NCEA questions and answers

Students will receive their NCEA results between January 26 and 28. Key questions about the exams are answered below.

What's the concern about?

NCEA questions do not carry marks and students are assessed on whether and how well their answer meets a standard.

It's a philosophical shift from the old method of awarding marks and totting up the total, as occurred with Bursary and School Certificate.

Why is that a problem?

Under the old system, NZQA could use wholesale scaling up or down to ensure marks were consistent year-on-year.

Without scaling, last year's results varied far more than anticipated and the Qualifications Authority lost its chief executive and board chairman over the ensuing controversy.

What are the criticisms/claims about this year's exams?

That exam markers have been given pass-quotas to meet and results are being secretly re-marked and adjusted to make sure enough students pass - directly betraying the standards-based assessment model.

Bill English: "[Education Minister] Steve Maharey and his officials are trying desperately to avoid the embarrassment of last year's NCEA exams by quietly rejigging results to hide the extent of this year's problems."

What does NZQA say?

There are "tolerance bands" and if a set of results is way outside them, the exam or parts of it will be re-checked to ensure the standard is at the correct level. This was planned after last year's problems and is working well, with 13 out of 335 standards re-marked.

Qualifications Authority acting chief executive Karen Sewell: "The processes are open and transparent and are designed to ensure the results are fair and consistent for students."