NCEA Level 2 Biology

It is the Level 2 part of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement, New Zealand's main secondary school qualification. Biology is broken into standards, each covering a specific set of skills and knowledge and worth credits. Some are assessed in school during the year, others by national external examination at the end of the year.

Through a mix of internal and external assessment. Internal assessment happens in school during the year, which suits practical work such as carrying out an experiment rather than only writing about it. External assessment is the national end-of-year exam. Each standard you achieve gives you credits towards the qualification.

Each standard is reported with a letter: N, A, M or E, standing for Not Achieved, Achieved, Merit and Excellence. Achieved, Merit and Excellence tell you how well you reached the standard. You do not get extra credits for Merit or Excellence, but they count towards endorsements.

You must achieve a certain number of credits to gain NCEA. The source material used for this page quotes 80 credits in the context of certificate endorsement, but it does not set out the full Level 2 requirement, so check the current NCEA levels and certificates page on the NZQA website before planning your course.

If you get 50 credits at Merit or Excellence, you get Merit or Excellence included in your NCEA qualification, called Certificate Endorsement. If you get 14 credits with Excellence in a particular course, that course is endorsed with Excellence. Both are good reasons to keep aiming high after you have reached the credits you need.

It is a step up from Level 1: standards are graded, and Excellence requires explaining and linking ideas rather than just recalling them. Study at Level 2 aims to provide the basic level of knowledge and skills required for employment. Difficulty depends heavily on how well you prepare for each standard's specific skills.

The source material for this page does not state a retake policy for NCEA Level 2 Biology, so no answer is given here. Internal standards may be reassessed at your school's discretion and external standards are reoffered in later examination sessions. Ask your teacher or check the NZQA website for the current rules.

Work standard by standard rather than topic by topic. For each standard, read what skills and knowledge it covers, practise those skills, then check your understanding against the grade descriptions. Build credits during the year and track them as you go, since credits you have already gained last forever.

Chasing credits in any subject without checking that the standards will give the results you need for the job or course you want. Another is stopping once you have enough credits, missing out on endorsements. A third is treating internal assessment casually because it happens in school rather than in an exam room.

NCEA levels 2 and 3 open doors to tertiary study and training, and some providers also look for University Entrance as a sign you are ready for tertiary study. Universities want to see lots of Excellences in your results, so aim high rather than only accumulating credits.