Pens, paper and a hall full of nervous teens

DREADED EXAMS: Dargaville High School students look apprehensive as they are about to sit the NCEA level one maths exam on Monday, while exam centre manager Thea Batchelder officiates.

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Ready, steady, write – NCEA exams are under way.

It has been seven years since the National Certificate of Educational Achievement replaced school certificate, sixth form certificate and bursary exam-based systems.

Dargaville High School’s NCEA assessment dean Roy Burton says NCEA is better than the old New Zealand Qualifications Authority system.

"NCEA gives all students a chance to show what they are capable of doing."

It allows teachers to assess skills not suited to exams such as making a speech in English, having a conversation in another language and doing an experiment in science, he says.

About 100 students gathered in the school hall on Monday for level one maths. It has one of the biggest attendance besides level one English where 80 students
sat the exam.

"For some students the maths exam might represent as much as 50 percent of their course marks and what it comes down to is how much course work they’ve completed during the year."

He says 125 students are sitting the year 11 level one exams, while 100 year 12 students are completing level two papers – and between 50 to 60 students were involved in taking year 13 level three exams.

"It’s not unusual for numbers to drop from the levels but overall numbers have increased during the years."

He expects students to be co-operative during the exams.

"We’ve had no incidents so far but students bringing in mobile phones to exams is one of our biggest concerns, but so far all is going well."

The exams started on Saturday, November 15 and finish on Wednesday, December 3.

- © Fairfax NZ News