Pakistan Matric

Overview

Matric (Matriculation), also called the Secondary School Certificate (SSC), is Pakistan's secondary-school leaving exam, taken by students at around age 15-16 in grades 9 and 10. It is not one national exam set by a single body. Each province, and the federal capital, has its own Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) — for example BISE Lahore, BISE Karachi (Sindh), BISE Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) for federally administered institutions. Every board sets and marks its own question papers, date sheets and fees, but all of them work to a broadly shared curriculum framework for grades 9-10, and school-leaving certificates issued by any of these boards are treated as equivalent for admission to Intermediate (grade 11-12) study across Pakistan.

Who can apply

Students enrolled in a school affiliated with a BISE board register for Matric through that school, in the class and group their school has placed them in. Most boards also allow private (individual) candidates — those not currently enrolled in an affiliated school — to register directly with the board, usually under separate rules and a different fee schedule from regular, school-registered candidates.

Exam pattern

Matric is split into two parts, taken a year apart:

A student's final Matric result combines the marks from both parts. Within each part, students take one of a small number of subject groups, which determine their elective subjects:

Alongside their group's electives, students take compulsory subjects common to every group, typically English, Urdu, Islamiat (or Ethics for non-Muslim students) and Pakistan Studies. Science and Computer Science subjects that have a practical component (such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Science) are examined with a separate practical exam, held by the board after the written papers.

Marking and results

Boards mark each subject out of its own total and combine subject marks into an overall percentage for each part. That percentage is converted into a letter grade — a scale running from A1 at the top down to a failing grade — and students must clear a minimum pass mark in each subject as well as overall. The exact grade boundaries and pass threshold are set by the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC), which coordinates grading across all boards, and these can be revised from one year to the next, so the scale printed on a student's own result card and board notification is the one that applies to their session.

Important dates

Each board publishes and owns its own academic calendar and date sheet, so exact dates differ board to board and change every year. As a general pattern, written annual exams for both parts are held over several weeks in the spring, typically starting in March and running into April or early May, followed some weeks later by a separate round of practical exams for science and computer subjects. For 2026, FBISE's SSC Part I and Part II first annual examination ran from 31 March to 4 May 2026. Many boards, including the Punjab boards, also hold a second annual (supplementary) exam later in the year, mainly for candidates who want to clear a subject or improve a score. Students should always check their own board's current date sheet rather than assume another board's dates apply to them.

Fees

Matric exam fees are set independently by each board, in Pakistani rupees (PKR), and vary by subject group, candidate category (regular or private) and how early the admission form is submitted. Boards typically publish a single-fee window, followed by double-fee, triple-fee and penalty-fee windows as the exam approaches, so submitting early costs less. As an example, for the 2026 second annual exam, Punjab boards charged around PKR 900 for the Science and Arts-with-Computer groups and PKR 870 for Arts without Computer, on top of fixed certificate and affiliation fees of a few hundred rupees each. Fees for private candidates are usually higher than for regular, school-registered candidates. Check your own board's current fee notification for the exact amount that applies to your group and session.

How to apply

Regular students apply through their school: the school collects admission forms and fees from its students and submits them to the board within the board's notified admission windows. Private candidates apply directly, usually through the board's own online registration portal or through designated bank branches, under the board's separate rules for individual candidates. After processing admission forms, the board issues a roll number slip — usually a few weeks before the exam, available from the board's website or portal — which a candidate must carry to be allowed into the exam hall.

After the exam

Results are announced on each board's own official website, usually a few months after the written exams finish. The official result document (often called a Detail of Marks Certificate, or DMC) shows subject-wise marks and is a candidate's permanent academic record. A student who wants their answer scripts checked again can apply for rechecking or scrutiny of marks within the window the board announces after declaring results. Matric results are the basis for admission to Intermediate programmes (FA, FSc, ICS, I.Com and similar), which are offered on merit built from a candidate's Matric percentage.

Preparation tips

• Use your own board's current syllabus, scheme of studies and model papers rather than assuming the pattern is identical to another board, since question papers are set independently even though the broad curriculum is shared.

• Decide your subject group (Science, Computer Science or Arts/Humanities) early, since it fixes most of your elective subjects for both Part I and Part II and affects which Intermediate programmes you can join afterwards.

• Practise past papers from your own board specifically, since marking style and emphasis can differ from board to board.

• Track your own board's date sheet and admission-form deadlines directly, since dates and fee windows change every year and differ between boards.