We run external assessments for National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Levels 1, 2 and 3 and New Zealand Scholarship.
Most NCEA and Scholarship exams happen in November and December. A 3-hour exam session can assess up to 3 external achievement standards in a single subject.
For some NCEA subjects, students need to submit a portfolio of work that is assessed at the end of the school year.
On this page
Digital external assessment
NZQA is moving towards offering all external assessments digitally.
Currently, we run digital external assessments for:
- some end-of-year exams
- Common Assessment Tasks or Activities
- Literacy and Numeracy assessments.
More information about digital external assessment
How we mark external assessments
NZQA marks end-of-year exams and assessments using grade score marking:
Most marking for Literacy, Numeracy, Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau standards is different from marking for end-of-year examinations.
How we mark Literacy, Numeracy and Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau
Exam and assessment timetables
You can find dates for end-of-year exams and other external assessments on the timetable pages:
How end-of-year external assessment works
Rules for external assessment
In term 4, students sitting end-of-year assessments are given a copy of the rules and instructions for candidates, which they must agree to follow.
The rules make sure that assessment is fair for all students, and that their work is original and authentic.
Rules for students taking assessments
There are also some rules students must follow when sitting external Literacy, Numeracy and Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau assessments:
Literacy and Numeracy assessments
What happens if you break the rules
We investigate potential breaches of the exam and assessment rules:
Access to past external exams and assessments
Past exam and assessment papers can help students prepare for external assessments.
The external assessment material on our public site is redacted for copyright reasons. But students can access unredacted past digital assessments, including Literacy and Numeracy assessments, in the MyNZQA learner portal.
Log in as a student (external link)
Schools and teachers can access unredacted past digital and paper assessments and materials in the school portal.
Students need to ask their teachers to share unredacted paper exams, assessments and exemplars with them.
Support for students doing assessments
Resources for students doing assessments
Find information for students who are preparing for assessments
Go to the Student assessment hub
When a student can't sit an assessment
Candidates might be able to apply for a derived grade
Find out about derived grades
Help for students during an assessment
Students with known difficulties or disabilities can apply for Special Assessment Conditions
Find out about Special Assessment Conditions
Preparing for digital assessment
Information and resources to help students prepare for digital assessment
Doing digital assessments
What students can do after an assessment
Getting assessment materials back
Students can get some assessment materials back after the assessment
Find out what assessment material is returned
Accessing marked digital and scanned paper exams online
Students can login to MyNZQA to access their marked assessments
Find out how to access marked assessments
NCEA reviews and reconsiderations
Students can apply for a review or a reconsideration of an assessment result
NCEA reviews and reconsiderations
Scholarship reviews and reconsiderations
Students can apply for a review or a reconsideration of an assessment result
Scholarship reviews and reconsiderations