2021 Assessment Specifications for NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship External Assessment: March Update - A2021/8

2021 Assessment Specifications for NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship External Assessment: March Update

The following assessment specifications have been updated in March 2021:

Subject	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	NZ Scholarship
Art History				Y
Digital Technologies		Y
History	Y	Y	Y	Y
Media Studies				Y
Te Reo Māori				Y

For details of the update see: 

Art History (external link)

Digital Technologies (external link)

Level 1 History (external link), Level 2 History (external link), Level 3 History,  (external link)Scholarship History (external link)

Media Studies (external link)

Te Reo Māori (external link)

Teachers should not need to alter teaching programmes because of this update.

Notice that a change has been made and is indicated by the highlighted comment beside the year on the front page of the assessment specifications: (Updated March 2021).

What the specifications provide:

Assessment specifications provide the annual assessment parameters for each externally assessed achievement standard and New Zealand Scholarship performance standard. They must be read alongside the applicable standards.

Assessment specifications for subjects externally assessed by examinations include the:

• format of the paper
• equipment candidates can bring and use
• context for questions, where appropriate.

Assessment specifications for subjects externally assessed by submitted portfolio, include the:

• format of the assessment
• portfolio/report specifications, including the type and volume of materials that may be submitted as evidence.

Portfolio submission instructions and authenticity requirements will be provided at the end of Term 2.

How to access 2021 Assessment Specifications

To access the specifications for NCEA assessment use:

NCEA subject resources pages (external link)

Scholarship subject resources (external link) 

Assessment specifications from previous years are removed from the NZQA website to avoid any confusion with those for the current year. They are available from NZQA on request.