Past Papers:

The topic for the exams change evey year. Complexity and tractability was examined in 2024 and 2025. The NZQA site has the 2025 past paper and exemplars for A, M, E for 2025 and 2024.

Grading

The assessement report for last year's exam show what the markers are looking for:

Candidates who were awarded Achievement commonly:

• identified and described key concepts within the chosen topic, using simple explanations

• named relevant algorithms or techniques and describe their general purpose

• provided a basic real-world example and identified a simple benefit or limitation

• demonstrated descriptive understanding with limited technical depth.

Candidates who were awarded Achievement with Merit commonly:

• explained how processes worked, using appropriate computer science terminology

• described key stages or components of algorithms or systems

• applied concepts to real-world contexts with discussion of effectiveness and limitations

• demonstrated sound understanding but limited justification or evaluation.

Candidates who were awarded Achievement with Excellence commonly:

• demonstrated in-depth algorithmic understanding, clearly explaining how and why processes operate

• justified conclusions using technical reasoning, calculations, or comparisons

• integrated low-level mechanisms with system-level applications and implications

• showed synthesis, evaluation, and insight beyond isolated explanations.

Candidates who were awarded Not Achieved commonly:

• provided incomplete or incorrect explanations of core concepts

• failed to correctly identify or explain required algorithms or mechanisms

• gave irrelevant or insufficient evidence across criteria

• responded in vague or general terms without demonstrating computer science understanding.