Understanding NCEA

The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the main national qualification for secondary school students in New Zealand.

NCEA is recognised by employers, and used for selection by universities and polytechnics, both in New Zealand and overseas.

• 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.

• Schools use a range of internal and external assessments to measure how well students meet these standards.

• When a student achieves a standard, they gain a number of credits. Students must achieve a certain number of credits to gain an NCEA certificate.

• There are three levels of NCEA certificate, depending on the difficulty of the standards achieved. In general, students work through levels 1 to 3 in years 11 to 13 at school.

• Students are recognised for high achievement at each level by gaining NCEA with Merit or NCEA with Excellence. High achievement in a course is also recognised.  For more information, read about Endorsements.

Online Assistance for NCEA 

Join online discussions and talk to experts about subjects that you may need help in. This is a great resource for students wishing to get extra understanding of what they need to do in a topic area or assessment. 

For more information on NCEA, contact our Assistant Principal

Rebecca Swanson  swansonr@mairehau.school.nz