NCEA

NCEA (National Certificate in Education Achievement)

The National Certificate in Education Achievement (NCEA) is New Zealand's formal qualification system. 

All students at Pakuranga College enter NCEA .  From Year 10 on, students at the College are able to enter a wide variety of subjects.

NCEA - How do I gain qualifications?
Your teachers will gather evidence that you have reached standards described in achievement standards (AS) or unt standards (US).  Evidence about your achievement may be collected in a variety of ways:  seminars, group tasks, tests, projects, exams.  Some standards may be assessed during the year (internally assessed) and others through exams held at the end of the year (externally assessed).  At all times you should be aiming to achieve the highest grades possible.

Level 1
80 credits at level 1 or higher with 10 of these credits from numeracy standards and 10 from literacy standards.  There are two pathways for achieving the literacy and numeracy requirements, either unit standards or achievement standards.
All students take English or EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and mathematics.
It is recommended that students also take level 1 science, as some understanding of science comes into many courses beyond school.

Level 2
80 credits with a minimum of 60 of these credits at level 2 or above and 20 credits at any other level.
Students should be choosing their subjects for level 2 based on previous study in level 1, interests, strengths and future direction.  Please pay close attention to the pre-requisites for the subjects you choose.  A course in English or EAP or Communications English is necessary.

Level 3
80 credits of which 60 credits must be at level 3 and 20 credits at level 2 or above
Students should be choosing their subjecs for level 3 based on previous study in level 2, interests, strengths and future direction.

Gaining NCEA with Merit or Excellence
If you gain 50 or more of the required 80 credits at excellence level, you will earn an NCEA with excellence.  If you gain 50 or more credits at merit level (or a mix of merit and excellence), you will earn an NCEA with merit.

Course Endorsement
From 2011 you can gain course endorsements at merit or excellence.

Requirement:

• 14 or more credits at merit or excellence in that course in one year
• a minimum of 3 credits from an external exam
• a minimum of 3 credits from an internal assessment

For more detailed information about NCEA go to:

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/qualifications/ncea/understanding-ncea/how-ncea-works/

Scholarship
Students who have achieved a significant number of excellence results in any level 2 subject should consider entering scholarship in that subject.  Scholarship is a monetary award to recognise top students.  It will not attract credits nor contribute towards a qualification but the fact that a student has gained a scholarship will appear on the Record of Achievement.
Some teachers run scholarship classes before school, some after school and some are held during study periods.  It is important that students are aware that they will be involved in some very exciting, high level thinking and must be self motivated.

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