Changes to external assessment resources available on our website
Assessment evolves over time, and NZQA is committed to maintaining the accuracy of the materials it publishes to align with current practice. As part of this commitment, only the last 3 years of external assessment resources will be made available on NZQA's website.
This decision was made in response to an external review of NZQA's provision of annotated exemplars of student work, which recommended that external assessment exemplars be kept online for no more than 3 years. This recommendation has been expanded to include all external assessment resources, including past examination papers, assessment schedules, and assessment reports.
Read the review report [PDF, 441 KB]
Exemplars
Exemplars for past examination papers are not currently published on an annual basis. As a result, from December 2023, we will keep the most recent 3 sets of exemplars published, which may be more than 3 years old. Each set will include the assessment schedule and examination paper for the exemplar.
From 2025, we will be updating our external assessment exemplars to more recent content. For Level 1 achievement standards affected by review and maintenance programme updates, exemplars have been replaced by sample assessment material for 2025. Exemplars of authentic student responses will be provided for the 2026 academic year.