NZQA tweets students to remind them of exams

The NZQA is using the social networking tool Twitter to issue updates and reminders to students. Photo / Supplied

Students sitting NCEA and Scholarship exams can now sign up to receive reminders and updates from NZQA through the social networking site Twitter.

Steve Rendle, spokesman for NZQA, said they plan to start tweeting soon and assures students they won't be flooded with messages if they sign up.

The tweets will let followers know exam times and dates, if there are traffic problems and remind students to turn off their phones before entering exams.

"We want to make sure candidates are as prepared as possible," said Mr Rendle.

Around 140,000 students will be involved with exams from November 14 to December 4.

Mr Rendle said NZQA chose Twitter as it does not require logging into a computer and sends messages direct to cell phones. Tweets will be in plain English, not text language, and will not be sent during exam sessions.

NZQA will still place updates on its website and issue press releases.

By yesterday afternoon, 22 people were signed up to the NCEA Twitter feed.

Students can follow NCEA tweets at twitter.com/NCEAexams.