NCHENZ

Qualifications 101

by Rosalind Peterson

The most common question that we have been asked, over the past 15 years that our family has home educated, is, "But what about socialisation?!" And the second most common question has been, "But what about high school qualifications?!"

You may have already decided on what is your favourite answer to the school qualifications question, but if you haven't, I hope that my version of "A Beginner's Guide to High School Qualifications for the NZ Home Educator", or Qualifications 101, will be of some use to you.

1. Your child may not need any high school qualifications at all. Many polytechnic courses don't require any school qualifications, and most that do, have a pre-entry course which anybody can go straight into. And school leaver jobs generally require good attitudes and references, rather than qualifications.

2. If you do want your child to get high school qualifications, there are (at least) three options:

The New Zealand "NCEA".

Until recently, NZ school qualifications were: School Certificate in Year 11 (Form 5), 6th Form Certificate in Year 12, and Bursary in Year 13 (Form 7). They have been replaced with: NCEA Level 1 in Year 11, NCEA Level 2 in Year 12, and NCEA Level 3 in Year 13 (plus Level 4 as scholarship exams in Year 13). Theoretically, we can do NCEA by linking in with a school but the reality is that no school wants the hassle which leaves us with just the option of the NZ Correspondence School. (Warning: Very expensive unless your child is at least 16 years old.)  An important point to remember: it is perfectly OK to do whoever level you like (eg Level 3 English) *without* having done the previous levels.


The British "Cambridge University A Levels". IGCSE exams are sat at the end of Year 11. As exams at the end of Year 12, and A2 at the end of Year 13. (AS + A2 = your "full A Level" results.) These exams can be sat by home educators, via the home school academy, Bridge Academy, here in South Auckland ( the contact is Jill Meyer at mmeyer@ww.co.nz ) but be warned, these exams are tough. Over 50 NZ schools now offer Cambridge Univ exams, largely because of concern about the lack of rigour of NCEA. For more info : Cambridge University exams



The American "SAT tests". There are two SAT tests; the SAT I Reasoning Test (general test) and the SAT II (subject tests). The SAT I test is a 3 hour test of Maths and English. The SAT II tests are for one hour each. The tests can be sat in Auckland, Wanganui, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Farlie, and Invercargill. NZ universities may accept SAT scores as supporting evidence for your application for Provisional Entrance. You will probably require a minimum total score of 1100 for the SAT I, with at least 600 for the Maths component if you plan on doing a BSc, and 600 for the verbal skills component to do a BA. Follow the link for more  info about SAT tests: [Update: To grant Discretionary Entrance, universities will probably require applicants to have sat at least two SAT II subject tests, so that with the Maths/English of the SAT I, you've got proof of FOUR subjects therefore one of the SAT II subjects can't be Maths as well. Rosalind.]
Getting university entrance:

A. Provisional Entrance (PE). PE (and Discretionary Entrance, known as DE) is granted by the university if they feel confident that the student has *at least* a good Year 12 education. It may not be very difficult to convince some universities, but in 2000 my son found that the University of Auckland required exam results as proof, and now at Massey University they require teacher evaluations of the student's work. Once you get PE, you will be "on probation" until you have passed a full year's workload, and you will not be allowed to enrol in any limited entry courses (eg most professional courses and Comp Science 101 at the University of Auckland).


B. Gaining the Common Entrance Standard (CES) with NCEA. It used to be that three C passes in any Bursary subjects got you into university. With NCEA Level 3 (ie Year 13), three bare passes, or two bare passes plus two almost passes, will get you in but you also must have fulfilled the new literacy and numeracy requirements. You will need to have passed Maths to at least Year 11 level and to have passed roughly half of Level 2 English. (My younger children will probably gain university entrance by enrolling with the NZ Correspondence School after they are 16, for four or five Level 3 subjects including a Maths subject, to fulfil the numeracy requirement, plus Level 2 English.) For a more thorough explanation of gaining university entrance with NCEA, please go to the individual university websites.


C. Gaining the Common Entrance Standard (CES) with Cambridge Univ exams. Because Cambridge exams are tougher than NCEA, you need three passes at only AS (ie Year 12) level and to fulfil the numeracy and literacy requirements. (ie a minimum of IGCSE Maths and AS English.)


If you have any questions please post them on the NCHENZ members' Yahoo group:


Very kind regards

Rosalind :)

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