It was a thought that ran through Taieri College student Holly Pool’s head yesterday as she opened her NCEA level 3 results and found she had all the credits she needed to finish secondary school and begin study at the University of Otago this year.
She said she felt a mixture of excitement and a little bit of trepidation in the build-up to yesterday’s results release.
"I’ve been excited to find out my results, and I’m quite happy with my results.
"But it does feel a bit funny now that school is over.
"This is a new chapter in my life and yeah, it’s kind of just adjusting to the new norm."
She said she planned to study sociology, minoring in criminology at Otago.
"I’m very excited to get started."
Holly was one of more than 150,000 students across New Zealand, Niue and the Cook Islands who had access to their NCEA exam results yesterday, and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) said they would also be able to access their marked NCEA exam papers from January 20.
Scholarship exam results and papers would be available from February 10.
The authority said students who found they had too few credits for an NCEA certificate should talk to their school or to Te Kura the Correspondence School.
It said students could request a review or reconsideration if they believed their answer booklet had not been marked correctly or results were not recorded accurately.
The 2025 results will be closely watched due to some principals’ fears that high-stakes literacy and numeracy requirements will dent pass rates.
Last year’s literacy and numeracy test results indicated those from poor communities were less likely to pass.
The government is moving to replace NCEA with a new qualification that would be phased in from 2028-30.
If the government sticks to its timetable, this year’s year 10 cohort will be the last group to use NCEA, and this year’s year 9 students will be the first to use the new qualification.
