RISE FAQ
Students must complete the requirements during grades 9-12 and have a total of 25 credits to graduate. Therefore, RISE High School students have to pass from all the core subjects each year from grade 9 to grade 12. For more information, please check RISE Grade Promotion Policy
Go to Grade Promotion Policy
RISE students do not take Vezary Exam for graduation. Students must complete the requirements during grades 9-12 and have a total of 25 credits to graduate. Therefore, RISE High School students have to pass from all the core subjects each year from grade 9 to grade 12. For more information, please check RISE Grade Promotion Policy.
RISE offers a rigorous, well-balanced course of study. Educational materials used are selected for their viability in the international curriculum and adaptability to the local environment. The curriculum in high school is also designed to prepare the students for the College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) General Test with content and skills for the tests well-integrated into the curriculum. RISE also offers elective Advanced Placement (AP) courses for grade 12.
The MoE recognises and legalises the RISE diploma and supplements. Students must provide a 2.0/4.0 GPA, an 800/1600 SAT score, and a transcript revealing 24 credits are completed throughout the high school (grades 9-12) to the MoE to be eligible to graduate. According to the admission requirements, students are eligible to enroll on the national universities by either SAT scores or AP scores.
KRG Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education have regulations for American curriculum international schools for admission to the universities in KRI. Depending on the college department they would like to study in, students are required to achieve certain standards in GPA, SAT, and APs. Before 2022, these requirements were related to GPA, SAT, and certain SAT Subject Tests. Since the College Board stopped SAT Subject Tests, KRG Ministries of Education and Higher Education updated the requirements and decided on AP instead of SAT Subject Tests.
Q. Do I have to take Nishtimani Exam at grade 9?
Since RISE is an international school, RISE students do not take Nishtimani Exam at grade 9. RISE complies with the American school system, so Grade 9 is considered as the first grade of High School.
Please check RISE Parent-Student Handbook and Grade Promotion Policy .
Transfer students from private or public schools which follow the KRG Ministry of Education curriculum must bring their transcripts from the previous school. The transcripts must be approved by KRG Ministry of Education.
Transfer students from an international school must bring transcripts approved by Department of International Schools of KRG Ministry of Education.
All the new students must comply with RISE Admission Procedures and submit the required documents stated in RISE Admission Policy.
Do I have to take SAT exam for graduation?
Yes. The SAT Test isa requirement for graduation. Students must achieve minimum 400 points in SAT Math and 400 points in SAT English which is in total minimum 800 points.
Besides, students who will go abroad to study university need a benchmark score of 800 from SAT, which will be required to get the document that states “The student is eligible to study university in Kurdistan.” This document is required by universities in many countries as an approval from local authorities.
For more information go to RISE Grade Promotion Policy
Vezary Exam is not a requirement for RISE students to attend a college and university. Instead, RISE students take SAT and AP Exams to get enrolled to the universities both in Kurdistan and abroad.
The SAT is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States and some other countries. Introduced in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Scholastic Assessment Test, then the SAT I: Reasoning Test, then the SAT Reasoning Test, and now, simply the SAT.
The SAT is owned, developed, and published by the College Board, a private, non-profit organization in the United States. It is administered on behalf of the College Board by the Educational Testing Service, which until recently developed the SAT as well. The test is intended to assess students' readiness for college. The SAT was originally designed to not be aligned with high school curricula, but several adjustments were made for the version of the SAT introduced in 2016, and College Board president, David Coleman, has said that he also wanted to make the test reflect more closely what students learned in high school.
For more information about the SAT visit CollegeBoard.