If you are prevented from sitting an external examination (or if your performance is seriously impaired in the examination) through illness or misadventure or other exceptional circumstances beyond your control you can apply for a derived grade. Circumstances that may occur includes the death of a family member or close acquaintance.
The school will provide a grade based on pre-existing standard-specific evidence for each standard for which you are seeking a Derived Grade. No Derived Grade is possible if the school holds no standard specific evidence. Results from standards assessed in the Practice School Examinations will be generally used as evidence. Therefore, your school examinations are very important. A poor performance in these will directly impact your Derived Grade result.
See Derived Grades on the NZQA site. This gives you more information on when derived grades apply and how derived grades work. Note that derived grades are only for "one off" assessment events which take place on a set date (or narrow range of dates) _ they can not be used for extended assessments or assessments with multiple opportunities.
IMPORTANT: If you are unable to attend an external examination (or if you think that your performance will be seriously impaired) because of illness you MUST contact the school immediately as you will need to obtain the correct form to be completed by a medical practitioner on (or before) the day of the examination.