Rotorua Girls' High School students Asyannah Llagas, Neve Allibone and Mufaro Mapengo. Photo / Supplied
Year 13 students who have dealt with three years of Covid-19 education disruption have been praised for their resilience as they begin their final exams this week.
The culmination of what principals say was a school year marred by disruption and sickness, began yesterday with the start of the exam period that will run until December 2.
According to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), about 9600 Bay of Plenty students were preparing for the exams.
There were 2839 students in the region expected to sit some exams online.
More than 400 were taking part in scholarship exams.
It comes after a particularly challenging winter during which many Rotorua schools were hit by a surge of illnesses that caused high levels of staff and students absence and pushed some classes back to remote learning temporarily.
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.
One of the students whose NCEA journey had been affected by Covid-19 for three years was 18-year-old Asyannah Llagas.
The Girls' High Year 13 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 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.
Classmate Neve Allibone, 15, said there was pressure to perform well in external exams as it increased students' chances of passing subjects with an excellence or merit endorsement.
"If you don't get external credits you don't endorse ... you are always trying to work towards a better endorsement."
In Tauranga, Ōtūmoetai College principal Russell Gordon said there was a "nervousness" among students which he felt was partly due to inconsistency brought about by Covid.
He said sickness, along with changes to isolation periods and rules for close contacts, resulted in disruptions for both staff and students.
"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."
He said that in the first three terms about 20 per cent of students were absent for Covid-related reasons.
This year the school would be "running consistent tutorials" for students while exams were taking place to ensure they were prepared.
Mount Maunganui College head girl Anna Brock was sitting 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 had been one of the hardest years to study because of Covid isolation requirements, and sickness, meaning students and staff were in and out of class often. However, she said, the teachers had gone over and above 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".
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.
"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 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" caused by Covid 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."
- Additional reporting Zoe Hunter