Top scholars to be ranked

The country's top secondary scholars will be ranked to determine the leading performers before results are sent out next month.

Marking is almost complete for those who sat NCEA Scholarship exams. To avoid the fiasco of the varied results issued last year, this year's results will be graded to "clearly identify both the top students and the cut-off point for the award of Scholarship," the Qualifications Authority said yesterday.

Of the 27 Scholarship subjects, just one - a drama exam affecting 50 students - has been rechecked.

"The panel leader and marker for drama are reviewing the marking because the initial marking didn't discriminate clearly enough between the individual students' performances," said NZQA acting chief executive Karen Sewell.

Of the 335 standards at NCEA levels 1 to 3, 16 were re-marked as part of the effort to prevent a repeat of last year's mess. Those results are due to be sent to students from January 26. Scholarship results are due next month.

About 3 per cent of students studying each subject at level 3 are expected to win Scholarship awards, and there will be little or no scaling.