Tears as top students struggle with NCEA exams

Some level 2 maths and biology students left NCEA exams in tears saying the questions were confusing and unusually difficult.

There were tears and frustration on the first day of NCEA exams this week with some students saying questions were poorly written, confusing and not connected to the curriculum.

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority is defending the quality of its exams, but says it will review the concerns raised to ensure no students were disadvantaged.

The secondary school exam season kicked off on Tuesday with National Certificate of Educational Achievement Level 2 maths and biology causing distress for some students.

Teachers voiced concerns about the excellence question for maths, with one telling the Herald it was “impossible to pass.”

Gillian Frankcom from the New Zealand Association of Mathematics Teachers said she had not yet seen the level 2 maths paper but had heard teachers were unhappy with the excellence question.

However, another teacher said his students had coped well with the exam – and said the excellence question should be difficult.

A parent from central Auckland said she had serious concerns for the confidence of the young people who had studied hard for maths, then were in tears over the difficulty of the questions.

“Calculus had new excellence questions that were drastically different from the previous year and the algebra section contained very difficult questions compared to past papers,” she said.

The parent said questions since 2020 had all been notably easier and she questioned how wildly the standard had suddenly changed.

“The gap between what students were prepared for and what was assessed seemed alarmingly wide,” the mother said.

Other students, who had achieved excellence and merit marks throughout the year, also found the maths paper extremely difficult.

“It was ... because of how the questions were posed – they didn’t make any sense,” one student said.

“I went through six years of papers during my study and had a tutor but it was all hard. My friends said the same thing.”

The girl’s mother - from Auckland’s North Shore - said even the mock exams were confusing, with their experienced maths tutor also finding questions difficult to decipher.

“You wonder why our pass rates are plunging rapidly,” she said

Students who sat the level 2 biology paper said a question about sex-linked genes in cats was not part of the curriculum and made no grammatical sense.

NCEA and scholarship exams started this week.

The central Auckland mother said unfair exams could have a lasting impact.

“University applications and career opportunities are often contingent upon their exam results,” she said.

“This has created an environment where students are second-guessing their abilities.”

Another parent said students should be challenged – but not blindsided.

“I believe it’s crucial for NCEA to maintain a consistent difficulty level in their exams that reflect the material being taught in the classroom, rather than suddenly increasing it.”

In a statement, Jann Marshall, NZQA deputy chief executive, assessment, defended the exams, saying, “Exam papers are developed and quality assured by writing teams that include experienced subject teachers at that NCEA Level.

“We have not received any complaints about either mathematics or biology. However, we will look into both concerns. If the concerns are verified, we will refer the details to the relevant marking panels so action can be taken during the marking process to ensure students aren’t disadvantaged.

“It would be inappropriate to comment any more specifically while exams are yet to be marked,” she said.

However the central Auckland mother said that she and several other parents and teachers have complained to NZQA about the exams. A petition has also been set up calling for consistency in NCEA exam content.

-NZ Herald.

5 comments

Hmmm

Posted on 07-11-2024 12:01 | By Let's get real

It will be interesting to see where the problem is proven to lay. Is it the teachers who are placing more emphasis on subjects that are not exam focused (Sports, Arts, Kapa Haka etc.) Is it the exam setters that are good teachers and expecting equivalence throughout the country, or is it students with too many demands on their time (computers, social media, part-time work etc) and not putting in the time for revision.
Whatever the outcome, it will result in another dumbing down of our education system, so that everyone can achieve.
Just like it will be for the little darlings in the real world.


The Master

Posted on 07-11-2024 14:08 | By Ian Stevenson

Typical exam issues, at the end of the day, results, achievements and expectations are dropping to align to the falling academic standards achieved... hence the gap and so challenges will become more common.

This is not an issue for NZQA, it is in fact an issue in the classroom, the standards and level taught is falling and has done so for as long as NCEA has existed, one could call it "Planned failure" where students, our kids are seriously let down by the failures of the idealistic system that has polluted Education


The Master

Posted on 07-11-2024 14:13 | By Ian Stevenson

Where some teachers and some students have issue with an exam question would tend to indicate a teaching issue, rather than a exam issue.

Where the teacher has missed a bit out during the year then the student bears the consequence of that 100% via the exam results, sadly the teacher continues in the job and continues to get paid... ???

Exams should not be easy, they should challenge, test and so separate out those that can from thise that cant. If not why bother with it?


It was hard

Posted on 07-11-2024 20:38 | By BryanBOP

My son who is very good at maths did it and said it was too hard, much harder than past exams so the exam is the problem.


Responsibility for what you know.

Posted on 08-11-2024 14:27 | By morepork

Without seeing the actual papers, I won't comment on what was set, but the reactions to it seem disingenuous. An exam in anything is "hard", if you haven't done the work or achieved competence. If you have, and the questions are about aspects of the subject you have never heard of or encountered, then that is a different story. Perhaps the focus has shifted from "having competence and knowledge of the subject" to "passing the exam"...
I had to smile at: "Calculus had new excellence questions that were drastically different from the previous year ..." That's not cricket... They should have the same questions every year, so the standard of difficulty remains consistent... shouldn't they? Perhaps the ones seeking "Excellence" did some of their own research and found out more than was covered in the classroom? If standards ARE declining you need to do it yourself.


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