NCEA Level 3 Statistics case studies
NCEA Level 3 Statistics · Put your knowledge to work in context.
NCEA Level 3 Statistics - formally part of NCEA Level 3 Mathematics and Statistics (Statistics) - is the final-year statistics pathway within New Zealand's National Certificate of Educational Achievement, the school qualification administered by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). It is designed for Year 13 students who want to work with data rather than pure mathematics: interpreting real-world contexts, justifying conclusions, and communicating statistical reasoning clearly. The NCEA Level 3 Statistics case studies are 5 cases and about 4,065 words.
1Café sales versus temperature: the 34 °C forecast
A Christchurch café owner has recorded total daily sales (NZ dollars) and the 1 pm air temperature (°C) for 26 randomly selected days between September and February. Temperatures ranged from 11.4 °C to 27.8 °C.
812 words, about 4 min2Two colleges and a press release about endorsements
A researcher wants to know whether Year 13 students at Kauri College are more likely to gain a Merit or Excellence endorsement than students at Rimu College. From Ministry records she takes a random sample of 120 Kauri students and 100 Rimu students who completed Year 13 in the previous year; 75 of the Kauri students (62.5%) and 51 of the Rimu students (51.0%) gained Merit or Excellence.
803 words, about 4 min3Evaluating a proposed trial of a Study Smart programme
A large Auckland secondary school has 180 Year 11 students, of whom 60 volunteered for a new six-week 'Study Smart' programme of after-school workshops run by an outside provider. The head of mathematics proposes this design: the first 30 volunteers in order of sign-up take the programme in period 5 on Tuesdays; the other 30 keep to their normal timetable and act as the comparison group.
869 words, about 4 min4The bike shop that compared December with January
A Wellington bike shop's monthly repair-job counts over 36 months (January 2022 to December 2024) are being reviewed. The manager says repairs are in decline because December 2024 had 415 jobs but January 2025 had only 340, a fall of 18%.
794 words, about 4 min5Reading the phone-and-sleep news story
A radio station's website runs the poll question: 'Do you agree that phones are damaging teenagers' sleep?' 1,240 people respond and 78% say yes. The station reports that '78% of New Zealand teenagers say phones damage their sleep'.
787 words, about 4 min