This information is for schools facilitating NZ Scholarship Drama examinations.
It should be read in conjunction with the Assessment Specifications for information on the format of the assessment.
2024 Scholarship Drama Assessment Specifications (external link)
On this page
Personnel required for the examination
Personnel supplied by NZQA
NZQA will provide the following personnel for each examination centre:
Examination Supervisor – conducts the examination.
Examination Centre Manager (ECM) – oversees the examination process.
Personnel supplied by the school
Schools will be required to provide the following personnel.
Note that the drama teacher cannot perform or be involved in any of these roles.
Waiting-room supervisor – A school teacher.
If there is more than one candidate, a second staff supervisor to escort candidates to/from the toilet as required.
Technician to set up and advise on the use of the camera and recording equipment.
The technician:
- must not be a current student, friend or relation of any Scholarship Drama candidate
- may operate the equipment on behalf of the NZQA Examination Supervisor as agreed between them
- may check the .mp4 files to ensure they are complete and audible, and appropriately named.
The Principal’s Nominee must be available to check and upload the files through the school portal after the examination.
Before the day of the examination
Annotated scripts are now submitted digitally
Beginning in 2024, each candidate is required to submit their annotated scripts for Parts 1 and 2 as a single PDF file to the Principal’s Nominee.
The information below must appear on the first page of the PDF file.
- Candidate's NSN
- Part One: Text-based performance
- Title of play
- Playwright
- Character / role
- Part Two: Self-devised performance
- Title of piece
Download a Word cover page template with the above information [DOCX, 55 KB]
To ensure anonymity during marking, the annotated script PDF file must not include the candidate’s name.
Submission date for annotated script PDF files
Candidates must submit their PDF file to the school Principal’s Nominee no later than the day before the examination.
The Principals’ Nominees must ensure that all annotated scripts (in PDF format) are received on time.
These must be securely stored and uploaded via the NZQA submissions portal, along with the candidates’ performance video file (after the examination).
Preparing the performance space
The drama teacher can prepare the performance space before the examination but must not be present in the performance space(s) at any time during the examination.
Only seven candidates can be examined in any one performance space due to time constraints. For every additional seven candidates, the school must prepare another performance space with the necessary equipment.
All candidates must complete their performance during the three-hour examination session.
The school must prepare the performance space(s) according to the following:
- A performing area approximately 4m by 4m, clearly marked with tape on the floor.
- Stage dressing of:
- no more than two plain chairs or stools, and
- one plain table or equivalent (e.g. boxes).
- Artificial lighting or natural light with flat, even coverage of the space - no coloured gels must be used.
- Lighting should provide general cover that allows the camera to create a clear image of the performer. Avoid backlight from windows.
- A neutral background – no high contrast, patterned, ornamented, pink, or red.
- No enhanced sound or effects such as smoke.
- No costuming or props.
- Blank paper and pens which candidates may use to prepare for their impromptu performance.
Technical equipment required in the performance space
A static camera in a frontal position able to capture the whole area without repositioning or refocusing.
The camera must have an appropriate data storage device (such as an SD card) to reliably record each candidate's performances.
A backup camera and recording system for each performance space.
An electronic timer with a large number display.
Preparing the waiting-room
The school must provide a waiting room for candidates, adjacent to, but out of sight and earshot of, the Performance Space(s).
All candidates will use the same waiting-room.
A copy of the attendance roll, waiting-room rules and Information for Candidates must be available to candidates in the waiting-room.
Schools must ensure that candidates are familiar with and have a copy of the waiting-room rules:
Material to have ready for the examination
The NZQA examination supervisor and school staff must ensure that the following items are available in the examination room.
The NZQA Examination Supervisor will provide the following:
- Attendance roll
- A copy of the attendance roll for the waiting room so candidates know in which order they will be performing
- NZQA green pre-addressed courier bag for the signed Authenticity Declaration forms.
The school must provide the following:
- Printed Authenticity Declaration forms [DOCX, 57 KB]
- Blank paper and pens for candidates who may wish to use these to prepare for their Part 3 impromptu performance. These do not need to be submitted to NZQA.
Additionally, the school should provide the following material for the waiting room.
Requirements for the recording of the performance
Recording file format
The recording of the performances for Parts 1, 2, and 3 must be submitted as a single video file in one of the following formats: AVI, M4V, MP4, MOV or WEBM.
File naming conventions
Files must be named using one of the following naming conventions:
Preferred naming convention (strongly recommended)
[NSN].[suffix] | Example: 3455678912.mp4
Other accepted naming conventions
[Surname]-[First name].[suffix] | Example: Franklin-Janice.mp4
[NSN]-[Surname]-[First name].[suffix] | Example: 345678912-Franklin-Janice.mp4
As part of the Authenticity Declaration, candidates will be asked to check that their performances have been recorded in full.
On the day of the examination
Examination performance procedure
For each candidate, the following steps will be taken.
- All candidates will be checked against the attendance roll in the waiting room.
- The NZQA Examination Supervisor will invite a candidate into the examination room in the order of the attendance roll.
- The camera and recording will be started and not touched or stopped until all three performances are completed.
- The NZQA examination supervisor will announce the candidate’s National Student Number (NSN).
- The performances will be run by the NZQA examination supervisor as described in the guidelines for candidates:
Guidelines for candidates - After the three performances, the NZQA examination supervisor will ask the candidate to confirm that all three of their performances were recorded.
- The NZQA examination supervisor will ask the candidate to complete and sign the Authenticity Declaration form.
- The NZQA examination supervisor will instruct the candidate that they can leave the examination room and will note the leaving time in the attendance roll.
- The NZQA examination supervisor will place the completed Authenticity Declaration form in the NZQA green pre-addressed courier bag.
After the examination
Once all candidates have completed their examination, the following steps must be taken.
- The recordings of each candidate must be provided to the Principal’s Nominee. The files must be saved in the correct format and labelled appropriately.
- The NZQA examination supervisor will collect all Authenticity Declaration forms, place them in the green pre-addressed courier bag provided by NZQA and have them ready for collection.
- The ECM will provide the attendance roll to the Principal’s Nominee for the online attendance roll process.
- The Principal’s Nominee will need to ensure that:
- Two files have been provided for each candidate: the video recording file and the annotated script file
- All video recording files are in the correct file format
- All annotated script files contain the cover page template and are in PDF format
Scholarship Drama cover page for annotated script [DOCX, 55 KB] - Both the video recording and annotated script files have the correct naming convention.
- The ECM has provided the attendance roll for the online roll process.
- The Principal’s Nominee will upload the files for each candidate via the NZQA secure Provider login (accessed through the school portal) no later than the day after the examination. The Principal’s Nominee will also log the attendance via the online roll process.
School portal login (external link)
Late submissions
Information on late submissions can be found on NZQA’s website. Please read this before emailing NZQA to advise of a late submission.
Summary of deliverables and dates
Step 1
Before the day of the examination
Candidates provide annotated scripts pdf (with cover page template) to the school Principal's Nominee.
Annotated scripts can be either typed or a scan/photo of their handwritten scripts. These must be submitted as a PDF.
Step 2
On the day of the examination
Candidates complete the Authenticity Declaration form after their performance and hand it to the NZQA Examination Supervisor.
Step 3
The day after the examination
Principal's Nominees enter attendance on the online roll.
Principal's Nominees submit two files per candidate through the school portal to NZQA:
- annotated scripts pdf, and
- performance recording file.