KEY POINTS:
The old-school ways of breaking exam rules still seem to be the most popular.
In more cases, marks were withheld in last year's national exams for bringing notes than having a mobile phone in the exam room.
Students got censured for inappropriate drawings and offensive language. Disturbing the highly controlled exam environment was also a common breach of rules.
Five candidates were investigated for possibly altering their answer booklets before they were sent in for reconsideration, of which four cases were proven.
Despite the varied reasons candidates got in trouble, it appears no one sent another student to sit their exam for them. One case of "impersonation" was listed in the New Zealand Qualifications Authority breakdown but further investigation uncovered it was a case of offending more commonly classified as "authenticity".
A NZQA spokesman said it involved two technology students at Wellington's St Mary's College whose externally assessed work was uncommonly similar.
He said it suggested they used similar - if not the same - information in preparing it and in one case was described as "authenticity" and in the other "impersonation".
"It's not as interesting as someone sending in someone else to do their exam," he said.
