At Elim Christian College Mt Albert, we offer the Elim Christian College Mount Albert Year 11 Certificate, NCEA Level 2 and NCEA Level 3.
NCEA (National Certificate of Education Achievement) is the national qualification for senior secondary school students in New Zealand. Individual subjects are divided into standards, some of which are assessed internally and some externally (maximum 3) through NZQA national examinations. Each standard clearly identifies what a student must do in order to achieve that standard and generates credits that contribute to an NCEA certificate on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.
Our Elim Christian College Mount Albert Year 11 Certificate works in the same way. It is a credit based qualification, designed to align well with NCEA Level 2. Our Year 11 qualification runs through the entire year, up until December, and has a significant examination component.
Students are able to achieve their Level 1 – 3 qualifications with Merit or Excellence endorsements. For a certificate to be endorsed with Merit or Excellence, 50 credits at Merit or Excellence are required at that level or higher. A subject may also be endorsed with Merit or Excellence if 14 or more credits are gained at Merit or Excellence. At least three credits must be from externally assessed standards and three credits from internally assessed standards in that course.
Level 1
All students take five subjects. English, Mathematics and Science are compulsory at Level 1. Students need to achieve 80 credits to gain the Elim Year 11 Certificate. This includes a minimum of 14 credits each in four subjects and the NCEA Level 1 Numeracy, Reading and Writing Co-requisites.
Level 2
At Level 2, students study five subjects including English and Mathematics. The subject choice should be based on the previous study in Level 1, interests, strengths and future direction. Please pay close attention to the prerequisites for chosen subjects. To complete NCEA Level 2, students need 80 credits of which 60 need to be at Level 2 or above.
Level 3
Students study five subjects at Level 3. They should be choosing their subjects for Level 3 based on their previous study in Level 2, interests, strengths and future direction. To complete NCEA Level 3, students need 80 credits of which 60 need to be at Level 3 or above. The other 20 credits need to be from Level 2 or above.
University Entrance
Students are qualified for entrance to New Zealand Universities in 2026 if they have obtained the following:
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- NCEA Level 3
- Three approved subjects
- 14 credits per approved subject at Level 3
- Literacy requirement
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- 10 credits at Level 2 or above, made up of 5 credits in reading and 5 credits in writing
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- Numeracy requirement
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- 10 Numeracy credits at Level 1 or above, made up of co-requisite Level 1 Numeracy unit standard 32406 or Te Pāngarau unit standard 32412, or made up of achievement standards in a range of subjects.
This is the minimum requirement for university. University programmes often have different subject or achievement pre-requisites. The University of Auckland uses a rank score system, where they look at a student’s top 80 Level 3 credits. Please see below for more information.
Multi Levelling
NCEA should be viewed as a “menu” of programmes available to all students regardless of their age or year group. It may be possible for students to enrol in programmes based on prior knowledge. For example, particularly able Year 10 students could attempt some Level 1 subjects. In the same way Year 13 students may wish to enrol for some Level 1 or 2 courses out of interest or to “catch up”.
Scholarship
Students who have achieved a significant number of excellence results in any Level 2 subject should consider entering scholarship in that subject. Scholarship is a monetary award to recognise top students. It will not attract credits nor contribute towards a qualification but the fact that a student has gained a scholarship will appear on their Record of Achievement.
