NCEA exams and scholarships begin

NCEA and scholarship exams begin on Tuesday with assessments in dance, maths and Tongan.

The Qualifications Authority said there will be 121 exams involving around 144,500 students during the four-week exam season.

A group of Rotorua teenagers told RNZ they were taking their first NCEA exams this week, but they weren’t feeling very confident.

They admitted to being “a little nervous,” “feeling bad,” and needing to study a little more.

Most agreed that study groups were a good way to prepare for exams, although they also recommended online learning videos.

11th grade student Manatsu said that while sitting with friends, she was distracted from books and from her phone.

“I think it’s better to sit in a group because when I’m at home, when I want to take a break, I usually use my phone and then I don’t want to leave it. But when I’m here and not on the phone, I can talk to someone else and they say, ‘Get back to work,'” she said.

But Ellie, a 10th grade student, said working in a group has some disadvantages.

“It can be a little more distracting. I probably do more at home, on my own. But it’s also good to ask for information you’re not sure about,” she said.

The qualification body said more than 97,000 students chose to take one or more exams online.

However, the group RNZ spoke to overwhelmingly preferred pen and paper to screen and keyboard.

“I definitely prefer it in print because I like to have everything in front of me and write down my ideas and solutions,” said 11th grade student Samantha.

“I usually prefer print because sometimes it’s a little painful to look at the screen for a long time,” said Year 10 student Emma.

Association of Secondary School Principals president Vaughan Cuyo said it was difficult for schools to conduct mock exams online and this was likely contributing to students’ hesitancy about digital exams.

“Most schools don’t have the ability to do this kind of practice for students, so I would say that’s where some of the anxiety comes from: you know, is my computer going to crash, do I have the right amount of juice in my computer?” battery, is my screen big enough.

“There are all these things that come from equity issues that we still see in this digital space,” he said.

Cuyo encouraged students to study regularly rather than cram for exams.

“Don’t do a 12-hour day the night before. Do several two-hour days the night before. And it’s not just reading your notes, it’s training. When you look at the All Blacks winning at Twickenham, they didn’t read a book on how to play rugby, they went and practiced, so take last year’s exams, take last year’s exams, do practice tests.”

NZQA Deputy Chief Executive of Assessment Jann Marshall wished all students the best ahead of their exams.

“I encourage all students to give their best. These exams are the last step before you can enjoy your well-deserved summer break,” she said.

“I congratulate the students for their hard work and dedication throughout the year and encourage them to seek support if they feel overwhelmed by the pressure.”

Marshall said NZQA was working hard to prevent a repeat of the problems that arose with the online exams platform during last year’s NCEA exams.

“NZQA and provider measures enabled students to complete more than 152,200 literacy and numeracy tests in September, with the digital assessment platform performing well throughout the assessment period,” she said.

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