IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education)
It is an English language based examination was introduced by University of Cambridge. IGCSE is a curriculum developed by Cambridge and is equivalent to Cambridge O-Levels. It is world most popular international educational programme for 14 to 16 years students. It gives students more option than any other international qualification. It has more subjects to choose from as compare to O-LEVELS and there are IGCSE Books and Past Papers available for all subjects . Its your gateway to higher education or to professional studies in your country or oversea.
It helps you to:
- find better career opportunities
- develop your skills
- working and communicating in English
- develop culture awareness
- improves your practical or oral skills, knowledge, understanding, problem solving skill or your time management skill
| Local Matric | O-Level/IGCSE | |
| Boards | BISE | CIE; Pearson-Edexcel |
| Agency that conducts the exams | BISE | British Council |
| No. of times regular exams conducted | 1 | 2 |
| Supplementary exam | September | No supplementary exam |
| Examination Month | March – May | May – June; Oct. – Nov. |
| No. of subjects | 5 Compulsory, 3 Elective | Locally: 5 Compulsory, 3 or more elective. Internationally: Any 5 are required |
| Marking | Out of 1050 or 1100 | Grades from A* to E |
| Failing a subject | Fail | U-Grade (Ungraded) |
| Passing all subjects in one attempt | Required | Not Required |
| Exam Fee | All subjects | Per Subject |
| If a student fails one subject | Will appear in all subjects again | Will appear only in the subject he/she failed |
| No. of certificates | 1 | 1 or more |
| Equivalence Authority | IBCC |
Curriculum of IGCSE and IGCSE Books:
IGCSE curriculum offers you over 70 subjects in any combination including 30 languages. Schools can offer them in any combination with Cambridge Assessment IGCSE Books.
In Pakistan student must take five compulsory subject ; English, Urdu, Pak studies, Islamiyat, Mathematics and three electives. To qualify for science group you must pass Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Computer Science otherwise the rest of them will be placed in Arts/Humanities/general groups. Oversea education includes three electives with Mathematics, and English. There are IGCSE Books and Past Papers available by Pakistani publishers for students.
| O-Level | IGCSE |
| Candidates are only awarded grades from A* to E, where A* is the highest achievable grade. U defines ungraded means failure in the subject. | Candidates are awarded a range of grades from A* (highest grade) to G (lowest). There is a core (C to G) and extended (A* to C) curriculum available in some subjects. |
| Students have to give exams for the entire syllabus of a subject together. | For some of the subjects, the syllabus is divided into core and extended components. Students may sit for the core components to be awarded an overall grade between C to G. If students wish to obtain a grade between A* to C, they must sit for both the core and extended components, either together or separately. |
| Not many coursework options. | Offers more coursework options than O-Level subjects. |
| Language exams mostly only have reading and writing components. | Language exams also have listening components. |
| More restricted practical test options for science students. | More practical test options for science students. |
RECOGINATION:
IGCSE is recognized by worldwide institutes. Many students after IGCSE move to post 16 education such as A-Levels. Its academic worth is comparable to many secondary school education worldwide such as England GCSE, Hong Kong’s HKCEE, Singapore’s O-Levels, India CBSE or ICSE, North America GED or High School diploma.
Who can take IGCSE?
It was introduced as 3 to 4 years course for the students of age 14 to 16 years. It is quit similar to O-Levels. As most of its subjects is also same as O-levels. O-Levels is 2 to 3 year course but on the other side IGCSE usually takes about 3 to 4 years to complete and exams are taken at the end of that particular period of studies. Examination are held in June and November each year with result issued in August and Februray resoectively.
