Otago and Southland senior secondary school pupils may appear unusually quiet and antisocial this week, but there is nothing for parents to fret about.
More than 9100 of them will be locking themselves away with nothing but food, drink and revision material as they begin preparations for NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams which begin next week.
In Otago, 6383 pupils will sit NCEA exams and 362 will sit New Zealand Scholarship exams.
In Southland, 2723 pupils will sit NCEA while 108 will sit Scholarship exams.
They are among about 140,000 pupils nationally working hard on their exam preparations.
This year, more than 1000 pupils across Otago are entered to sit some of their NCEA exams on digital devices, as the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) works towards having NCEA exams available online.
This year, NZQA is offering NCEA agricultural and horticultural science, art history, business studies, classical studies, education for sustainability, English, health, history, home economics, Latin, media studies, social studies, te reo Maori and te reo Rangatira exam subjects online.
The subjects will comprise 35 exam sessions across levels 1-3.
NZQA digital assessment transformation deputy chief executive Andrea Gray said the range of subjects would be further expanded in 2020 and beyond.
"NZQA is adopting a planned, staged, managed approach to its NCEA Online programme.
"As schools gain confidence in completing text-based exams and technology evolves, we will look at those subjects where special characters are required, such as mathematics, science and music.''
NZQA's survey of pupils who took part in NCEA digital exams in 2018, showed nearly all preferred an online exam rather than written exams.
NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams run from Friday, November 8, until December 3.
The largest NCEA exam is expected to be on November 13, when 3230 Otago and Southland pupils sit level 1 English.
Results will be available online from mid-January 2020.
