There are two types of standards, Achievement Standards (AS) and Unit Standards (US). We only offer a few Unit Standards at WSC and there is little difference now between AS and US, although some Unit Standards do not have Merit and Excellence opportunities.

Some standards are Internals, assessed by your teachers at school during the year. Often, but not always, you get a chance to resubmit an internal assessment to try and improve your grade. Other standards are called externals. Externals are assessed at the end of the year by national markers, not by your teachers. You do not get a chance to resubmit externals. Externals may take the form of a timed exam, they may also be a portfolio of work (e.g. art work) that you work at over the year but which are sent away for marking.

To show you have met each standard you have to do an assessment. Assessments might be speeches, presentations, written tests, performances, portfolios of drawings, essays, research folders etc.

Every time that you successfully complete an assessment, and meet the standard, you gain Credits. The number of credits varies from standard to standard, usually between 2 and 6. Credits can be at achieved, merit or excellence level.

Endorsement Certificates.

If you gain 50 or more credits at Excellence, you will receive an Excellence Endorsement on your NCEA certificate. If you gain 50 credits at Merit (or a mixture of Merit and Excellence) you will receive a Merit Endorsement on your NCEA certificate. A certificate endorsement is more significant than a course endorsement.

Course Endorsements.

If in any of the courses you take each year (e.g. maths, science, PE, history etc.) you get 14 credits at Excellence you will receive an Excellence Endorsement for that course (as long as at least 3 of the credit come form an external and 3 come from an internal). In a similar way you can also receive a merit Endorsement for each course you do.

To gain Level 1 NCEA you need to collect 80 credits at level 1 (or above). Of those 80 credits 10 must be numeracy credits and 10 literacy credits. You can only really get numeracy credits in maths, although a few are available in other subjects e.g. Geography. Literacy credits can be gained in English, but also in quite a wide range of other subjects. It is still important though that you do everything you can to ‘pass’ English and Maths as subjects, this means getting at least 14 credits in each.

You need 80 credits to gain Level 2 NCEA. At least 60 of those must be Level 2 credits, but 20 can be Level 1 credits that you already used to gain Level 1.  You need 80 credits to gain Level 3 NCEA. At least 60 of those must be Level 3 credits, but 20 can be Level 2 credits that you already used to gain Level 2.

UE (University Entrance), the minimum qualifications that you need to move on to university, is very similar to gaining Level 3 NCEA, but with extra literacy requirements. Also 14 of your Level 3 credits will need to come from one single University Approved Subject, 14 form another, and 14 from third.

Scholarship is technically separate form NCEA but is closely related to it. In Year 13 students can put themselves forward to take one or more Scholarship paper/s alongside their Level 3 NCEA courses. Most, but not all, NCEA subjects that have Achievement Standards also have Scholarship. Scholarship is more demanding academically than Level 3 NCEA.

Most Year 13 Scholarship tuition takes place during the Year 13 study periods. The Year 13 Academic Director coordinates and publicises the Scholarship programme and organises the timetable near the start of the year.

The acceleration programme, that has been introduced over the past few years, is primarily aimed at opening up space at year 13 for students to take multiple Scholarships. In addition some Year 13 students may take a university paper. Students who achieve highly in multiple Scholarships may gain government grants to study at degree level.

These Scholarships that follow on form NCEA are different from university financial scholarships that students can apply for in Year 13. Each university has its own financial scholarships, and a different process to apply for them. Students results in Year 12 are the main evidence that is used when applying for university financial scholarships. The process of applying for university financial scholarships is also advertised and coordinated by the Year 13 Academic Director.

1. There is no automatic right to a resubmission.
2. Resubs are negotiated on a case-by-case basis; a teacher may allow a resubmission if she or he thinks an individual student can improve their grade by making straightforward and obvious improvements.
3. The Grade gained after a resub can go beyond ‘Achieved’, and it is possible to move up more than one grade on a resubmission.
4. Resubs provide students with the opportunity to fix-up straightforward and obvious mistakes or omissions. The type of mistake or omission that a student would be able to detect and solve themselves, if they are directed to the marking schedule and task instructions.
5. Teachers can only give you general feedback prior to a resubmission.
   (Such as: ‘Merit requires conclusions to be backed by detailed evidence’, ‘the standard requires three detailed examples to be given’, ‘for this AS students have to show their working out, not just the correct answer’.)
6. If you are offered a resub opportunity it will take place before the teacher hands back assessments to the class, or feeds back to the class about the assessment.
7. There is no opportunity for new teaching to occur before the resubmission is submitted.
8. A teacher may offer a resub after the first assessment opportunity, after the Further Assessment Opportunity (FAO), or after both. There can be no more than one Resub after the first assessment opportunity, and no more than one resub after the FAO.

1.  There is no automatic right to a FAO, but the course outlines that you are provided with by each subject at the start of the year let you know of any NCEA standards where there will not be a FAO.
2.  Only one FAO may be offered for all of a standard or for a section of a standard. If offered to one student a FAO must be offered to all students on that course.
3. The grade gained after a FAO can go beyond ‘Achieved’, and it is possible to move up more than one grade on a FAO.
4.  FAOs provide students with the opportunity to go beyond fixing up straightforward and obvious mistakes; FAOs give students the chance to have a full second chance at a standard or a section of a standard.
5. Teachers can give specific and detailed feedback to students before a FAO, but this feedback must be available to all students on a course.
6. If you are offered a FAO it will take place after the teacher hands back assessments to the class and feeds back to the class about the assessment.
7. There should be new teaching before the FAO is submitted.
8. A teacher may offer a resub after the first assessment opportunity, after the Further Assessment Opportunity (FAO), or after both. There can be no more than one Resub after the first assessment opportunity, and no more than one resub after the FAO.

For more details see the WSC Assessment Handbook