Secondary Education

Secondary education in Pakistan begins from grade 9 and lasts for four years. Upon completion of grade 10, students are expected to take a standardised test administered by a regional Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (or BISE). Upon successful completion of this examination, they are awarded a Secondary School Certificate (or SSC). This locally termed as 'matriculation certificate' or 'matric' for short. Students then enter a college and complete grades 11 and 12. Upon completion of grade 12, they again take a standardised test which is also administered by the regional boards. Upon successful completion of this test, students are awarded the Higher Secondary (School) Certificate (or HSC). This level of education is also called the F.Sc./F.A. or 'intermediate'. There are many streams students can choose for their 11 and 12 grades, such as pre-medical, pre-engineering, humanities (or social sciences) and commerce. Some technical streams have recently been introduced for grades 11 and 12.

Alternative qualifications in Pakistan are also available but not maintained by the BISE but by other examination boards. Most common alternative is the General Certificate of Education (or GCE), where SSC and HSC are replaced by Ordinary Level (or O Level) and Advanced Level (or A Level) respectively. Other qualifications include IGCSE which replaces SSC. GCE O Level, IGCSE and GCE AS/A Level are managed by British examination boards of CIE of the Cambridge Assessment and Edexcel of the Pearson PLC. Advanced Placement (or AP) is an alternative option but much less common than GCE or IGCSE. This replaces the secondary school education as 'High School Education' instead. AP exams are monitored by a North American examination board, College Board and can only be given under supervision of centers which are registered with the College Board, unlike GCE O/AS/A Level and IGCSE which can also be given privately.