• ‘Unusual results’ compel IBA to revise admission criteria
• Maryam Nawaz asks CIE to review grading system

KARACHI: Most of the 45,000 Pakistani students, who received their Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) AS and A-Level results on Friday, are terribly disappointed with them. With a few As and Bs, it practically rained Cs, Ds, Es and Us.

The reason for it is the predicted grades awarded by the CIE for the three days the exams were cancelled due to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf protests following the first arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan in May.

The situation can be gauged from the fact that a large number of students who have been granted provisional admission at many prestigious institutions in and outside the country cannot meet their usual admission standards following the result.

The unusual situation not only forces at least one major university to revise its admission criteria only for the students who take their exams in the May/June series, but also compels Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Maryam Nawaz to ask CIE to review this year’s grading system.

Soon after the results were released, many students were found venting on social media.

Some wondered if they should get their papers rechecked, some were thinking about retaking exams they didn’t do well in although they were not sure if they should do it through their institutions or privately. Some were also thinking about changing their subjects altogether because maybe the subjects they got bad grades in were just not their thing.

One student was particularly sarcastic, saying how A-Levels has been casually devalued. “I mean, sure, Pakistani currency is in a race to the bottom against the British pound, so why not extend the devaluation extravaganza to our poor A-Level students too?” she said.

“You worked your brains out, got an A* in O-Levels, and were probably already imagining yourself walking on a red carpet made of straight As in A-Levels. But oh no, the British Council just had to pull off their magical stunt of converting A into a C or a D. I guess they were just doing their part to simulate the economic roller coaster, you know, to give students a taste of the real world’s ups and downs,” she added.

“It is almost endearing how they kept Pakistan’s economic situation in mind while wrecking our academic dreams. I can see the logic now: Dear students, since the economy is down in the dumps, your grades should follow suit.”

Some students also reached out to the British Council to be informed that the CIE is reverting back to its pre-Covid standards. That means an increase in the level of scrutiny, an increase in the checking standards and a decrease in the margin of error that was given to students.

Maryam concerned

The chief organiser of the PML-N, Maryam Nawaz, also expressed her concern over the results on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

She posted: “Many hundreds have reached out voicing their dissatisfaction with the CIE grading this year. It appears that the grading this year has produced unfair results which has led to severe unrest & anxiety amongst the students. Expected A*s have ended up with Cs & Es. These students have worked incredibly hard, their university offers and future careers are dependent on the discretion that CIE exercises.

“It would be a welcome step if the CIE on grounds of fairness reviewed their grading system for this year. In addition, the CIE should also consider the fact that Pakistani students sat their examination in times of unprecedented political turmoil where their security and safety were at risk. Kudos to all students who remained committed and still gave their best.”

Also, civil rights campaigner Jibran Nasir took to social media regarding the matter, saying his “WhatsApp has been flooded with messages and calls from students sharing their grievances about the grading of their #A-Levels exams, apparently those, which were cancelled due to the unrest caused on May 9. Some of the messages were really distressing and worrying and I hope @CambridgeInt @pkBritish takes notice.”

IBA revises admission policy

With so many students not able to achieve their grade requirement for universities, the universities will also need to reconsider their admission requirements.

The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) took a lead here. According to IBA’s Registrar Dr Asad Ilyas, the number of students who cannot meet their usual admission standards is more than double this time.

“It is an anomaly, which needs to be addressed. For some six of our programmes we have averaged the level, which will make the criteria flexible. It will help a significant number of students,” he said.

“And it is not that we are doing this for the first time. We did it during Covid time earlier also when the predicted grades of the students were not good. Even Cambridge International was more accommodating then but, unfortunately, I think because Covid was global at that time so Cambridge catered to it.

“This time the problem was localised even though for us it was a national incident. Cambridge predicted the grades of the three cancelled exams on a different standard. Our students were at a disadvantage. The British system should have been more flexible in this, which unfortunately, it seems that they were not,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2023