Making Sense of NCEA Terminology
June 6, 2024
What are standards? Subject endorsements? Credits? Whether you’re a parent or a student, NCEA terminology can be tricky to wrap your head around! We’ve compiled a list of essential NCEA terminology for you. We hope this will help you navigate the curriculum with confidence, especially for families with students just starting Level 1.
NCEA: National Certificate of Achievement. It’s the name of the qualification students receive. It’s the main qualification for secondary school students in Aotearoa and is internationally recognised.
NZQA: New Zealand Qualifications Authority. This is the group that oversees NCEA.
NSN: National Student Number. Every NCEA student has a unique NSN number. This number will be on all students’ external exam papers, and is also used to log into the NZQA website to access results for externals.
UE: University Entrance. Achieving the requirements for University Entrance increase student’s chances of being accepted to university after finishing high school.
Level 1: The third stage of NCEA that most students complete in Year 11.
Level 2: The second stage of NCEA that most students complete in Year 12.
Level 3: The third stage of NCEA that most students complete in Year 13.
Standard: A different area of knowledge or skill within a subject that is assessed for students to receive credits (e.g., trigonometry in maths).
Credits: When a student achieves a standard, they earn credits which build towards NCEA qualifications. (E.g., one Level 2 maths standard may be worth 4 credits, and a student needs to attain 60 credits across all subjects to achieve Level 2).
Unit standard: A standard that students can only receive ‘achieved’ or ‘not achieved’ for.
Assessment standard: A standard that students can receive ‘achieved’, ‘not achieved’, ‘merit’, or ‘excellence’ for.
Not achieved (N): NCEA version of a ‘fail’ or ‘F’ grade.
Achieved (A): NCEA version of a ‘pass’ or ‘C’ grade.
Merit (M): NCEA version of a ‘B’ grade.
Excellence (E): NCEA version of an ‘A’ grade.
Low achieved/low merit/low excellence: When students have just met the benchmark for a grade. Similar to a C-, B- or A-.
High achieved/high merit/high excellence: When students have nearly met the benchmark for the grade above or a nearly perfect mark. Similar to a C+, B+, or A+.
Internal: An internally marked standard (i.e., marked by teachers at school).
External: An externally marked standard (i.e., marked by NZQA markers). Externals often come in the form of exams or portfolios.
Co-requisite: A new group of standards in maths and literacy that all students must pass to receive NCEA.
SAC: Special assessment conditions. This is support for students with different physical, emotional, sensory, medical, and learning needs. (E.g., students may get extra time during an exam, or a reader-writer to transcribe their verbal answers to exam questions).
Certificate Endorsement: Shows high achievement across all subjects. Excellence endorsement is awarded if a student receives 50+ excellence credits. Merit endorsement is awarded if a student receives 50+ merit (or excellence) credits.
Course Endorsement: Shows high achievement in one subject. Course endorsement requires 14 credits, with at least 3 from internals and 3 from externals. Excellence endorsement requires 14 excellence credits, merit endorsement requires 14 merit (or higher) credits, and achieved endorsement requires 14 achieved (or higher) credits.
