A complete guide to getting your Equivalence certificate

Student Lounge International Students
1

Getting your Equivalence certificate after A level is one of the biggest confusion that students face, so did I. That’s why I decided to create a thread on it so that others can be benefited from my experience. So the steps go like this:

1.Make sure you already have your O level Equivalence certificate before you apply for your overall equivalence that most of the universities in Pakistan ask for. It’s advisable to get your OL equivalence made before your A Level CIEs to avoid rush and huge delays.

2.To have your O level equivalence made, you must have these subjects:

i) Pakistan Based Examinations: Eight subjects including Compulsory English, Mathematics, Urdu, Islamiyat, Pakistan Studies and three electives.
ii) Overseas Based Examinations: Five subjects including English, Mathematics and three electives.

-You can calculate it on your own using this formula:
A*-90
A-85
B-75
C-65
D-55

You simply add up the marks in your subjects and divide it by 800 to get the final percentage. Your final marks are calculated out of 900 like this: (Your marks/800)*900.

3.To have your A level equivalence made, you must:

*Pre-Medical Group: Eight/five ‘O’ level subjects (including English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology) and three ‘A’ levels (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) with minimum E Grade.

*Pre-Engineering Group: Eight/five ‘O’ level subjects (including English, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics Biology/Computer Studies) and three ‘A’ level subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics) with minimum E Grade.

*General Science Group: Eight/five ‘O’ level subjects with three ‘A’ level subjects.

*Humanities Group: Eight/five ‘O’ level subjects including English and Mathematics with three ‘A’ level subjects.

  • All Pakistani nationals appearing for examinations from Pakistan shall have to pass Urdu, Islamiyat, Pakistan Studies and Mathematics along with other required subjects to qualify for equivalence.

4.To calculate your overall equivalence out of 1100 marks in FSC you again use the same raw marks for each grade as mentioned above. In A level you divide the total of your 3 subjects by 300. Example: You got A*AB.

Total= 90+85+75=250/300.

This means your total equivalence would be:
[(Total marks in O level out of 800)+(A level marks out of 300)]/1100
and this is how you would get your final percentage.

HOW TO APPLY FOR O LEVEL EQUIVALENCE:

· Download the form from here:
www.ibcc.edu.pk/Downloads/form.pdf

· You simply fill the form. Paste 2 photographs as asked. Write all the details. Leave out the portion that’s reserved for office use.

· If you want the Normal processing then it will cost 1500Rs and take 1-2 weeks (as per 2nd September 2014) and Urgent would cost 3000Rs and take 3-4 days.

· After filling the form, you need to gather:
O level certificates and your CNIC.

· YOU NEED TO GET THE COPIES OF YOUR OL CERTIFICATES AND CNIC ATTESTED. It’s advisable to get 2 copies of each of them. They can be attested by any government worker that is working on above 16th scale. It’s much better to avoid the attestation through the IBCC. It costs extra money and time. Besides, attestations is just a stamp and signature of the government employee.

· After you have COMPLETE FORM, ORIGINAL CERTIFICATES AND CNIC ALONG WITH ATTESTED COPIES OF OL CERTIFICATES and CNIC, then you are good to go.

· IMPORTANT NOTE: MAKE SURE YOUR O LEVEL CERTIFICATES DON’T HAVE THE HARD LAMINATION WHICH IS DONE BY THE MACHINE. INSTEAD BUY A PLASTIC COVER AND PLACE YOUR CERTIFICATES INSIDE IT; TO AVOID ANY COMPLICATIONS AT THE POINT OF SUBMISSION. I too did the similar mistake but they accepted them after persuasion and they had to tear the bottom corner of my certificates to place their stamp.

· You go to IBCC office (it’s preferable to go early by 9-10 am to avoid rush and long queue) and get the challan form.

· After getting challan form you will submit it at the HBL branch inside the building, get the copy and head back to the IBCC office.

· After the successful submission of documents, you would be given the student’s copy of the challan that you will keep and a date would be told to you for collecting the certificate.

HOW TO APPLY FOR A LEVEL EQUIVALENCE

The steps to apply for A level equivalence are same as mentioned above.

· The only additional documents you need are your A level certificates.

· Final package would include: Original A Level certificates, O level certificates, CNIC and O Level equivalence. Also, attested copies of: A level certificates, O level certificates, CNIC. This time you would also need to take the attested copy of your O Level equivalence along with the documents mentioned above.

· Again follow the same procedure of filling the form that was given in the start.

· Take the form and documents to the IBCC office. Fetch the challan form.

· Fill the challan form. Again, normal would cost 1500Rs and take 1-2 weeks while urgent would cost 3000Rs and would be done within in a 3-4 days.

· Submit the challan form at the HBL branch inside the building and then head back to IBCC office.

· Submit your documents, get the student’s copy and wait for the date that you are assigned.

This is pretty much it. I hope this thread proves to be beneficial for everyone. If you have any further queries, please feel free to ask them.

3

Hello!
I am sorry but I can not help you with this matter. You should visit the IBCC office yourself. Do not write them or phone them, they never reply, just visit them once. I hope my reply isn’t too late.

4

Do I have to send two applications to get complete equivalence? Please note that I never applied for equivalence before and currently have original certificates of 8 O Level and 4 A Level (along with AS Level) results.

Also, tell me do I have to travel to Islamabad for it? Isn’t there any method of sending them documents and stuff via post mail?

5

Sorry for the late reply, I don’t visit this forum often.
Yes you need to fill the same form twice. Once with O level information and then with A level information.
You’ll need to get your certificates copied and attested etc. Everything is mentioned above.

No absolutely not. The HEC office is in Lahore. Kindly google it for exact location. No there’s no as such system of mail/post. They never even pick phone calls, entrusting them with your documents could be a blunder.

6

I did my O levels in 2007 and A levels in 2009. The problem is that i have completed BBA and now unable to get my degree because I have 2 A level subjects. Is there any way i can get equivalence with 8 O level subjects and 2 A level subjects or i will have to give another A level subject for equivalence?

7

That’s weird.
Well you can definitely get an O Level equivalence but I am not sure about 2 ALs. Why did you write only two A level subjects? I thought 3 is the minimum count of colleges.
Anyways, you should visit IBCC’s office and discuss with them but 3 is the requirement.

8

Hi , thank you for the information. I have a question, so i got done with o levels in 2009(7 subjects) and a levels (3 subjects) in 2011. Because of one subjet of o levels i was not able to get equvilence.
I got admission in a University and now they want my equivalent for degree. I gave the one missing o level paper in 2017, so now its ( 8, o level ) and ( 3, a level). I go to ibcc for equvilence and i get it ,saying date from ( 2009 - 2017 ) on both O/A equvilences. My University says i took the admission in 2013 and the equivalent is of date 2017, they say that your 4 years are wasted now.
What do u have to say on it ?

9

You’re welcome.
Well it’s not your fault, it’s completely your university’s carelessness and stupidity. IBCC has nothing to do with it, you got the equivalence. You should contact your HoD/Dean/VC or any senior person and explain to them that you paid fees for 4 years and have worked really hard for it all. You shouldn’t threaten them because you can outdo them but if you have contacts with a senior government official, it’s better to involve him in.
I can’t offer you any help on this, I am sorry. You just need to make them understand or pressurize them if they don’t cooperate.

10

Salam

I too have just 2 subjects in A levels and the reason was that where I live (UAE) we only need 2 subjects to get admitted to any university just like the US, however the entire subject is covered in just one year and not two years so its more challenging considering that normally A-level students study 9 modules in a year, but we studied 12.

Anyhow, the drawback of this is that I cant be admitted to any Pakistani University, unless I take another subject which would cause me another year or if I do Fsc. If GED is accepted by IBCC then that would be great cause it only takes 3 months and is a piece of cake.

11

Please answer this question
Do they still cut 5% marks for o/a levels per subject?

12

Yes, they still do, Anusha. That’s the rule.

13

So do they also cut further 10% for total or only 5% per subject?

14

No. This is how the grades are calculated:
A* - 90
A - 85
B - 75
C - 65

So you can see, you’re automatically losing 10 marks per subject even if you get all A.
Even if you have 8A in O level, your equivalence would be 810/900 (OL Equivalence is calculated out of 900). A level is out of 300.
So for A level with 3A* you get = 270/300
Total = 270 + 810 = 1080/1200. You’re losing 120 marks no matter what.
I hope you understand it now.

15

Yeah i know that but do they make it like A- 85 -5% = 80.75 for an A
Sorry for annoying you again and again but i was tensed .

16

It’s okay :slight_smile:
No, no, there’s nothing like that. The marks are absolute. They don’t change. The 85 for an A is actually the marks after deduction.

I hope that answers your question. The calculation I did above is exactly how it’s done. Not a single number is added or subtracted

17

Yeah that was absolutely helpful:D thank you so much

18

Can a combine equvalancy be made using A levels and O levels grade.
And whats its worth?
What if I have made O level equvalancy earlier and now after A levels want to make combined O and A levels? Is this possible?

19

Yes, absolutely.
No, whatever steps you follow, the end result is the same equivalence certificate and it doesn’t affect the worth.

Yes, that’s what the process is.
You get your OL equivalence. After AL, you get a combined OL+AL equivalence, as in combined. A Level’s isn’t separate. I have done all the calculations just 2-3 messages ago, kindly check it out for better understanding.
In short, combined equivalence is what you get once you have both OL+AL certificates.

20

Thanks for your detailed and clear reply.
Actually some people told me that OL and AL both are different like matric and inter
and no combine equivalence can be made.
While some are saying vice versa. Thats y i am confused.
If i am not wrong, combine equivalence means if some one got 80 in OL and 60 in AL then combine will become 70. Is it so?
Thanks for your precious time.

21

You’re welcome. :slight_smile: Ignore these random people, most of them don’t have any knowledge. Like I did once, haha.
No.
It means this: our OL equivalence is out of 900
Your AL equivalence is out of 300.
The final combined equivalence is found using: (your marks)/(300+900) * 100%
I hope this answers your query now