Clarification details
Updated December 2021. This clarification has been updated to address issues that have arisen from moderation.
The purpose of clarifications
We create clarification documents to help people understand the current requirements of achievement standards. Clarifications do not introduce new criteria, change the intent of the standard, or change what we expect from assessment.
These documents unpack and explain the language and intent of the standard so people interpret and apply the standard consistently. We provide examples or guidance as illustrations only. They are not prescriptions or requirements.
For official requirements, always refer to the current version of the achievement standard as published by NZQA.
Assessment guidance
Students need to demonstrate at least two advanced techniques in their program. Examples of advanced techniques are given in Explanatory Note 5. These provide guidance about the expectations at Level 2, but are not an exhaustive list. Assessors may need to determine other techniques that are advanced, and should indicate what these are.
Students are required to test and debug their program. Testing should be clearly documented. In particular, the tests that the program has passed should be clearly conveyed.
For Merit, a program should have been tested on both expected cases and relevant boundary cases. The task must provide the opportunity for boundary cases to be tested.
Students need to follow conventions for the programming language. Most languages have well-established conventions, particularly relating to naming, code layout and organisation. There are automated tools to check conventions available for many popular languages.
For Excellence, a program needs to be flexible and robust, for example using constants in place of numeric literals and the effective use of parameters. The program should also have been comprehensively tested.
Moderation requirements
All submissions require digital copies of the source code, as well as other evidence prepared to meet the standard.
For programs written in less commonly used languages, a video of the program being run is required for moderation. The video should include some voice-over or subtitles, which describe what is happening in the program.
Learners who are using more commonly used languages such as Python, Java, JavaScript and C# are also encouraged to use video evidence. Version control solutions, such as GitHub, can also be used to reduce the workload. For example, learners can focus on producing the testing and debugging evidence, as discussed above.
Assessors will need to ensure that the prepared evidence, such as voice-over video files, online version control tools or separate testing documents is visible to the moderator. When files are password-protected the access settings should be changed appropriately to allow the moderation process to occur.