High school students have faced disruptions due to issues with sitting exams online.

NZQA Deputy Chief Executive Jann Marshall said NZQA expected a little more than 20,000 students to log in to online exams this morning, including for the largest ever exam session, NCEA Level 1 English.

“Extensive testing by our technology vendor gave NZQA confidence that this level of activity could be comfortably supported.

“The system began to slow after more than 18,000 students had logged in, and a decision was made to stop further logins to Level 1 English to guarantee the experience of these students.

“For those who had not already logged in, Exam Centre Managers have directed students to the paper version of the exam which is available for every student.

“Of the five exams available digitally this morning, only some of the NCEA Level 1 English students were unable to log in.

“Students sitting other exams could log in through a URL provided by their Exam Centre Manager.

 “NZQA apologises for the disruption this caused for some students and will continue to work with its technology vendor as they scale up the capacity of the system.”