KEY POINTS:
School NCEA results are out, and it's the time of the year for victory or heartbreak, for sweating palms and heart palpitations while waiting for the sound of the postie.
Not for Ruby Jang.
The first thing the Avondale College student knew of her results was when the school's deputy principal knocked on her door late yesterday afternoon to ask if she would go in the paper.
"I was sleeping and I looked out and thought 'what have I done this time?' I didn't think results would be out this soon. Actually, I wasn't really thinking about NCEA results at all. It's holidays."
Ruby was one of about 136,000 school students whose National Certificate in Educational Achievement results were released via the mail and on a secure log-in area of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority website yesterday.
Ruby, a Year 10 student, was in her school's accelerated group, sitting Level One NCEA a year early.
Her grades "weren't that good, I didn't think."
But in the 33 unit standards she sat in subjects including English level two, maths, physics and biology, she got 14 excellence grades and 16 merit.
"It was loads of stress, because you skip that year and go in straight from third form, so it's much harder.
"But it's worth it, it's more challenging."
Hazel Albertyn, the NCEA dux of MacLeans College last year, was slightly more nervous about her results, which she checked on the internet.
"I wasn't going to. A friend said she was going to wait until it came in the mail, but I just thought I'd get it over and done with because I was so nervous."
The result was a reassuring muster of 16 excellence grades across her five subject choices.
For those away from their mailboxes, the internet was also the harbinger of the news.
In Mangawhai, Diocesan School students Alexandra Johnston, Zoe Bowden and Anna Frecklington were also in blissful ignorance that results were out.
"We all woke up this morning and Zoe's mum rang and told us results were out today. We'd forgotten completely about it. So we got dressed and went to the internet cafe," Alexandra said.
The results were not up, so they went back to playing soccer and "lying about" before the trek back into town later in the day. All were pleased with their Level One results.
"I wasn't nervous, but I was quite excited about knowing what I got. I called my mum and she was quite pleased. And Anna is a Year 10 student who sat Level One geography and got all merits, so she's happy too," Alexandra said.
National Party education spokeswoman Katherine Rich said students were right to celebrate their achievements, but only more time would tell whether after five years of controversy around student marks, NCEA 2006 could claim to have passed with few hitches.
NZQA deputy chief executive Bali Haque said he was confident previous examination and marking problems would not recur this year.
Mr Haque had similar hopes for the scholarship exams, which had been controversial in previous years after inconsistencies were discovered.
He said the scholarship results, which were due by mid-February, were being rigorously inspected by an independent advisory group.
