Frequently Asked Questions

What are internally assessed standards?

Internally assessed standards are marked by your Te Kura teachers during the year, and your results are updated with NZQA weekly.

Please regularly check your results during the year through your NZQA learner login page

What are externally assessed standards?

Te Kura offers personalised learning so our students are not automatically registered for externally assessed standards.

The following are all externally assessed:

End of year exams 5 to 29 November 2024

  • NCEA and NZ Scholarship exams are timetabled and assessed by NZQA.
  • As Te Kura is not an an end of year exam venue, you'll need to contact a secondary school for approval to sit end of year exams there.
  • We'll email you after you've submitted your registration to let you know who you need to contact.

Level 2 and Level 3 Digital Technologies Common Assessment Tasks (DCAT) - 15 October 2024

  • The final day to register for the DCAT is 25 July.
  • If you wish to register for any other externally assessed standards, you will need to do so at the same time as you register for the DCAT.
  • The DCAT is sat in October at a special Te Kura venue. 
  • If you register for any level of DCAT, we’ll email you further details in late September/early October.

Digital submissions for Level 1

  • These are sat at home during 26 August to 13 September 2024.
  • Submissions must be uploaded to the correct My Te Kura dropbox no later than 13 September 2024. Please contact your subject kaiako for further information.
  • You can only upload a digital submission if you have registered for the external standard via this NCEA registration facility.

Portfolio submissions for:

  • Level 2/3 Design and Visual Communication
  • Level 2/3 Technology
  • Visual Arts
  • NZ Scholarship Music
  • NZ Scholarship Physical Education

Where do I sit my end of year exams?

Because Te Kura is not an exam centre school, you'll need approval from a secondary school in your local community to sit your end of year exams there.

  • After you've submitted your NCEA registration we will email you instructions to let you know how to arrange approval from your chosen exam centre school.
  • Te Kura must receive online approval from your exam centre school before the deadline to ensure we can officially register your end of year exams.
  • Your chosen exam centre school must offer all the exam sessions you wish to sit as your end of year exams must be sat at the same school.
  • If your chosen school does not offer all your exam sessions, you'll need approval from a different secondary school. Contact us if this happens.

What do I need to get into my end of year exams?

Te Kura students must take their exam admission slip and photo ID to each end of year exam session.



  • Your exam admission slip will be posted to you at the end of October. If this doesn't arrive by the beginning of November, contact our Qualifications team for a signed replacement.


You will need to be at your exam centre school with both your exam admission slip and photo ID at least 20 minutes prior to the start of your exam.

Am I eligible to sit Scholarship exams?

Before you register for any NZ Scholarship standards, you must first discuss this with your subject kaiako (teacher).

NZ Scholarship standards are designed to extend very high achieving Level 3 ākonga (students) who can apply high-level critical thinking, knowledge, skills, understanding, and ideas to complex situations.

I was enrolled at another secondary school earlier this year. How does this affect my NCEA registration?

If you were previously enrolled at another secondary school this year, any internally assessed results awarded this year as well as any registered externally assessed standards will have been withdrawn at NZQA.

Externally assessed standards

  • You must re-register with Te Kura by submitting your NCEA registration.

Internally assessed results

  • Te Kura will report this year’s internal results already gained through your previous school to NZQA.

What are Special Assessment Conditions?

If you have a medical, physical, sensory, or specific learning disability, you may be entitled to Special Assessment Conditions (SAC) for NCEA assessments.


All the information is available on our website, or you can contact our SAC Team by emailing SAC@tekura.school.nz.


Please immediately contact our SAC Team if you:

  • need SAC but haven’t already been in touch
  • recently transferred from another school where you were already approved for SAC. Your entitlement will need to be transferred from your previous school to Te Kura.
  • need SAC to sit external exams. If you have already advised our SAC Team, there is no need to contact them again but you must provide your SAC details in your online NCEA registration.

Where can I see my results?

Your internally assessed results will be updated weekly on your NZQA learner login page. Regularly check your NZQA learner login during the year to ensure your internal results and registration for any externally assessed standards are recorded correctly with NZQA.

All this year's results will become available in your Record of Achievement from mid-January next year. This includes any externally assessed results and the award of qualifications.

If you would like a paper copy of an awarded qualification and/or official copy of your Record of Achievement from next January, you will need to order this by clicking 'Order Documents'.


  • Go to www.nzqa.govt.nz/login
  • Scroll down to View your results and progress


Do practice exams need supervision?

Practice exams must be supervised by a non-family member if you wish to be eligible for derived grade/s.


Hunga ako (Advisories)

Some supervision may be available at local huinga ako. You can check with your Kaimanaaki (Learning Advisor) for availability in your area.


Practice exam supervision form

  • Click here to complete the Practice Exam Supervision form no later than mid-day 22 August 2024.
  • If you have any queries about practice exam supervision, please email practiceexam@tekura.school.nz.


Derived grades

Derived grades may be available if just before or during the end of year exam period, you suffer a temporary illness, trauma or event beyond your control.

  • There must be a clear and observable detrimental effect on your performance and/or attendance.
  • Evidence from a registered professional is required to support a derived grade application.
  • An application can be requested from our Qualifications team.

I am a home-school fee paying ākonga (student). Can I sit exams in subjects if I'm not enrolled in them with Te Kura?

If you are a home-schooled fee-paying ākonga and wish to register for externally assessed standards but you’re not enrolled with us for those subjects, please contact our Qualifications team on 0800 65 99 88 option 3, or email ncea.registration@tekura.school.nz. As Te Kura is your school, we are responsible for reporting all your NCEA external entries to NZQA.

What about digital exams?

Digital exams are typed on a device (with a physically attached keyboard) rather than being hand-written in paper booklets.


Level 1

  • Starting from 2024, all Level 1 end of year exam standards will be sat digitally by default on your laptop at your approved exam centre school.
  • The exceptions are Level1 Maths (1.4) and Level 1 Physics, Earth & Space Science (1.4) which remain hand-written for 2024.
  • There may be some exam centre schools who may still use the hand-written option.
  • The NZQA end of year exam timetable is the same for hand-written and digital exam sessions.


Level 2 and Level 3

  • Some Level 2 and Level 3 end of year exam sessions can be sat digitally but this depends whether your chosen exam centre school offers this option.
  • NZQA cannot provide Te Kura with a list of exam centre schools that offer digitial exam sessions and in which subjects. However, your intended exam centre school can advise Te Kura at the same time as they approve your exam centre request through our on-line facility.
  • If your exam centre school offers digital exam sessions in one or more of your chosen end of year exams, we will email you to ask if you wish to sit on your laptop or hand-write the exam.


Critical preparation for sitting an exam digitally

On exam day/s, you will use your NZQA Learner login details to access digital exam standards from the NZQA homepage. It is important you have created your NZQA learner login account well before exam day, practiced logging in and memorised your username and password.


Device checks

Device set up is a critical step for ākonga getting ready for a digital exam. Well before exam day, you must go through the links on NZQA's Preparing for digital assessment as a student. This preparation is where you can familarise yourself with the digital exam platform as well as check that your device is suitable.


Language exams

All end of of year digital language exams include an audio file for the listening component. As you will be able to choose when you answer the listening standard, you will need to take headphones that are compatible with the laptop you will use on exam day.