The secondary education system (NCEA) in NZ is a joke. Basically, you need 80 credits per year to pass (the second and third level years only require you to get 60 since 20 credits get carried over from the previous year if you pass it). You still get grades, but it all comes down to how many credits you've earned.
Some examples to show how you need to be either completely retarded or have zero work ethic to fail:
12 credits if you can drive a tractor (agriculture)
8 credits if you can catch a chicken (agriculture, not joking)
8 credits if you can swim 3 lengths of a pool in a certain (stupidly long) amount of time (P.E)
6 credits if you can roll a kayak (P.E)
Many others, cant think right now. But ive saved the best for last, this ones a doozy:
60 credits if you work at either KFC or Subway for 6 months.
That's right people. New Zealand - where you can pass school by working at KFC.
Another thing. Each year, a month or so before end of year exams, we have mock (practice) exams...which are actually the real exam papers from the year prior. So, get friendly with someone who you know did well on the papers you're doing, borrow their exam papers, memorize/write down the answers, go to mock exam, tell the school you have a family emergency when your real exams come round (in this instance the school uses the marks you got from your mocks for your final grade), profit. You now have a stress free summer!
To the kids who are cruising through school giving no fucks though, start doing some work. Im sure its not as easy to pass in the states as it is here, but not using your brain now will bite you in the ass later on. I wish i had put more effort in at school; luckily im quite intelligent, and i exercised my mind by other means. This may sound silly, but i think actually formulating decent work ethic and time management is more important in the long run overall than the stuff you learn in the classroom. First year of uni made me realize that. So put in some effort, you'll thank yourself down the road.
So yeah, luckily for me and my buddies we weren't retarded and had SOME work ethic, which allowed us to surf our school years away whilst passing with minimal effort. I miss high school.