In this article there’s no time for false modesty, from you or me. If you know that your child is better than average in a subject – encourage them to sit the Scholarship exam in that subject.
I wasn’t even going to sit the two Scholarship exams I passed at school. The teachers at school didn’t tell us much about them, didn’t encourage those of us that were able to at least give them a go.
I think at a lot of schools teachers have a lot of kids of very varied ability in their classes, and what they’re concentrating on before exams is just getting through the curriculum and getting as many students as possible to actually pass.
This means it’s up to you…
Somehow my dad knew about the Scholarship exams and he asked me why on earth I wasn’t sitting them. I shrugged my shoulders and gave the standard teenager reply – “I dunno”.
Dad then pointed out the obvious – what did I have to lose?
I would already know the subject because I’d have the normal exam to study for, it didn’t cost anything financially, and I owed it to myself to give it a go. All I had to do was turn up on the day and give it my best shot.
Not to mention the moolah!
If that’s not enough for you, you should know that all Scholarship achievers are handsomely rewarded financially. Depending on how many Scholarship exams your child passes and how well they pass them, they can receive anywhere between $500 and $10,000!!
Whoa!!!
If I had known this during my Year 13 year I would have taken as many Scholarship exams as possible! Even maths! Maybe.
Go for it!
So tell your kids to go for it!! It’s a great achievement just to sit the exams in the first place, it’s a fantastic experience, and they could be in to win big time.
Click on the link below to find out in full about the monetary awards the Scholarship exams have to offer:
Scholarship Exams and Monetary Awards
Priyanka says
But how do you know if you’re above average at something? Does that mean that you are achieving all you NCEA exams (in the desired subject) with merits or excelences.
Please let me know because i would do scholarship if I knew that I am capable enough too.
Thanks, great article!
The Study Gurus says
Hey Priyanka!
If you’re considering sitting schol (which you obviously are) then I’d say you are above average, so go for it. It doesn’t cost you anything (for the first 3) so there’s absolutely no reason not to.
Sign up for every subject you think you have even the slightest chance of getting. Then you should forget about schol for a bit and just focus on your Year 13 exams.
Once you’re prepared for your Year 13 exams you can decide whether you’d like to put some time aside to study for your scholarship exams.
If you don’t have time because you want to focus only on your year 13 exams, then you should be reasonable well prepared for schol, so you may as well sit the exams anyway.
Remember you’ve got nothing to lose, it’s great experience, and you could be in to win some awesome c-ash!
Arrow says
Hi, I slightly disagree with some of the points raised in this article, and the 2 comments below. Even if you are merely an average student, you should give Scholarship exams a go. Like previously said, you have nothing to lose.
However, in order to achieve Scholarship, and recieve a monetary prize, you cannot just “forget about schol for a bit and just focus on your Year 13 exams” because Yr 13/Level 3 exams are in no way any sort of preparation for Scholarship exams.
The level of content knowledge and critical thinking skills and abilities are above what you would need for Excellence at Level 3. Despite this, I know of students who have only recieved Merits at Level 3, yet have recieved Scholarship in the same subject.
Many schools offer tutorials for students who wish to attempt Scholarship exams, and even if no tutorials are offered, by mentioning it to your subject teacher, or the head of the department, they are usually very very willing to help you learn the style and content of information you will need to achieve Scholarship.
By all means, have a go!! But to do well, you will need to set aside time to study specifically for Scholarship
The Study Gurus says
Hi Arrow,
We’re in total agreement I think! Year 13 alone will certainly not guarantee scholarship – but there’s certainly no reason not to give it a go even if you haven’t had time to thoroughly prepare.
Faith Godwin Ekpe says
List the subjects for me
The Study Gurus says
Hi Faith, you can find a list of the available Scholarship subjects here:
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/awards/scholarship/scholarship-subjects/
Vic says
do you actually get the money though? and is there a choice with what you do with the money? like if you get one for math, do you have to use it to study math in uni? i heard somewhere the school gets the money and that confused me… i tried looking into it but info on the ncea website is a little vague
The Study Gurus says
Hi Vic
As far as we’re aware, there certainly isn’t any rule that says you must carry on with the same subject you got scholarship in. So if you get a scholarship in maths but want to do Arts at uni, you’ll get the money all the same.
We have recently heard that there is a requirement that you enrol in a tertiary programme within 6 months to get your money – which we’d highly suggest you do anyway!
Now we certainly don’t work for the NZQA – so if you’re worried about this I suggest you ask maybe the NCEA co-ordinator at your school, or maybe search the NCEA website. But we’re pretty sure that’s what happens 🙂
Chris & Clare
Astrid says
With the money awarded for “one off” scholarships, do they pay it to your tertiary provider or do you get the cash in a form where you can do what you choose for it? As in do you have to use it towards tertiary education?
They’re actually really vague on what you get it for.
Clare says
Hi Astrid,
Thanks for your comment! The monetary awards students receive are deposited into the bank accounts of their choosing. So they can use the money for whatever the heck they want, but the catch is they have to be enrolled in some sort of tertiary course. For for information check out this link – http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/awards/scholarship/
And from this link there’s more information in the Rules & Procedures link you can access from that page.
Hope this helps!
Alison Henderson says
Hey! I was wondering how you prepare for these exams. Do you study new material or is it an extension of what you have covered in Year 13? Kinda confused by the whole thing 🙂
Clare & Chris says
Hello Alison! Very good question. My understanding is that you don’t necessarily have to study new material, and that what they are looking for is a deeper understanding of the achievement standards you would already have covered during the year. You’ll be expected to discuss ideas and concepts in depth and demonstrate that you understand the significance of the topics you discuss. So as part of your preparation for Scholarship exams, you might want to do some extra-curricular reading (I’m sure there would be tonnes of information on the net), and think about the types of points you might want to make in the essays. I would get hold of previous Scholarship exams and create some essay plans. This way you should be able to mould whatever points you’ve prepared to fit the essay questions that come up. And of course, you should probably ask your teachers – I’m sure they would be able to have a chat with you about what to expect. Best of luck!! 🙂