What is NCEA?

National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is part of the New Zealand curriculum and is recognized by employers and tertiary providers in New Zealand and overseas. NCEA involves choosing subjects, doing assignments like essays, experiments, or tests at school during the year, and at the end of the year, you need to sit for exams or submitting a portfolio.

There are 3 levels in NCEA:

  • NCEA Level 1 (Year 11)
  • NCEA Level 2 (Year 12)
  • NCEA Level 3 (Year 13)

Why is NCEA important?

Most New Zealand schools hold NCEA pathways to university entrance. NCEA as a degree is accepted in New Zealand, Australia and abroad.

In the UK, NCEA is assessed to be equivalent of Cambridge A Levels

NCEA students can also sit scholarship exams in parallel. Scholarship exams are excellent to have on your CV and ensures a closer look at the student’s application for entrance. It is also a great source of funds and top Scholarship prizes can be worth in excess of 20K NZD.

Assessment and exams

NCEA assessments are assessed internally and externally. Students will sit a national exam at the end of the year, which is set and marked by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). Internal assessments are assessed at the school level throughout the school year, students usually do essays, experiments, or tests which are both marked by the school. The moderators from NZQA will check the internal assessment marking to make sure all schools are assessing work to a national standard.

Students need to achieve 80credits to get their Level 1 NCEA qualification, each level students have to gain 80 credits altogether. It includes some standards in reading, writing, and maths (literacy and numeracy). Literacy credits show that students can demonstrate reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Besides, numeracy credits show students can demonstrate number, measurement, and statistical skills.

Other than you need to gain 80 credits for each level, there are also few requirements if you want to gain NCEA Level 3 with university entrance. The student must have at least 14 credits in three approved subjects with 10 numeracy credits at Level 1 or above and 10 literacy credits at Level 2 or above (5 credits for writing and 5 credits for reading).

Merit and Excellent grades

Merit and excellence grades are used to recognize students who have achieved outstanding results. A student can gain merit or excellence grades for individual achievement standards, for individual subjects or an NCEA level certificate.

Example of criteria for achievement standards in biology, history and graphics at various NCEA levels:

The criteria for merit or excellence grades vary depending on the subject. However, as a general guide for ‘achieved’ means that you demonstrated elementary level skills or knowledge; ‘achieved with merit’ means that you demonstrated intermediate level kills or knowledge and ‘achieved with excellence’ means that you demonstrated highly developed skills or knowledge.

So, does 1 on 1 lab help me?

Unlike other curriculums, the ability to show that you understand the knowledge and ability to apply that knowledge is more important than simply knowing.

An in-depth understanding of the curriculum topics is therefore very important and students need to be taught how to show they understand.

Our qualified teachers are all experienced at NCEA and can help! Using focused, scientific-based 50-minute lessons we can help you to understand the topics faster and in more depth, helping you to quickly achieve an improvement in your grades.

Contact us

Need help with homework and exams? Call us, our expert, specialist qualified teachers can help you with any subject.

And since we are 1 to 1 private tutoring we can lift your results up in the shortest possible time with no time wasted for you.