At Villa Maria College, three NCEA qualifications are offered over Year 12-13: Level 1 NCEA, Level 2 NCEA, Level 3 NCEA.

Credits are awarded for reaching a standard. A course will consist of standards, which may be assessed internally or externally. Each standard is worth a set number of credits. The course guide outlines the standards offered in each senior subject, together with its credit value and whether the standard counts towards literacy and/or numeracy for University Entrance.

Internally assessed standards are completed throughout the year. Most subjects also have externally assessed standards that will be assessed in throughout the year, or November in a formal examination situation.

From 2024, all students, Year 11 and below, must gain the literacy and numeracy co-requisites in order to be awarded NCEA certificates.

For a Year 12 student to be awarded NCEA LEVEL 1 in 2025 she must achieve 60 credits, from Level 1 standards or above. She will need to sit and pass the new literacy numeracy co-requisites.

For a student to be awarded NCEA LEVEL 2 in 2026 she must achieve 60 credits, from Level 2 standards or above. She will need to sit and pass the new literacy numeracy co-requisites. Students should also look to obtain the University Entrance literacy requirements of 5 Reading and 5 Writing credits by choosing achievement standards with a literacy component. The course guide indicates where standards count towards literacy or numeracy for University Entrance.

For a student to be awarded NCEA LEVEL 3 in 2026, she must achieve 60 credits from Level 3 standards. The current NCEA Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirements are expected to have been met. Any student without these will be required to sit and pass the literacy and numeracy corequisites. If they haven’t already gained University Entrance Literacy, students are strongly encouraged to consider this when making their course selection.

Literacy and Numeracy Corequisites

Most students gain their literacy and numeracy requirements for NCEA via the new, externally assessed Literacy and Numeracy corequisites. To achieve the NCEA corequisite (Literacy and Numeracy standards that are worth 20 credits in total), when ready, learners will complete an assessment to demonstrate their ability in literacy and numeracy. For most of our students this will occur in Year 10. For some students, a dual pathway may be considered.

NCEA Certificate Endorsement

At any of these Levels (1, 2 or 3) a student’s NCEA certificate may be awarded NCEA with Excellence if they achieve 50 credits or more at that level with Excellence. Students who achieve 50 credits or more at Merit or above will be awarded NCEA with Merit.

NCEA Course Endorsement

The aim of this award is to recognise students who perform exceptionally well in an individual course. Students will gain an endorsement for a course when they achieve 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence.

At least three credits of the 14 must be from externally assessed standards, and at least three credits from internally assessed standards. Exemptions to this rule include subjects with internal assessment loads such as Physical Education, and Level 3 Visual Art.

Further information about NCEA Qualifications can be found on their website.