Cathy goes from top to failure and back to top

How does a student go from top of the class to failure and back again in a month? Ask Cathy Neill. The Taumarunui High School student was devastated to find she had failed a level one history paper.

Throughout the year her marks were the highest in her class and history had always been her best subject. In four practice papers before the final exams, she was awarded four "excellence" grades.

But when the external results came through in February, Cathy found she had one "merit", two "achieved" and one "not achieved". Dismayed, the 16-year-old sent her "not achieved" paper for a re-mark. This week it arrived back and she had been upgraded to an "excellence".

"I'm happy but puzzled," said Cathy. "I was angry at myself at first, because I thought I had screwed up. Now I'm relieved, but worried about what NCEA is going to be like in the next years."

She would prefer a system where she is marked with percentages because "it's easier for me, parents and employers to understand". Her mother, Christine, was angry at what her daughter had been through. "It's a mess. How can she go from top to failure and back again?"

Taumarunui principal Peter Gould said it was "a dramatic shift" and questioned what would have happened if Cathy had not asked for a review.

Paul Jackman, NZQA communications manager, said Cathy's case demonstrated the value of returning exam papers to students. "We are the only country in the world which has this level of transparency." The authority marked 1.8 million school exams every year and "very occasionally" mistakes occurred." The good thing is, the mistake was detected and put right."