NCEA Te Reo Matatini - Te Reo Torohū Co-requisite (NZQA Standard 32413) common mistakes
NCEA Te Reo Matatini - Te Reo Torohū Co-requisite (NZQA Standard 32413) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When answering whakarongo questions, the candidate writes down the first number, name, or place heard and stops listening, missing a correction or contrast that follows (for example the speaker first says a time then revises it, or names one marae then says the hui is actually at another).
Spoken te reo Māori delivers key details quickly and often with self-correction, and candidates trained on written texts try to transcribe word-for-word instead of listening for the whole message. Working memory is spent on the first detail and later information is lost.
What to do instead
Practise listening to short recordings (60–90 seconds) once only, and before answering, write a three-line skeleton: who, what happened, and any change or contrast. Train yourself to listen for discourse markers that signal revision or contrast - engari, otirā, heoi, kāore i te pērā - and treat anything after them as the answer-bearing part. Do timed single-play practice so you get used to catching the whole message rather than the first fact.
The candidate answers pānui questions by matching a word or phrase that appears in both the question and the text, without checking that the surrounding sentence actually supports the answer, so they choose a distractor built from the same vocabulary.
Under time pressure, keyword matching feels efficient and is how many candidates were taught to skim. It works on simple texts but fails on NCEA-level texts where the same word appears in a sentence that says the opposite, or where the question asks about a cause rather than a mention.
What to do instead
Before looking at the options, cover them and write a one-sentence answer in your own words from the text. Then choose the option closest to your sentence. For each tempting option, underline the exact words in the text that prove it, and if you cannot underline proof, reject it. Practise with texts that contain deliberate near-miss distractors so the habit becomes automatic.
In kōrero tasks the candidate prepares a written script and recites it, producing flat delivery, no response to the listener, and a collapse into silence when the examiner asks a follow-up question outside the script.
Scripts feel safer than spontaneous speech, and candidates fear grammatical errors. But the standard assesses interaction - initiating, responding, and sustaining - not recitation, so a memorised monologue demonstrates none of the interactive skills being judged.
What to do instead
Prepare cue cards with keywords only, never full sentences, and rehearse aloud from the cues so the wording is generated each time. Practise a two-minute talk followed by three unpredictable questions from a partner, and drill repair phrases you can use when stuck - kāti, me kī pēnei, arā, tēnā koa, ka hoki anō au ki te kōrero mō. Record yourself and check that you are responding to the other person, not just delivering content.
The candidate writes tuhituhi pieces that are grammatically clean but structurally empty: no clear opening, no linking of ideas, and no conclusion, or a recount that lists events without saying why they mattered.
Candidates focus their revision on sentence-level accuracy because that is what gets marked in exercises, and they never practise planning a whole piece. The result is short, list-like writing that meets vocabulary expectations but not the purpose-and-audience criteria.
What to do instead
Use a fixed three-part plan before writing: whakapuaki (state the topic and purpose), whakawhanake (two or three developed points with reasons or examples), whakakapi (a conclusion that answers 'so what'). Learn and use a small set of connectives - tuatahi, tuarua, otirā, nā reira, hei whakamutunga - so the structure is visible to the marker. Practise planning in three minutes and writing to a word limit.
The candidate confuses transitive and intransitive verb forms and their particles, producing sentences such as 'I horoi te kākahu' for 'I washed the clothes' or omitting the agent marker 'e' with passive verbs, and mixes up 'ki' and 'i' after verbs of speaking, thinking, and wanting.
English has one verb form for both patterns, so candidates transfer English grammar. The passive endings (-hia, -tia, -ngia, -a, -ina) and the particle system are learned as lists rather than as patterns tied to meaning, so they are not retrieved under exam pressure.
What to do instead
Learn verbs in pairs with a model sentence for each: horoi/horoi-a, kai/kai-nga, tunu/tunu-a, and note who does what to whom. Build a one-page particle chart with a personal example sentence for each use of ki, i, e, and ā, and test yourself by translating ten sentences a day from English into te reo Māori, checking the particle each time against your chart.
The candidate uses a formal or archaic register in every context - opening an informal message to a friend with 'Tēnā koe e te rangatira' and closing with full formal formulae - or, conversely, uses casual slang in a formal letter or a mihi to a visiting group.
Candidates learn one set of formulae for mihi and letters and apply it everywhere, because register is rarely taught explicitly and textbooks often present only formal models. They have not been shown how audience and setting change word choice.
What to do instead
For each writing or speaking task, first decide the relationship and setting, then choose from a register menu: informal (Kia ora e hoa, ka pai, āe mārika), semi-formal (Tēnā koe, ngā mihi), formal (Tēnā koutou katoa, kei te mihi atu). Keep a two-column vocabulary log of formal and everyday equivalents, and rewrite the same short message three ways for three different audiences as practice.
The candidate performs a mihi or uses cultural references without matching them to the context - for example reciting a generic pepeha that names mountains and rivers that are not theirs, or greeting a group with a singular 'Tēnā koe' instead of 'Tēnā koutou'.
Memorised pepeha and greetings are often taught as fixed scripts, so candidates do not learn that number agreement and the content of a mihi depend on who is addressed and on the speaker's own connections. They also fear getting it wrong and default to the script they know.
What to do instead
Learn the rules behind the script: koe for one person, kōrua for two, koutou for three or more, and the same for māua, mātou. For pepeha, learn which elements are personal and which are shared, and if you do not have a personal pepeha, learn how to acknowledge the local iwi and the marae of the area you are in. Practise adapting one mihi for three audiences: a classmate, a visiting group, and an elder.
The candidate treats macrons and vowel length as optional, writing 'ka kite' for 'kā kite', 'wahine' for 'wāhine', or 'matou' for 'mātou', and pronouncing long and short vowels identically in kōrero.
Many keyboards and input methods make macrons awkward, and candidates assume length is a spelling nicety rather than a meaning-bearing feature. Under time pressure they drop the macron rather than look for it.
What to do instead
Set up a Māori keyboard layout or a macron shortcut before the exam and practise typing the five vowel pairs until it is automatic. Learn minimal pairs as vocabulary, not rules - kā/kā, wahine/wāhine, matou/mātou, keke/kēkē - and say them aloud in pairs. In editing time, do a dedicated macron pass over your written work, reading each word aloud to check the vowel length matches the meaning you intend.
The candidate runs out of time because they write full answers to every question in order, or spend too long on one pānui passage, leaving later long-answer questions blank or rushed.
Candidates do not know the mark allocation and treat all questions as equally valuable, and they have not practised under timed conditions, so they cannot judge when to move on.
What to do instead
Before starting, scan the whole paper and note the marks for each section. Allocate time proportionally and set a hard limit per section. Answer the highest-mark questions first if the paper allows, and leave a short bullet answer rather than nothing for any question you cannot finish. Do at least two full timed practice papers so you know your own pace and where you lose time.
The candidate answers in English or mixes English syntax into te reo Māori sentences - writing 'I went to the marae because it was a nice day' structure word-for-word as 'I haere au ki te marae nā te mea he rā pai' - rather than using Māori sentence patterns such as 'Nā te mea he rā pai, i haere au ki te marae'.
Translation from English feels natural and produces sentences that are understandable but not idiomatic. Candidates who think in English first keep English word order and clause structure, which costs marks in tuhituhi and kōrero even when the vocabulary is correct.
What to do instead
Learn a set of Māori sentence frames and practise slotting new content into them: 'Nā te mea ..., ... ai', 'Ahakoa ..., ... tonu', 'Ki taku titiro, ...', 'He ... tēnei mō ...'. When writing, draft the idea in keywords rather than an English sentence, then build it from a frame. Read short authentic texts and copy out five sentences a day, labelling the pattern each one uses.