But for 27 Otago Girls’ High School pupils sitting the NCEA level 1 English exam yesterday, pen and paper gave way to computers as they became some of the first in the country to trial the New Zealand Qualifications Authority’s new digital method of sitting the exam.
Otago Girls’ High School head of English Kathryn Dick said 48,270 pupils across the country sat the exam with pen and paper.
The girls were among 1771 pupils to sit the exam digitally as part of NZQA’s pilot programme.
Ms Dick said the school decided to take part in the pilot after NZQA called for schools interested in taking part.
"We’re pretty realistic about the way that assessment is heading. We are well aware of students’ needs. They’re growing up in a digital age. They spend a lot of time typing up assignments in internal assessments; why not give them an opportunity to see what it’s like."
Not all level 1 English pupils got to sit the exam digitally. She said the school wanted to trial it on a small group first, before considering whether to introduce it on a larger scale next year.
She said the 27 girls did a practice run in October.
"Some of them felt really comfortable with it. Some of them enjoyed being able to shift paragraphs around on a page and being able to edit, and being able to quickly revise a lot of what they had written."
She said NZQA had a lot of systems in place to make sure power outages or mechanical failures did not affect the examination.
Each pupil had a set of papers and pens, so if anything went wrong, they could continue the exam the traditional way.
The computers were also monitored to make sure the pupils did not access the internet or any other programs during the exam.
Ms Dick said some of the pupils she had spoken to after the exam believed it had been a success.
"They’ve made lots of allowances for all sorts of variables happening, and I think the girls felt really safe. It all seemed to go off without a hitch."
The English exam was the first major exam of the NCEA and New Zealand scholarship examinations schedule, which went into full swing yesterday.
About 146,000 pupils across the country are doing the exams, which continue until December 2. A team of about 1750 markers will mark all papers by Christmas. NCEA results are expected to be released online from mid-January.
