NCEA students in tears after reporting confusing exam questions on subjects not taught in class

However, another teacher said his students had coped well with the exam and the excellence question should have been difficult.

A central Auckland parent says she has serious concerns about the self-confidence of teenagers who study hard for maths, only to be reduced to tears by the difficulty of the questions.

“The math class had new excellence questions that were quite different from the previous year, and the algebra section contained very difficult questions compared to past papers,” he said.

The parent said the questions had gotten pretty easy since 2020 and questioned how wildly the standard had suddenly changed.

“The gap between what students were prepared for and what was being assessed seemed alarmingly wide,” Anne said.

Other students who achieved excellence and merit grades throughout the year also found the math homework extremely difficult.

“It didn’t make any sense because of the way the questions were asked,” one student said.

“During my studies, I did homework for six years and had a teacher, but it was all difficult. My friends said the same thing.”

The girl’s mother, from Auckland’s North Shore, said even the mock exams were confusing and experienced maths teachers found the questions difficult to solve.

“You wonder why our pass rates are dropping so fast,” he said

Students taking part in the level 2 biology paper said a question about sex-linked genes in cats was not part of the syllabus and made no grammatical sense.

A central Auckland mother says unfair exams could have a lasting impact.

“University applications and career opportunities often depend on exam results,” he said.

“This created an environment where students were second-guessing their abilities.”

Another parent said students should be challenged, but not blindly.

“I believe it is crucial for NCEA to maintain a consistent level of difficulty in its exams rather than abruptly increasing the material taught in class.”

In a statement, NZQA vice-president of assessment Jann Marshall defended the exams, saying: “Exam papers are developed and quality assured by writing teams that include experienced subject teachers at NCEA Level.

“We did not receive any complaints from either mathematics or biology. But we will address both concerns. If concerns are substantiated, we will pass the details to the relevant grading panels so that appropriate action can be taken during the marking process to ensure that students are not disadvantaged.

“It would not be right to comment more specifically before the exams are graded,” he said.

But the central Auckland mother said she and many other parents and teachers had complained to NZQA about the exams. A. The petition was also prepared We call for consistency in NCEA exam content.

Subscribe to The Daily HA free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.