Term 3 really does mark the beginning of the ‘business end’ of the academic year, especially for our seniors (Year 11-13).

There have been many assessment events, outlined further below, and it’s important we acknowledge the effort and demand on our boys through this term, and in the next couple of months.

We wish all the best to our seniors as they work towards the end of their year and their exams. I mentioned in assembly recently as they approached their practice exams (DGEs) that if they fail to prepare, they should prepare to fail – which nobody at school or home wants!

Kia kaha! Stay Strong!

Now is the time to make the most of these last weeks and the resources available.

HOW IS YOUR SON TRACKING?

Make sure they attend their exams!

NCEA is a 60 credit (minimum) qualification plus the 20 from Literacy and Numeracy, and boys should be well aware of how they are going with credits. Students who complete more credits are more assured of a) passing and b) potentially endorsing their NCEA results.

As a school we look on track for improving our results this year, BUT this does depend on boys preparing and attending their exams.

When we look at the total credits left for them to potentially gain this year, most boys will gain their NCEA level. The danger comes when they decide ‘which’ standards to sit or miss an exam. Don’t gamble! Talk to your teachers – they have done this more times than you and can help you make informed decisions.

Study for exams should start now – students can work out when they can fit study in using a timetable like this one from study time:

https://studytime.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Weekly-Study-Planner-landscape.pdf

Here is an outline of assessment events that happened through Term 3.

1.       DERIVED GRADE EXAMS in Week 6

Our derived grade exams that happened in Week 6 were the opportunity for boys to give it a real go and the last time to get it wrong! All exams were well attended by between 86% and 100% of the students enrolled in those courses.

Hopefully, by now, exam results have been shared and the exams gone through in class. This will help them understand what they need to focus on and get right for the main exams in a few weeks!

Studying should be started NOW if it hasn’t already. They need to give themselves the best chance of success.

2.       TUTORIALS in Week 6

For students who had fewer exams in the derived grade exam week, there were tutorial opportunities in the following areas:

PEH, Art/Design, Painting, Photography, Te Reo, Te Ao Haka, Graphics, Furniture, DTY, Hospitality and CDV

This meant that they had the opportunity to catch up on some of their portfolio work or other internals.

3.       CAT Assessments

These were new for Level 1 and were assessments sat at school but marked externally. This was a new way of assessing and staff and boys worked hard to prepare as best they could. Some of these were exams, some were reports, some were portfolios, all completed over a number of lessons. Each Subject looked slightly different.

These results will not be out until next year, just like the external exams.

Well done to all boys who worked hard on these.

4.       CAA  EXAMS

September was the second, and final, opportunity this year to attempt the national Literacy (reading and writing) and Numeracy exams.

These are a co-requisite to NCEA such that a student cannot pass NCEA without them. They only became available last year. We assess when ready (from Year 10 onwards) so that we had the following numbers last week in exams:

Well done to all the boys who attended and did their best in these exams.

Please note - These results are due out on the 5th December (they are not marked by the school).

Anyone working towards being ready for these tests can use the following sites for help. The next exam will be in May and it’s never too early to be doing some practice!

Numeracy - Infinityplusone in You tube and then type/search for Numeracy.
Numeracy prep playlist here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsiwtU_HyEI&list=PLGHMh2fiud5ciFeObRYeJFVzhRWO87v2z

There are practice papers from last year and the year before and a slide on the difference between Maths and Numeracy – and a whole heap of videos including going through papers like this one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pEJsVFGSnU&t=30s

Writing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gFCwALvenQ

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnx3VPI5NN0take students through writing exam tips.

Reading - https://youtu.be/YCxSJ3C9qmw?si=_DXIZiXPyNoLBmeT takes students through tips for the reading exam

Access past papers and assessment schedules (answers) for all three assessments, Reading, Writing and Numeracy at https://www2.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/subjects/past-exams-and-exemplars/litnum/

Access papers at Exam.net.maths

Make an account. Click on the Library book icon on the left , then click on Question Library on right, click on Numeracy by topic, then select NZQA Numeracy papers.