NZ Scholarship Psychology

The general Scholarship source says assessment is by a written or spoken examination, or by a portfolio or report of work produced throughout the year. It does not confirm Psychology's format, question count or duration, because the Psychology subject page returned a 'page not found' error at retrieval. Check with your teacher and the live NZQA subject page.

It is designed to be challenging for the most able students in the subject. Answers are scored 0 to 8 per part; an 8 is outstanding in all respects and shows integration, synthesis, accuracy, comprehensiveness, coherence, lucidity and perceptiveness. To receive Scholarship you must reach the subject's cut score; scripts near the cut score are re-marked.

Assessments have between 3 and 5 parts. Each part is scored 0 to 8, and the part scores are added to give your final result. A score of 0 is for blank or irrelevant answers; 1 shows little relevant understanding. Scripts close to the Scholarship or Outstanding Scholarship cut scores are re-marked to ensure results are correct.

The number 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. There is some variation around 3%, mainly for subjects with few NCEA Level 3 candidates. This limits the number of awards; it is not a fixed pass mark.

There is no charge for domestic student entry for NZ Scholarship. International students pay secondary education fees; the source links to international fee information rather than giving a Scholarship Psychology figure, so confirm the current amount with your school before entering.

NZ Scholarship results are released in mid-February each year. Soon after results are released, your assessed work is available through your learner login. Visual Arts portfolios are returned in December after marking; that detail is general and may not apply to Psychology. Reconsideration and review applications have a limited time window.

The source does not publish a retake policy for Scholarship Psychology. Entry is arranged through your school, and not all schools enter students for Scholarship, so ask your teacher about eligibility and timing. If you believe a marking error occurred, you can apply for a reconsideration or review within the limited time after your assessed work is available.

Start with the Psychology content your school teaches, then move to application. The general standard rewards deep understanding, critical thinking and applying ideas to complex situations, not recall alone. Practise unfamiliar scenarios, justify your reasoning, and compare your answers with exemplars. Ask your teacher to mark practice responses against the 0 to 8 descriptors.

The marking descriptors show that a score of 1 means little understanding relevant to the question, while 0 is for blank or irrelevant answers. Answers that drift from the question, assert rather than justify, or fail to apply psychology to the complex situation will not reach the top band. Practise answering the exact question asked.

You do not have to be working towards NCEA to enter NZ Scholarship, but you must be enrolled in a consented New Zealand secondary school. Not all schools enter students, and some enter only a small number of subjects. Ask your teacher early whether Psychology entry is available at your school.