NCEA

Peter Lyons maintains that the fundamental problem with the NCEA is not insurmountable.

Not many teenagers would want to spend all their spare time studying, but Shaun Markham had a worthy point to prove.

The nervous wait is over for more than 6350 NCEA and 439 New Zealand Scholarship candidates in the Otago region, now that examination results have been posted online.

Less than 24 hours from the first NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship examinations of 2011, 6358 Otago secondary school pupils are cramming in every scrap of information they can.

Almost half of the year 13 pupils at 13 Otago schools failed to achieve a level 3 NCEA qualification in 2010.

Almost a year ago, it was reported that the biggest gains in national certificate of educational achievement pass rates were from pupils in some of the country's lowest decile schools.

Anxious pupils can put themselves out of their misery by accessing their NCEA results online from today.

"My hand aches and my eyes are really sore. And now I have to go home and study for my English exam."

Peter Lyons warns of the perils looming with increased assessment of NCEA within schools.

National certificate of educational achievement (NCEA) exams begin in less than two months, and Otago secondary school teachers are concerned about the effect of planned strike action on their pupils' preparations for the exams.

While many secondary schools continue to applaud the University of Otago for raising the entry level for its programmes, one educator has criticised the timing of the new criteria's introduction.

Otago secondary schools are advising pupils to improve their NCEA grades if they want guaranteed entry to university courses next year.

The tide appears to have turned for Otago secondary schools' national certificate of educational achievement (NCEA) level 3 pass rates.