How NCEA works

Introduction

NCEA stands for National Certificate of Educational Achievement. There are three levels of NCEA certificates offered. In general, students work through Levels 1 to 3 in Years 11 to 13 at school, with students recognised for high achievement at each level by gaining NCEA with Merit endorsement or NCEA with Excellence endorsement.


Types of standards

Each year, students study a number of courses or subjects. In each subject, skills and knowledge are assessed against a number of standards. For example, a Mathematics standard could be: Apply numeric reasoning in solving problems.


When students study a new topic, their teachers explain what will be assessed as part of the course and how. Assessments measure what a student knows, or can do, against the criteria of a standard in courses they study.  Teachers ensure that students are prepared for assessment. If students pass their assessments, the “standard” is achieved. 


There are two types of “standard”:


•          Unit standards are competency based and can earn a Not Achieved or Achieved grade

•          Achievement standards are New Zealand curriculum based and can earn a Not Achieved, Achieved, Merit or Excellence grade


Some standards are internally assessed by teachers during the year and others are externally assessed by NZQA at the end of the year e.g. in an exam or by a portfolio of work.   When a student achieves a standard, they gain a number of credits and they must achieve 80 credits to gain an NCEA certificate.


At each level, a student will need to achieve 60 credits as well as 10 designated Literacy credits and 10 designated Numeracy credits which is a one time co requisite for each level of NCEA.

Literacy and Numeracy

To achieve any level, ākonga (students) must achieve:

They can do this through either:

*Ākonga (students) only need to achieve the Level 1 Literacy and Numeracy credits ONCE.