The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) has released finalised NCEA and University Entrance attainment data from 2025.
Compared to 2024, overall 2025 attainment improved at NCEA Level 1, Level 3 and University Entrance, and was steady for NCEA Level 2.
NCEA Level 1 attainment
Of the 45,755 Year 11 students participating in NCEA Level 1 in 2025, 73.5% attained the qualification, a two percentage point increase from 71.5% in 2024 (see figure 1 below).
“The increase in Year 11 Level 1 attainment amongst participating students follows a 2024 decline that was largely due to the strengthened co-requisite requirements coming into effect,” says NZQA Deputy Chief Executive Assessment, Jann Marshall.
Figure 1 - 2025 NCEA Level 1 attainment
Attainment of NCEA Level 1 is reported on a participation-based measure, as it is an optional qualification and just under a third of Year 11 students do not participate.
NCEA Level 2, Level 3 and University Entrance attainment
Finalised 2025 attainment data show that attainment of Level 2 is the same as in 2024, but has increased for Level 3 (by 2.1 percentage points), and for University Entrance (by 1.4 percentage points) compared to 2024 (see figure 2 below):
- Year 12 NCEA Level 2 – 73.6% (steady from 73.6% in 2024)
- Year 13 NCEA Level 3 – 71.5% (up from 69.4% in 2024)
- Year 13 University Entrance – 52.0% (up from 50.6% in 2024)
“The 2025 Year 12 cohort was the first to experience the strengthened co-requisite requirements and the new NCEA Level 1 qualification in 2024 (for those who participated in it). At a national level, there has been no marked effect on overall performance at NCEA Level 2,” says NZQA Deputy Chief Executive Assessment, Jann Marshall.
Figure 2 - 2025 NCEA Level 2, 3 and University Entrance attainment
We continue to report on Year 12 NCEA Level 2, Year 13 NCEA Level 3, and Year 13 University Entrance attainment based on enrolled students. This is still a meaningful measure given the high levels of participation of students in these national qualifications.
NCEA Co-requisite achievement
In 2025, achievement of the NCEA co-requisite by the end of Year 11 was 73.8%, an increase of 4.3 percentage points on 2024 (up from 69.5%).
“The increase in achievement suggests a stronger focus on teaching and learning across schools, as well as improved support for students to meet the requirement,” says Jann Marshall.
Equity
Significant disparity in attainment associated with socio‑economic barriers to attainment (school equity index group) and ethnicity remains. However, improvements from 2024 were observed in 2025, including:
- NCEA Level 2, Level 3 and University Entrance for students attending schools with more socio‑economic barriers
- NCEA Level 3 and University Entrance attainment for Māori and Pacific students.
NZQA will be releasing its Annual Report on NCEA, University Entrance and New Zealand Scholarship Data and Statistics in May 2026.