Bay of Plenty students are launching into NCEA exams this week. Photo / NZME
Bay of Plenty students are launching into NCEA exams this week. Photo / NZME
Thousands of Bay of Plenty students are launching into NCEA exams this week after what a principal in the region describes as the "most difficult year" of Covid-19 disruptions.
Another principal has praised Year 13s, in particular, for the resilience they had built in dealing with three years of the pandemic interrupting their education.
According to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), about 9600 Bay of Plenty students were preparing for the exams which started yesterday and run until December 2.
There were 2839 students in the region expected to sit some exams online.
Mount Maunganui College head girl Anna Brock. Photo / Jim Critchley
More than 400 were taking part in scholarship exams.
It comes after a particularly challenging winter that saw many Tauranga schools hit by a surge in seasonal flu, colds and Covid cases that caused high levels of staff and student absences and resulted in some schools rostering year levels home temporarily.
Ōtūmoetai College principal Russell Gordon said there was a "nervousness" among students which he believed was partly due to inconsistency brought about by Covid-19.
Sickness, along with changes to isolation periods and rules for close contacts, resulted in disruptions for both staff and students, he said.
"I think if you were to talk to any school my sense would be this has been the most difficult year that staff have had to navigate in memory. While no one wants a lockdown, there was a sameness about that. Everyone was in the same boat."
Gordon said that in the first three terms about 20 per cent of students were absent for Covid-related reasons.
This year the school was "running consistent tutorials" for students while exams were taking place to ensure they felt prepared.
Rotorua Girls' High School principal Sarah Davis said it had been "another tough year" of Covid-19 disruptions.
She described the Year 13 students who had endured three years of NCEA assessments in this environment as a "pretty special bunch".
"They haven't known any different to having disruption with NCEA for their entire journey. This is a pretty resilient bunch of school leavers," she said.
Rotorua Girls' High School students Asyannah Llagas,18, Neve Allibone,15, and Mufaro Mapengo,17. Photo / Supplied
One of the students whose NCEA journey had been affected by Covid for three years in a row was 18-year-old Asyannah Llagas.
The Year 13 Girls' High student, who planned to study biomedical science at the University of Auckland, had five exams this year - physics, chemistry, biology, maths and English.
"For three years my internals have been pushing back into my externals. I have really had to work twice as hard to get things done."
Llagas said she had been "vulnerable to burnout" in her first two years of completing NCEA and had to find a strategy to help reduce stress.
She had been using the "40/20 method" this year which meant studying "really hard" for 40 minutes followed by a 20-minute break.
Speaking before exams, Year 12 student Mufaro Mapengo said the stress "picked up" at this time of year - especially for the older students.
"When they come around everyone starts to get a little bit jittery. As you go up it gets a bit more stressful because more is at stake."
She planned to study every day until her last external on Thursday next week.
15-year-old classmate Neve Allibone said there was pressure to perform well in external exams as it increased students' chances at passing subjects with endorsement.
"If you don't get external credits you don't endorse ... you are always trying to work towards a better endorsement."
NZQA deputy chief executive assessment Andrea Gray said students could find information to help with exam preparation and managing exam pressure by visiting its website where it addresses these things specifically.
"NZQA's Student Exam Hub also has information on changes to NCEA and University Entrance which recognise the disruption caused by Covid-19 in the first half of this year," she said.
Those sitting online exams needed to go to the NZQA website to create their student login before their first external, she said.
Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti, a former principal of Merivale School, said students had worked hard over the year "much of which was unfortunately disrupted by Covid-19 and winter illnesses".
She said the Government had taken steps to help "offset the disruption" Covid had caused through the reintroduction of learning recognition credits and adjustments to certificate endorsements and University Entrance.
"These measures are designed to help provide a fair opportunity for students to attain NCEA and progress to further study or work."
'Give it your best, leave it all in the exam room'
Mount Maunganui College head girl Anna Brock has been getting ready to sit four NCEA Level 3 exams this year - physics, chemistry, calculus, and accounting.
"I am feeling nervous but excited to get them done and finish the year on a high."
To prepare for her exams, the Year 13 student said she has been taking after-school study classes and "cracking into it" with a couple of hours of study each day.
Brock, 17, said this year has been one of the hardest years to study for NCEA exams with Covid isolation requirements and sickness meaning students and staff were in and out of class often.
She said, however, the teachers had gone above and beyond to help ensure students were studying hard, with Zoom calls and extra tutorials.
Brock said her goal was to complete her exams and gain her University Entrance in order to pass the year. "They are pretty important."
After graduation, Brock said, she will be heading overseas with family before attending Otago University next year to study a bachelor of commerce and science, while also keeping up her love for surfing and hockey.
Her message to fellow students was: "Give it your best, leave it all in the exam room knowing you have tried your hardest and done your best".
