Any Hawke's Bay high school students set to sit their NCEA exams on Monday morning had the option of going for a "derived grade" if they were deemed to be too tired or upset from the early morning earthquake.
As a result of the earthquake, particularly in relation to severe damage along areas of the eastern coastline of the South Island and Wellington, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority announced just before 9am that New Zealand Scholarship examinations set for today had been postponed in all centres, but that NCEA exams were set to continue and "proceed at all schools not earthquake affected".
However, the authority noted that for any students unable to attend their exams in the wake of the early morning events there was the option of a "derived grade" process which is available so no students can be disadvantaged.
The process is laid out so that if a student is unable to take part in all or some of the national end-of-year NCEA exams, their school can use standard specific work (such as practice exams) they produced during the school year to submit a recommended grade to NZQA.
"We put that message out on our Facebook page," William Colenso College principal Daniel Murfitt said.