Rotorua students' relief as NCEA results released

Students around the country breathed a sigh of relief, or otherwise, when the 2017 NCEA results were released today. Rotorua Boys' High School prefect and dux, Nikora Wade, said he felt a sense of relief after checking his results because he needed a few extra credits to make it into the university course he wanted.

"I was reliant on my exams for what I wanted to do at the University of Auckland. They gave me what I needed," Nikora said.

The 18-year-old was waiting on results for chemistry, biology, physics and English and said he felt anxious and nervous in the lead-up to their release.

The 2017 dux plans to study health science with the goal of getting into medical school.

He said he hadn't always considered himself academically talented but it was a skill he developed.

"You don't have to be academically talented, you just need to do hard work. Everyone has their struggles. I didn't have the internet so I had to learn the old-school way," Nikora said.

The results of roughly 168,000 students nationwide were released online early this morning. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority's deputy chief executive, Kristine Kilkelly, said there hadn't been any issues with the website handling increased traffic.

Former Rotorua Boys' High School head boy and dux Nikora Wade was counting on his exam results to get in to university. Photo/Supplied

Kilkelly said about 55 per cent of students checked their results on a mobile device.

Among them was Rotorua Girls' High School student Sarah Atkinson who, along with Tenika Dudson, checked her NCEA results for the first time on her phone.

The students were Year 11 and sat NCEA exams for the first time last year. They said they both checked their results first thing in the morning.

"I checked this morning when I first woke up," Sarah said. "They were good and I was happy with them. I had Merits and Excellences."

Tenika said: "I thought I did quite well when I came out of the exams but I still had that nervous feeling."

The 15-year-old was happy with her English and maths exams but less so with science.

She said this year she would revise more and be more aware of what could be in the exam.

Sarah, 16, was happy with her sociology and English results and planned to study more throughout the upcoming year.

"I was just happy to forget about last year and move ahead."

NZQA said students would receive their marked papers late this month.

At that point, they have until February 16 to apply for a review or reconsideration of their examination papers.

In 2016, 407 students applied for a review and 9099 applied for reconsideration. The 2017 statistics are not available.