New Zealand Scholarship Drama Assessment

NZQA states that Scholarship assessment is by either a written or spoken examination or by the submission of a portfolio or report of work produced throughout the year. Which of these applies to Drama, and the number of parts, should be checked on the Drama subject page and its assessment specifications, since the Drama subject page was unavailable when this page was prepared.

Assessments have between 3 and 5 parts, and your score for each part is added up to give your final result. Markers give a score of 0 to 8 for each part. To be awarded Scholarship or Outstanding Scholarship you must reach a set score known as a cut score; the specific cut score is not published in the source material, so treat any figure you hear as unconfirmed.

Assessments are designed to be challenging for the most able students in each subject. The number of Scholarships available in a subject is limited to around 3% of the number of students who achieve 14 or more credits in that subject at NCEA Level 3, with some variation, mainly for subjects with few NCEA Level 3 candidates.

You can enter if you are enrolled in a consented New Zealand secondary school, and you do not have to be working towards NCEA to enter. However, not all schools enter students for Scholarship and some enter only a small number of subjects, so speak to your teacher early about whether Drama entry is possible for you.

An answer given a score of 8 is outstanding in all respects: it shows strong evidence of integration and synthesis, and is accurate, comprehensive, coherent, lucid and perceptive. A score of 1 shows little understanding relevant to the question, and 0 is for blank or irrelevant answers. Aim for synthesis across performance evidence rather than description.

NZ Scholarship results are released in mid-February each year. Soon after results are released, your assessed work will be available through your learner login. Scholarship Visual Arts portfolios are returned in December following marking, but that return arrangement is stated for Visual Arts portfolios specifically, not for Drama.

Yes. If you believe an error has been made in marking, you can apply for a reconsideration or review. There is a limited time from when your assessed work is available, or your portfolio is returned, in which you can apply, so check the reviews and reconsiderations information as soon as results are released.

There is no charge for domestic student entry for NZ Scholarship; international students pay a fee. Students who achieve NZ Scholarship receive a monetary award, ranging from a one-off $500 payment for a single subject award to $10,000 per year for up to 3 years for premier award winners. Payment requires enrolment in approved tertiary study in New Zealand.

It is possible to defer the monetary award for up to 4 consecutive years if you are still at school or not planning to enter tertiary study straight away. For awards with payments across more than one year, you must maintain a 'B' grade average in your tertiary study each year.

Talk to your teacher early, then work from the Drama assessment specifications, the Scholarship performance standard, past papers and exemplars. Typical weaknesses are describing plot and staging instead of analysing how meaning is constructed, ignoring the specific question, and failing to synthesise evidence. Scripts close to a cut score are re-marked, so precision in answering matters.