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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