Kwon said the NCEA Level 2 English unfamiliar text paper was “very hard”, and students sitting the paper “struggled a lot”.
Many of her peers “gave up”, leaving the exam early. Kwon said she passed, but many did not.
She had set clear goals for herself, particularly in agriculture and horticulture, subjects which she hoped to study at university. With scholarships in mind, she wanted to see whether her efforts “will pay off”.
“I stayed in [the exam room] for the whole three hours … I was the last one left.”
Having achieved the results she hoped for, Kwon said her first experience with NCEA had shaped how she would approach her studies in future.
This year, she would “study more”, be “more consistent”, and use her understanding from her first NCEA exams to improve her results.
Kwon’s year group is set to be among the last cohorts of NCEA students, with the Government proposing to replace the qualification over the next five years.
NCEA Level 1 would be replaced with a foundational skills award focused on literacy and numeracy from 2028, a new certificate for Year 12 would start in 2029, and the Year 13 certificate in 2030.
The proposal received a strong response from the education sector, with some schools supportive of replacing NCEA with a more structured system, while others valued the flexibility it provided and said the Government’s proposal would cause disruption.
In December, the Government delayed making final decisions on its proposal..
Finley English, head boy at Rotorua’s Western Heights High School last year, said NCEA exams taught him how to prepare for a test.
He believed his year group would be the last not to be affected by changes to NCEA.
Schools have been asked to use the new Level 1 standards when developing courses for NCEA Level 1.
Finley English is heading to Japan to complete a tertiary business degree.
English described his Year 13 exams as “pretty stock standard” and “on the easier side”.
One economics question caught him out, but he said the rest of the exams were manageable.
The final year at high school felt less pressured for him, with his focus on achieving University Entrance. Endorsements had been more important at NCEA Level 2 for scholarship purposes.
He said there were “definitely mixed feelings” among year groups below him about changes to NCEA.
Students who passed the new co-requisites “without any issues” did not see a problem with the changes, as passing them meant they were “kind of prepared” to move into internal and external assessments.
Students who struggled to pass the co-requisites faced added pressure, particularly those in Years 12 or 13 trying to secure enough credits.
He said that created “a lot of stress” for some.
With NCEA now behind him, English said he was ready to move on to the next step and “really just focus on the learning”.
He plans to study a business degree at a university in Japan, beginning in March.
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.