It is make-or-break time for the 1657 students based in the Central North Island sitting this year's NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams.
The total number of enrolled students in the region includes 778 entered for Level 1, 644 entered for Level 2 and 391 entered for Level 3.
The exams, which began on Friday, had been going like "clockwork" said Rotorua Girls' High School deputy principal Raewyn Krammer.
In contrast to recent years, Ms Krammer said, students would have some relief this year with the promise of no weekend exams.
"It will be really good for both the markers and the students to know they have weekends off to relax and rejuvenate," she said.
"Everything is running like clockwork. I have seen some very happy faces coming out of exams and that tells me that students are ready," Ms Krammer said.
The school had programmes to get students studying and managing stress levels.
"We offer after-school holiday programmes where teachers are available to help students catch up with their internal work and attain internal credits.
"This means they can go into their end-of-year exams knowing how many credits they have and how many they will need from the exam to get them over that 80-credit mark, making it easier for them to relax in exams."
The numbers of students in the Central North Island region enrolled for exams contributes to a national throng of more than 143,000 in total.
The countrywide exams began with New Zealand Scholarship Drama, followed by NCEA Level 1 Science, the country's first major exam session.
NZQA deputy chief executive Richard Thornton said 120 exam sessions would take place nationally over the next month.
Level 1 English was this year's largest exam session, with 47,200 students sitting it yesterday, while the smallest is New Zealand Scholarship Latin, with 29 students due to sit the exam on Tuesday, December 2.
Breakdown of figures:
Number of students entered:
* Level 1: 62,101
* Level 2: 56,190
* Level 3: 39,843
Exams will finish on December 2.
The students' efforts will be marked by a team of 1750 during the Christmas period and NCEA results are expected to be online from mid-January.