IBCC is responsible for giving you your equivalency. They’re the people that will convert your marks to the Pakistani system so you can apply to your desired college. YES you need an equivalency.
You’re not alone in the confusion - that is if you’re aware of it. Yes IBCC deduces a certain percentage off your marks to make sure it’s equivalent to Pakistan’s system. Essentially Pakistan gives a score out of 1100 to students here for their grade 11 and 12 (F.Sc/HSSC). Soooo that’s cool, but what does that have to do with me? IBCC uses a formula to convert your country’s grading system to theirs. Once you get your equivalency, IBCC will also give you a score out of 1100. Why 1100? Well, there are a total of 11 subjects here in grade 11 and 12. Each has a 100 marks. So how much does IBCC deduce for me? Well there’s a total of a 15% deduction from your grades. WOAHHH. OKAY. SCARY. Don’t worry too fast because there’s a catch. Everyone applying with you will also go through this same process of deduction. You’re not compared to the locals, you compete with the other foreigners who also have the same deduction. So in a way it affects your marks and it doesn’t. I’m sure that made a lot of sense.
So how does this deduction work? First they take off 10% from each subject, take the average of all 11 subjects, and then take another 5% off in the end. That’s very basic I know, but the formula is far complex and works a little differently for each system. For example, some countries don’t work with percentages they work with letters (A+, A, B+ etc.). So I would suggest leaving this job to IBCC. Now in my personal experience I did try to get my equivalency myself by calculating it but I was a little off. So yes I probably made an error. Yes you can take the time to read through all the IBCC conversion documents and thoroughly understand the formula, but I found it of no use in my personal experience. At the end of the day, IBCC will give you your equivalency, and you’ll just have to wait until then. The most important thing to remember is the minimum required; if you end up below the minimum percentage required for medical colleges, you won’t be able to apply. The minimum for PTAP is 70%, it used to be 60% but they’ve changed it in the past years. For SFS, it’s the same 70% requirement: “a candidate must have passed FSc / HSSC, A-Level or equivalent examination with a minimum of 70 percent marks for MBBS/BDS” (retrieved from HEC’s website). So I would suggest keeping your grades above 80% in your high school years to stay on the safe side and make sure you’re eligible.
I don’t know if this is true, but I’ll speak about it anyway. A friend of mine shared this with me whose friend went through a similar process of getting an equivalency for medical college. This student applied with her IB courses and she mentioned that she didn’t get any deduction. However, there is no factual truth to this, and I wanted to share it because I thought it would be interesting to know if IBCC actually did that. Could IB courses save one from deduction? Or is it just rumors? I don’t know; but if anyone does apply and notice their average doesn’t change and they’ve done all IB courses throughout high school, please let me know. It’s easy to see if you’re average has changed or not. Calculate your average before hand for the important grade 11 and 12 subjects (English, Chemistry, Biology, Physics/Math). Once you’ve got that, see the average on the equivalency. For example, a 905/1100 = 0.82 * 100 = 82% so this student’s average would be an 82% after equivalency. Their average before equivalency was probably around the low 90s (before deduction).
So that’s the whole story.
Don’t get too confused and carry on working hard for those SATs ;)
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