Ako for schools
Ako is a New Zealand study site for NCEA and first-year health science. This page is for teachers and schools deciding whether to recommend it. Meet the people behind it: About Dom and Jack.
The student data Ako keeps, and why
An account holds the student's name, email address and date of birth, and what they make on Ako: notes, flashcards, practice answers, marks, their study plan and exam dates. Ako keeps it so their work is saved on every device and so the tools can adapt to how they study.
Ako does not sell personal information, uses no advertising cookies or third-party analytics, and does not train any model on students' work. Students under 16 need a parent's consent. The Privacy Policy is the full statement.
Academic integrity
Ako is a tool for learning, not for doing the work. It helps a student practise, check their understanding and see what is needed to get to the next grade.
Tutors must not do a student's assessed work for them. The Terms of Use tell students not to hand in anything Ako writes as their own work where their school or university does not allow it.
Every question is Ako's own
Every practice question on Ako is written for Ako, in the style of the exams. None is copied from NZQA or from a university. Where a student works through a real NCEA past paper, it is NZQA's own paper, from NZQA's site and credited to NZQA.
How marking accuracy is checked
Ako's marking follows the marking schedule for each question. It is checked against a set of real answers with agreed grades, across Not Achieved, Achieved, Merit and Excellence.
That check runs every time the site is built, before any change reaches students, and a change that gives any of those answers a different grade cannot go live. Ako's marks are a guide for practice, not NZQA's.
Police vetting
Every tutor on Ako is police vetted through NZ Police before anyone can book them, and is interviewed, with referees and qualifications checked, first.
About Dom and Jack
Ako was started by Dom Edmond and Jack Clough, two fourth year medical students at Christchurch Hospital who tutor.
Jack has tutored more than 50 students through NCEA and first year health science. Dom teaches as an academic tutor at Christ's College.
We worked hard at school and in first year, but we didn't always work smart. Ako is the tool we wish we'd had, so a student's hard work pays off.