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How Does a Student Gain the NCEA Level 2 Qualification?

To qualify for an NCEA Level 2 qualification a student must have a total of 80 credits, 60 of these must be at Level 2 or higher. The other 20 credits can be at any level and can include Level 1 credits gained in previous years (even if they were used to gain Level 1 Literacy or Numeracy). Level 1 Numeracy and Literacy is also needed to gain NCEA Level 2. A student can obtain NCEA Level 2 with Merit or Excellence endorsements. A Merit endorsement requires 50 Level 2 (or above) credits at Merit or Excellence. An Excellence endorsement requires 50 Level 2 (or above) credits at Excellence.

Students can gain Course Endorsement in individual courses.  Excellence Endorsement for a course requires 14 credits at Excellence Level in a particular course.  Students who gain 14 credits at Merit Level (or Merit and Excellence) will gain a Merit Course Endorsement.  The total 14 credits in either Endorsement must include at least 3 internal and 3 external credits (except for Physical Education courses which are only assessed internally). Course Endorsement must be obtained within an academic year.

Both Level 2 Achievement Standards and Unit Standards offer credits that count towards a student’s NCEA Level 2 qualification.  Only Achievement Standards are able to count towards endorsement as they offer Merit and Excellence grades.   General information about assessment procedures will be available near the start of the year in the Assessment Booklet. Specific details of assessments in each course will be given to students by their teachers.

 For more generic NCEA Level 2 details please click here

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