This paper describes and evaluates the Higher-Secondary School Certificate (HSC) exam in Pakistan that has been in place in its present form for more than thirty years. The author recounts her experience as a teacher of English in a representative high school in Pakistan and, reflecting on the impact of high school public exam, she argues that the exam has a negative washback effect. She then presents a detailed survey of washback literature, provides a description of the context and the test, and analyzes the current testing situation in Pakistan. It is concluded that the exam has had a widespread washback both at the individual and societal level needing serious attention in view of its broader educational and social implications. (Contains 1 table and 2 endnotes.)