NCEA - National Certificate of Educational Achievement

New Zealand’s main qualification for secondary students is the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).

Students gain credits towards NCEA by meeting standards (internal - during the school year and external – at the end of the year or by submission in Term 3). Some subjects have no external assessment, but most have a mix (often half during the year and half in an exam or portfolio in November). The number of credits varies for each assessment depending on the time it takes and the level of difficulty.

Each course a student studies offer standards that are assessed in different ways including reports, essays, assignments, tests, experiments, practicals, performances, exams, portfolios, etc. Each standard describes a specific skill or area of performance that a student must demonstrate in order to achieve credits. Most courses at Nelson College for Girls offer around 15-20 credits each.

Students are awarded one of four grades for each standard they complete: Not Achieved (N), Achieved (A), Achieved with Merit (M) or Achieved with Excellence (E). They receive the credits if they gain Achieved or Merit or Excellence.

Unit standards are trade or tertiary developed performance standards that count for credits towards NCEA. However, when completing unit standards students will only be awarded either Achieved (A) or Not Achieved (N)* (except for some selected Unit Standards eg. Legal Studies which can be awarded with Merit or Excellence.)

REQUIREMENTS TO ACHIEVE NCEA:

LITERACY AND NUMERACY CO-REQUISITE

To meet the NCEA literacy and numeracy requirements, students must gain 10 credits in literacy and 10 credits in numeracy.

• Literacy (10 credits) and numeracy (10 credits) are gained from Common Assessment Activities (on-line tests) in May and/or September or from specific approved standards (2025 only).

NCEA Level 1

• You must gain 60 credits at any level. 
• You must also gain the co-requisite literacy and numeracy standards. 

NCEA Level 2

• You must gain 60 credits from Level 2 or above. 
• You must have gained the co-requisite literacy and numeracy requirement.

NCEA Level 3

• You must gain 60 credits from Level 3 or above. 
• You must have gained the co-requisite literacy and numeracy requirement.

ENDORSEMENTS

Students can gain certificate or course endorsements at all levels of NCEA. These recognise high achievement. 

Certificate endorsement

The requirements are 50 or more credits at Merit or Excellence level overall, eg. NCEA Level 1 with Excellence.

Course endorsement

The requirements are 14 or more credits in a specific course at Merit or Excellence level including at least 3 credits from internally assessed and at least 3 credits from externally assessed standards, eg. Year 11 English with Excellence.

NCEA FEES

There are no fees for domestic students, but International students have an entry fee of $383.30 per year.