Almost half of the high school students across Waikato, Auckland and Northland didn't attend last year's exams due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.
NCEA results from across the country rolled in on Thursday, and Year 13 students Leah Parfitt and Katie Hunter and Year 12 pupil Josh Craig are stoked.
"Quite happy because I passed with excellence," Parfitt said.
"Got what I wanted," Craig added.
"I was pretty happy with what I got, it was what I was hoping to get this year," Hunter told Newshub.
Students across Aotearoa have missed months of in-classroom learning, forcing everything online, which Hunter says is challenging.
"I definitely went into last year knowing that if there was another lockdown you have to be very self-motivated at times because it does get hard."
COVID-19 lockdowns delayed exams by two weeks last year, which led to a significantly lower attendance rate across Northland, Auckland and Waikato.
More than 43 percent of students were absent from exams, up from 10 percent in 2020.
Nationally, nearly 30 percent of students were absent from exams in 2021 - that is up from 11 percent in the previous year.
Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couillault told Newshub the learning recognition credits and unexpected event grade did its job.
"The learning recognition credits and the unexpected event grade should've done its job in terms of creating a bit of a picture about what those students should've been expecting today."
Education Minister Chris Hipkins couldn't rule out closing the classrooms again when asked on Thursday.
"We do want to keep schools open for as much of the year as we can, if there are school closures they're much more likely to be targeted."
But with Omicron knocking at New Zealand's door, those unexpected event grades may return.
