Students at Taieri College in Mosgiel sat two major exams today, despite a fire gutting their school hall at the weekend.
They are among more than 145,000 students sitting NCEA over the next month.
Smoke billowed out of Taieri College's Hislop Hall yesterday. It took nine crews to bring the blaze under control.
“You roll with what happens in this game, it's been a pretty tough weekend for our school community,” says Taieri College Principal David Hunter.
Mr Hunter is relieved it didn't impact exams.
“We're pretty fortunate the disruption is minimal for our students. That's one positive out of the fire anyway.”
Some students heading into this afternoon's Level Two English exam were probably hoping for a bit of disruption.
Level One English is the biggest NCEA exam, with nearly 49,000 students sitting it next week.
The second biggest is Level Two English, with 41,000, and third is Level One Maths, which 40,000 students sat this morning.
It's NZQA's busiest time of year - with 1,750 markers needed to return exam results to students by mid-January.
Exams are still vital in measuring achievement combined with internal assessment, but the way exams are done is changing.
“NZQA is looking to move to digitising exams, where appropriate, by 2020,” says NZQA divisional assessment manager Kristine Kilkelly.
NZQA is already trialling digital tests. In September, 13,000 students sat a maths exam using their own digital device.
Ms Kilkelly says it makes sense to make the shift, as more and more students are learning on computers.
“In five years it will look quite different and will be a different experience for students, and we hope a better experience.”
It might even make exams a bit more enjoyable.
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