About NCEA

Entry into NCEA

National Certificate of Educational Achievement

All NCEA Level Certificates

From January 2024 NCEA Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 will each require 60 credits at certificate level or above.

To be awarded any level of NCEA, students will need to achieve either 20 credits from a smaill list of literacy and numeracy rich standards, or achieve the new 20 credit co-requisite.

NCEA Level 1 2024

NCEA Certificate Endorsement

NCEA Certificates at all levels can be endorsed with Merit and Excellence.

To qualify for an endorsement with Excellence, students require 50 credits at Excellence. An endorsement with Merit requires 50 credits at Merit and above.

An endorsed certificate can be gained over more than one year.

Subject Endorsement

Students can gain Merit or Excellence endorsement in single subjects by gaining:

• 14 credits at Merit or above for a Merit endorsement
• 14 credits at Excellence for an Excellence endorsement
• A minimum of 3 credits must be from internally assessed standards and a minimum of 3 credits must be from externally assessed standards

    The Curriculum Overview Chart shows which subjects are endorseable

University Entrance 

UE requires

• Level 3 NCEA.
• 14 credits from three approved subjects.
• Numeracy requirements:  A minimum of 10 credits at Level 1 or above in specified numeracy Achievement Standards.
• Literacy requirements: A minimum of 10 credits at Level 2 or above from specified literacy Achievement Standards - 5 credits in reading and 5 credits in writing.

NZQA Scholarship

Scholarship exams are the highest academic level of assessment in NCEA. Students may enter one or a number of scholarship exams in their Level 3 subjects. Extra study and tutorials are required to succeed at this level. Top scholars gain financial awards for success.

Subject specific, trades and vocational qualifications
Students can work towards a number of subject specific qualifications at Nelson College within and beyond their study towards NCEA. These include, but are not limited to: ITO (Industry Training Organisation) qualifications, apprenticeships, vocational pathways, national and New Zealand certificates. These qualifications can be useful to students who want to demonstrate they have attained specific skills to potential employers or who have a specific career path in mind.

ITO/ apprenticeship qualifications
Nelson College offers standards and qualifications provided by a range of Industry Training Organisations including:
• BCITO (Building and Construction)
• Competenz (Technical Trades, Engineering)
• Lincoln University
• MITO (Motor Vehicle Industry Training Organisation)
• NMIT (Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology)
• PRO+MED (Health and Safety)
• Service IQ (Hospitality, Travel and Tourism)
• Skills Active (Recreation, Sport and Fitness)
• Triple One Care (First Aid)
• Waikato Institute of Sport
• Whenua Iti (Outdoors)

National Certificates
National Certificates are available in specific subject areas and provide an entry level qualification for students. National Certificates can lead to tertiary study towards certificates or diplomas.
Some National Certificates are being phased out but the following are current at the time of publication.

Students at Nelson College can work towards the following National Certificates:
• Level 2 Computing User Fundamentals