eligible for merit or excellence.

NEW ZEALAND SCHOLARSHIP

• Scholarship is a monetary award to recognise top Level 3 students.

• It does not earn credits towards a qualification but does appear on a student’s Record of Achievement. 

• Scholarship in each subject can be gained at two levels, either ‘Scholarship’ or ‘Outstanding Performance’.

• Candidates may enter scholarship in one or more subjects and this decision is made during the year. 

• Students interested in scholarship should discuss it with their teachers early in the year.