Academic Grading in New Zealand

The common grading system used in New Zealand is the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) marking scheme, which most of the secondary schools in the country use, even in pre-NCEA years just to standardise the grading. However, the remaining schools in New Zealand that follow other secondary school qualifications (usually the Cambridge International Examinations, CIE or the International Baccalaureate Diploma, IB) have a different grading scheme. For tertiary educations, institutions generally follow a grading system that has a letter scale, with a corresponding 9-point GPA scale.

School Education (Primary and Secondary Schools)

At secondary school level, New Zealand follows The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), which is its main national qualification. Other options in practice are the IGCSE/A Levels (CIE) and the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB).

The NCEA, the main national qualification at present for secondary education, uses an assessment that is standard based. Assessment for Achievement Standards uses a four-grade system, the lowest being a failing grade, while Unit Standards use a simple achieved/not achieved (pass/fail) grade system.

 Official Name

 Common Name

Abbreviation

 Achievement with Excellence

Excellence

 E

 Achievement with Merit

Merit

 M

 Achievement

Achieved

A

 Not Achieved

Not Achieved

N/NA

 Standard Not Attempted

Not Attempted

SNA/V

Tertiary Education 

Universities in New Zealand generally have the system of awarding letter grades (A to D). The letter grades correspond to percentage mark bands, though these may differ between universities (common cut-offs for A include 90% and 85%; even within the same university, the cut-offs for grades of one department may differ from that of another). However, A is the highest grade that may be scored whereas D grade is a failing grade, equivalent to work that has been marked scoring less than 50%. E grade is the lowest grade that is marked for scores ranging from 0 to 39.

Grade

Equivalent Percentage

 A

 85–100%

 A

 80–84%

 A-

 75–79%

 B

 70–74%

 B

 65–69%

B-

60–64%

 C

 55–59%

 C

 50–54%

 D

 40–49% (Failing Grade)

 E

 0–39%

 AEG

 Aegrotat Pass


Given below is a comparison of the grading systems followed by the eight universities of New Zealand along with the corresponding GPA.

New Zealand Universities: Comparison of Grading Systems


Grade

GPA

Auckland

Otago

Canterbury

Lincoln

Massey

AUT

Victoria

Waikato

A

9

High first

90-100

 

90-100

 

90-100

 

1st

class pass

 

Pass Dist.

85-100

85-100

A

8

Clear first

85-89

 

85-89

 

85-89

 

1st

class pass

 

Pass Dist.

80-84

80-84

A-

7

Bare first

80-84

80-84

80-84

1st

class pass

 

Pass Dist.

75-79

75-79

B

6

High Second

75-79

75-79

75-79

2nd

class pass

 

Pass Merit

70-74

70-74

B

5

Clear Second

70-74

70-74

70-74

2nd

class pass

 

Pass Merit

65-69

65-69

B-

4

Bare second

65-69

65-69

65-69

2nd

class pass

 

Pass Merit

60-64

60-64

C

3

Sound pass

60-64

60-64

60-64

Pass

 

Pass

55-59

55-59

C

2

Pass

55-59

55-59

55-59

Pass

 

Pass

50-54

50-54

C-

1

Marginal pass

50-54

50-54

50-54

Pass

 

Pass

 

 

D

 

 

40-49

40-49

40-49

Fail, 40-49

Fail

40-49

40-49

D

 

Marginal fail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D

 

Clear fail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D-

 

Poor fail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E

 

 

Below 40

0-39

0-39

Low fail, 0-39

 

0-39

0-39

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