Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua principals back ban on watches in NCEA exams

Zoe Hunter
By Zoe Hunter
Rotorua Daily Post·
6 Nov, 2018 06:02 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Watches will be banned from the NCEA exams. Photo / George Novak

Watches will be banned from the NCEA exams. Photo / George Novak

This year for the first time, students will not be allowed to wear watches into their NCEA exams in a bid to prevent cheating.

The New Zealand Qualification Authority has banned watches from the examination room because some digital watches could store information and share emails.

John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh said the school had banned the timepieces on advice from NZQA.

Walsh expected changes in technology would continue to present a challenge for schools trying to keep the exam playing field fair.

"You now have pens that can store data and will need to be checked, and glasses as well," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Rotorua Girls' High principal Ally Gibbons said students did not need to bring a watch into their exams.

"It is just another distraction really," she said. "I don't see it as an issue."

Otumoetai College principal Russell Gordon said the college was adhering to the no-watch policy.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"As digital watches can potentially be used for storing information, and given that a digital watch can look exactly like an analogue watch, we understand the reasoning behind NZQA banning watches from the examination rooms," he said.

"We have clocks in every examination room so that students are still able to gauge and use their time wisely throughout the three hours."

NZQA deputy chief executive of assessment Kristine Kilkelly said the decision not to allow watches into the exam room was because some digital watches had transmitting functions to send and receive emails and messages.

Kilkelly said some watches could also be used to store information and could be linked to hearing devices.

"The reasoning for not allowing both analogue and digital watches into examination rooms is because of the difficulties faced by examination supervisors in determining whether a candidate's watch is digital or analogue," she said.

Discover more

Rotorua students ready for end-of-year exams

06 Nov 05:21 PM

Trust gives Rotorua children a boost

06 Nov 06:56 PM

Least popular NCEA exams revealed

09 Dec 05:00 PM
Education

New Rotorua Girls' High principal starts

19 Jan 10:40 PM

"Many digital watches can resemble traditional analogue watches, and the supervisors don't have time at the start of an examination to figure out what type of watch it is."

Clocks are displayed in every exam room and supervisors indicate on a whiteboard how much time students have left to complete their exam in 15 minute segments, she said.

Exam Do's
- Follow all instructions of any supervisor
- All work you submit for marking must be your own
- You may only have an approved calculator in the examination room which has had its memory cleared and checked.
Exams Don'ts
- Talk to, communicate with or disturb other candidates
- Copy another candidate's work
- Communicate with the marker, including writing or drawing anything that could be viewed as offensive
- Leave the examination room within the first 45 minutes or the last 15 minutes of the examination
- Touch or open any emergency evacuation pack without the permission of a supervisor
Banned items
- Any electronic device*, unless it is switched off and inside the sealed emergency evacuation pack
- Any paper – except for your admission slip
- Any notes in any form
- Any watch of any type (digital or analogue).
*An electronic device is anything that can store, communicate and/or retrieve information and includes all cell phones.
Source: NZQA

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

live
Rotorua Daily Post

Wild weather set to ease across the country, clean-up efforts begin

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Merry hell' in Mamaku: Village held 'to ransom' by hoons

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Wild weather set to ease across the country, clean-up efforts begin
live

Wild weather set to ease across the country, clean-up efforts begin

11 Jul 06:00 PM

The North Island is expected to get off to a wet start this morning, with lingering rain.

'Merry hell' in Mamaku: Village held 'to ransom' by hoons

'Merry hell' in Mamaku: Village held 'to ransom' by hoons

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP