Aromatawai ā-waho

External assessment

Learn more about the external assessments NZQA runs, including end-of-year NCEA exams

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.

Portfolios for external assessment

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

About digital external assessment

How we mark external assessments

NZQA marks end-of-year exams and assessments using grade score marking: 

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: 

Find exam and assessment dates

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:

Breaches of external assessment

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. 

Log in as a teacher (external link)

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

Get more information or give us feedback