NCEA results open new doors

Kirsten Holmes, 17, did better in her NCEA exams than she expected. Photo / George Novak

The hard work in 2014 has paid off for Tauranga teens who received their NCEA examination marks yesterday.

Last year's exam results were posted on the New Zealand Qualifications Authority website and students who sat papers last year were able to log on and find out how well they did.

Former Tauranga Girls' College student Kirsten Holmes, 17, did better than she expected.

"I checked my results when I was on smoko yesterday and I did really well, I'm pretty pleased."

Kirsten got an Excellence grade, the highest mark in the NCEA system, for her photography board which was based on reading and on getting lost in a book.

She also got two Excellences in her geography exam and two Merits, the next highest grade, in business studies.

"It's slightly better than I thought I would get for photography and geography."

This year, Kirsten is hoping to study viticulture at Lincoln University in Canterbury.

Finn Maloney, 18, was also happy with his results.

The former Otumoetai College student logged on to the NZQA website about 9.30am yesterday at a friend's house to learn his results.

He got three Excellences in his biology exam, three Merits in chemistry, two Excellences and a Merit in physics, an Excellence and Merit in statistics and a Merit in drama.

"The chemistry result was surprising for me. I thought I would do better but, having said that, I thought I would do worse in biology so it balanced out in the end."

This year he is going to veterinary school at Massey University. He will attend the first semester there before finding whether he is selected to continue in the programme.

He was looking forward to finding out his Scholarship exam results in February.

Maynard Scott, former Aquinas College head boy, said his exams went well considering he fractured his arm in a fall beforehand.

Maynard said he was surprised at his English results but was happy with the rest.

This year, Maynard is off to Waikato University to study accounting. He won a scholarship worth $10,000 a year for four years to study at the university, which covers tuition and some of his accommodation fees.

Now he is awaiting the results of his NCEA Scholarship exams next month.