Understanding NCEA

The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the main national qualification for secondary school students in New Zealand. NCEA is recognised by employers, and used for selection by universities and polytechnics, both in New Zealand and overseas.

NCEA Overview

• Each year, our students study SIX (6) courses at each year level. Year 13 students will have the option of selecting a study line. 

• In each course, skills and knowledge are assessed against a number of standards. For example, a Mathematics standard could be: Apply numeric reasoning in solving problems.

• We use a range of internal and external assessments to measure how well our students meet these standards.

• When a student achieves a standard, they gain a number of credits (eg. 4 credits). Students must achieve 60 credits at each year level to gain an NCEA certificate. They must also achieve the literacy and numeracy co-requisite. 

• Students are recognised for high achievement at each level by gaining NCEA with Merit or NCEA with Excellence. To be endorsed with Excellence, a student must achieve 50 credits at an Excellence level. To be endorsed with Merit, a student must achieve 50 credits at either Merit or Excellence level. 

• High achievement in a course is also recognised. To gain a course endorsement a student needs to achieve 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence level. Three of these credits need to come from internally assessed standards and three need to come from externally assessed standards.