NCEA English online exam glitch: Students turn to paper copies, derived grades

Students affected by a disruptive glitch to an online NCEA exam were given extended time to complete the exam with a paper copy, or will be waiting for a derived grade.

Secondary Principals' Association president Louise Ānaru says students sitting the NCEA level 2 English exam on Thursday had been resilient in the face of the glitch, which saw some lose their work while others were unable to begin or could not otherwise complete the assessment.

There were about 40,000 students enrolled to take the exam and Ānaru said they estimated about 22,000 may have been sitting the test, but the exact number is still unknown.

"The good news is, of course, there are systems in place to make sure they're not disadvantaged," Ānaru said.

"From what I'm hearing, many went straight into sitting the exam with a paper copy. They were given extended time, and others will be waiting for a derived grade."

Ānaru said NCEA had given them assurance that the derived grade process now begins, meaning students can use internal work or assessments from throughout the year to make up credits.

"We'll be monitoring that closely," she said. "And, of course, as principals, we want to make sure our young people aren't disadvantaged at all as well."

The Qualifications Authority said on Thursday the problem was "related to the transfer of student responses from the exam platform to our marking platform overnight".

"Schools were advised that, if students were able to continue with digital exams, they should do so," it said. "Students unable to continue digitally were moved to paper exams where this was possible."

NZQA said the problem was resolved at 10.35am on Thursday.

Deputy chief executive Jann Marshall said despite extensive testing, the online assessment platform they use didn't perform as it should have.

"We are sorry for the disruption and the stress that students, as well as teachers and parents, experienced. It's unacceptable. Students have worked hard for the examination and recently expected the platform to perform well."

She said their vendor had assured them that glitches that "slowed" and "locked people out" of the system would not happen again.

Post Primary Teachers Association Secondary Principals' Council chair Steve McCracken told RNZ on Thursday the failure was "incredibly disappointing".

"They've had a number of years of testing and trailing, and it seems to be a re-occurence when this happens.

"Some questions have to be asked around how does this happen and how can we make sure it doesn't happen again in future."

Student Molly told RNZ on Thursday she was able to continue with the exam, but it appeared to lose all of her work, when she attempted to finish and close the assessment.

"I was devastated," she said.

Marshall said there were no exams on Friday and NCEA would be retesting the system to ensure the issue would not happen again.

A review published in 2024 criticised NZQA's relationship with the company that provided the online exam platform.