Top Academic Awards for Year 13 Students at Marsden

The highest academic award in the school is Dux. The Proxime Accessit is runner up to the Dux. 

Other awards given to students with outstanding academic results are: 

• the Alice Bowater Memorial Award (overall 3rd place getter, with a character component)
• the School Bursar Award (up to 3 awards)
• the Old Girls’ Association Leavers’ award (up to 2 awards)
• the Cup for Engagement in the Sciences
• the Prize for Creative and Critical Thinking
  
  

Apart from the Cup for Engagement in the Sciences and the Prize for Creative and Critical Thinking, these awards are made based on student performance across a range of subjects.

Awards are determined by the creation of a ranked list, using the following criteria.

NCEA

A student’s top five Level 3 subjects are aggregated to create a ranked list. Level 3 study in an earlier year may be used to generate this ranked list.

Students’ internal assessment and exam practice results are given a numerical value. They are then aggregated and weighted, according to credit value. Rankings in the top 20 per cent of each subject combine to determine which students have performed most strongly across a range of subjects.

Scenario:

• Student A is 3rd= in English, 1st in Chemistry; 4th in Bio; 1st in Painting and has no top 20 per cent ranking in German.
• Student B is 8th= in Statistics; 1st in Physics; 8th in English; no top 20% ranking in Chemistry; 2nd in Geography.
• Student A has a better overall ranking than student B.

Where results from an earlier year are applied, the final exam results are used for the external component.

Where rankings are the same for more than one student, individual grades will be revisited to differentiate between them

If further differentiation is required, evidence from a 6^th subject or performance in an external examination such as Scholarship may be considered. The Principal’s discretion may be applied in such circumstances.

Scholarship

To be considered for one of the top academic awards (as listed above), students need to have completed at least one practice Scholarship exam paper (or the folio and visual diary/report required for practical subjects).