NUST Entry Test (NET) 2027: Pattern, Syllabus, Merit and a Realistic Prep Plan

Registration for the first NUST Entry Test of the 2027 cycle opened on 4 October 2026 and closes on 14 November, with computer-based papers in Islamabad from 17 November onwards. That is the first of four series. The single most important fact about the NUST entry test is that you can sit it more than once, and NUST keeps your best score. Almost every sensible preparation decision follows from that one rule.

This guide sets out what NUST has actually published for the 2027 intake: which NET paper you sit, the subject weightings, the merit formula, the fee, the SAT and ACT routes, and how MBBS differs. It then gives a preparation plan built around the series structure rather than around a coaching centre's timetable.

Scoodemy is a tutoring marketplace, not a NET academy. We do not sell a NET course, a question bank or a "guaranteed" mock series, so we have no reason to make the test sound harder than it is.

Accuracy note — read this first

Last verified: 7 October 2026 against nust.edu.pk. Where this page and NUST disagree, NUST is right.

Every figure below comes from a page on nust.edu.pk or the NUST undergraduate admissions portal that we opened and read on that date. The NET-2027 schedule is marked tentative by NUST itself, and a few NUST pages had not yet been updated from the 2026 cycle when we checked. We point those out where they matter.

One practical warning: NUST's website sits behind a bot-protection check. In an ordinary browser the pages load normally, but automated link checkers and some download tools receive an error. If a link below appears broken, open it in a normal browser before assuming the page has gone.

What the NUST entry test actually is

The NUST Entry Test, universally called NET, is the admission test for undergraduate programmes at the National University of Sciences and Technology. According to NUST's salient features of the admission policy:

• NUST admits undergraduates once a year, purely on merit.
• You can apply on the basis of NET, or on the basis of ACT or SAT scores for a limited number of seats, or both.
• NET is held at four locations: Islamabad (NUST main campus, H-12), Quetta, Karachi and Gilgit.
• In Islamabad and Quetta it is a computer-based test (CBNET). In Karachi and Gilgit it is paper-based (PBNET). NUST states that "the pattern and the standard of question papers for both types of tests is the same."
• NET "is compiled from text books prescribed for HSSC courses", and NUST advises candidates to consult the relevant textbooks of various boards.
• You may sit NET more than once, but only once per discipline in any one series, and the best score counts for merit.
• A NET result is valid for the current admission cycle only. A score from the 2026 cycle does not carry into 2027.

The NUST UG admissions FAQ adds the numbers most students go looking for first:

Feature	What NUST publishes
Number of MCQs	200
Duration	3 hours (180 minutes)
Question format	MCQs with four options each
Negative marking	None
English section	"on the pattern of SAT exam"
Result (computer-based)	Uploaded within 24 hours
Result (paper-based)	Within 5 to 7 working days
Age limit	None
Gap year or repeater penalty	None; treated as normal candidates

Two of those deserve emphasis. No negative marking means you should never leave a question blank. And 200 questions in 180 minutes gives you 54 seconds per question on average, which is tighter than it sounds once you allow for reading English passages and working through mathematics.

NET-2027 schedule: the four series

This is the tentative schedule as published on NUST's Dates to Remember page on 7 October 2026:

Series	Online registration	Computer-based test (Islamabad, Quetta)	Paper-based test (Karachi, Gilgit)
Series 1	4 Oct – 14 Nov 2026	17 Nov 2026 onwards (Islamabad)	Not offered
Series 2	Dec 2026 – Jan 2027	Jan – Feb 2027 (Islamabad); Mar 2027 (Quetta)	Mar 2027 (Karachi)
Series 3	Feb – Mar 2027	Apr 2027 (Islamabad)	Not offered
Series 4	Apr – May 2027	Jun – Jul 2027 (Islamabad); Jul 2027 (Quetta)	Jul 2027 (Karachi, Gilgit)

Three things the table hides:

1. Each series needs a separate online registration and a separate fee. Registering for Series 1 does not enrol you in Series 2.
2. Only Series 4 reaches all four cities. Series 2 adds Quetta and Karachi; Series 1 and 3 are Islamabad only. If you live in Gilgit and want to test without travelling, Series 4 is your one option; Karachi candidates have Series 2 and Series 4.
3. Outside Series 1, NUST has published months, not dates. Exact dates appear as each series opens. Check the portal rather than relying on screenshots shared in student groups.

For the computer-based test you choose your own date and session from the available slots, according to NUST's admission procedure. For the paper-based test, slots are allocated on a first come, first served basis. Either way, register early in the window if you care about getting a particular date.

Which NET paper you sit: the NUST test pattern by programme

There is no single NUST test pattern. NUST runs five different NET papers, and the one you sit depends on your HSSC group and the programme you want. These are the weightings published on the Subjects Included in NET with Weightings page:

NET paper	Who sits it	Mathematics	Physics	English	Other
NET-Engineering	Engineering and Computing applicants (Pre-Engineering, ICS, or Pre-Medical with conditions)	50%	30%	20%	—
NET-Applied Sciences	Pre-Medical applicants for Biotechnology, Environmental Science, Agriculture, Food Science, Bioinformatics, Chemistry, Physics	—	—	20%	Biology 50%, Chemistry 30%
NET-Business Studies & Social Sciences	BBA, Economics, Psychology, Mass Communication, Accounting & Finance, LLB, IR and similar	50% (Quantitative Mathematics)	—	50%	—
NET-Architecture	B Architecture and B Industrial Design only	30%	—	20%	Design Aptitude 50%
NET-Natural Sciences	BS Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry for candidates outside the standard streams	50%	—	50%	—

Read the NET-Engineering row carefully, because a lot of circulating material is out of date. The current published NET-Engineering paper contains no Chemistry. It is Mathematics 50%, Physics 30% and English 20%. Some older guides, and even the labels on NUST's own sample test page, still refer to "with Chemistry" or "with Computer Science" variants. The weightings page is the current statement of the pattern, so plan from that.

NUST publishes weightings as percentages, not as a fixed count of questions per subject. Treat the percentages as a guide to how your study time should be split, not as a promise that exactly 100 of the 200 questions will be mathematics.

Notes that change who sits what

• NET-Engineering also opens science doors. Candidates who sit it can also be considered for BS Robotics & AI, Bioinformatics, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Food Science & Technology without a separate fee or test.
• Pre-Medical students can apply for engineering, but they sit NET-Engineering, and NUST's UG admissions updates state that those who did not take additional mathematics must complete an online, self-paced 8-week mathematics course and secure 60% in it before 25 July 2027 to enter the Fall 2027 merit. The requirement follows a Pakistan Engineering Council regulation.
• Pre-Medical students admitted to computing without additional mathematics must clear 6 credit hours of deficient mathematics courses within a year.
• ICS students (Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science) can apply for all engineering programmes, but must clear Chemistry as a remedial course in the first semester.
• Architecture applicants face a Design Aptitude section worth half the paper. NUST's School of Art, Design and Architecture publishes design aptitude guidelines for NET. Read them before you start practising, because this section cannot be crammed from a textbook.
• LLB applicants also need a valid HEC Law Admission Test score of at least 50%, per the eligibility criteria.

NUST entry test syllabus: what NUST actually says

Students search for the "NUST NET syllabus" expecting a chapter-by-chapter list. NUST does not publish one. Its FAQ says the test is "primarily based on SSC / HSSC level studies (Part-1 & Part-II)", that "textbooks are consulted while developing the question bank", and that grasping the concepts in different textbooks will be beneficial.

So the honest answer to "what is the NUST entry test syllabus?" is: the HSSC textbooks for the subjects in your paper, across both years, plus SAT-style English. That has three practical consequences.

First, Part II content is fair game even if you sit an early series. A student taking Series 1 in November of their second year has not yet been taught much of the Part II course in college. Calculus, electrostatics, electromagnetism and modern physics typically sit in Part II. If you sit early, you either self-study those units in advance or accept that the early attempt is partly a rehearsal.

Second, "various boards" matters. NUST tells candidates to consult textbooks from different boards. A Federal Board student and a Punjab Board student will have seen the same physics explained differently, with different worked examples. Working through a second board's exercises on your weakest units is one of the cheapest ways to widen your coverage.

Third, English is not literature. The FAQ describes the English section as following the SAT pattern. In practice that means reading comprehension, vocabulary in context and grammar and usage, not essays or poetry. English is 20% of NET-Engineering and 50% of NET-Business Studies, and it is the section FSc students most often leave to chance. The College Board publishes free official practice material on its SAT Suite site, which is a sound, legitimate source of SAT-style reading and grammar questions.

Official practice material

NUST is explicit that it does not run preparation classes or sell material. In its own words, NUST "neither conducts entry test related preparatory activities itself nor provides material in electronic or printed format for guidance of applicants." What it does offer:

• A free CBNET sample test on the admissions portal, with versions for Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Science, Business Studies and Social Sciences, Architecture and Industrial Design, and BS Mathematics.
• The salient features page, which notes that the computer-based test "is easy to attempt with minimal practice" and that instructions are on the website.

Use the sample test early, not the night before. Its value is that it shows you the interface, so test day holds no surprises. It is not a full-length mock.

What about "NUST past papers"?

NUST does not publish past NET papers. Most of the test is computer-based, which means candidates do not leave with a question booklet. Anything sold as an "original NUST past paper" is a reconstruction from memory, an academy's own bank renamed, or both. Such material can still be useful for practising the style and the pace. But do not trust its answer keys over your textbook, and ignore anything that tests Chemistry on the engineering paper, since the current pattern has none. Our guide to past papers in Pakistan covers how to use any past paper properly: as a learning tool rather than a scorecard.

Eligibility: who can apply

From NUST's eligibility criteria for UG programmes:

• Minimum 60% marks each in SSC and HSSC, or equivalent as determined by IBCC.
• FA/FSc students can register on the basis of their Part I result. Admission is confirmed only when you produce the full HSSC result with the required group, subjects and percentage.
• For registration, the salient features page requires FA/FSc candidates to have passed HSSC Part I, and requires 60% in SSC for everyone.
• A CNIC, Form B or NICOP is mandatory to register. Foreign nationals use a passport number.
• DAE holders can apply for selected engineering programmes on open merit, under separate DAE criteria.

The subject requirements differ by programme. Engineering wants Pre-Engineering, ICS or Pre-Medical (with the mathematics conditions above). Biotechnology, Environmental Science and Agriculture want Pre-Medical. BBA and most social sciences accept any HSSC combination. Read the row for your programme on the eligibility page before you pay a fee.

O and A Level students: IBCC equivalence

If you are on the Cambridge, IB, American diploma or any other non-FSc route, you need an equivalence certificate from the Inter Boards Coordination Commission (IBCC) showing at least 60% in the relevant subjects. NUST lets you apply on your O Level equivalence while you are still in A Level. Your admission is then confirmed only if you produce an A Level equivalence in the right group before classes begin.

NUST is blunt about the consequence: any subject deficiency, or failure to provide the IBCC certificate before classes start, "will lead to cancellation of admission at any stage." Start the IBCC process early. The commission sets out the steps on its equivalence application page.

NUST's admissions updates also note that, under an HEC directive, all candidates, including Matric and FSc students, must have their educational documents attested by IBCC before submitting them to the university at admission. This is easy to forget until the week you need it.

The merit formula: how your NUST aggregate is calculated

This is where NUST differs most from medical admissions. The general merit generation criteria for admission on NET basis are:

Component	Weighting
NUST Entry Test (best score)	75%
HSSC (Part I) / HSSC / A Level / equivalent / DAE	15%
SSC / O Level / equivalent	10%

For O and A Level candidates who are still in their final A Level year, NUST assigns 25% weighting to their O Level equivalence marks. In other words, the whole 25% academic share comes from the O Level equivalence.

A worked example

Take a Pre-Engineering student with 88% in Matric and 82% in FSc Part I, who scores 68% in NET-Engineering. Using the published weightings, and converting each component to a percentage:

Component	Score	Weight	Contribution
NET	68%	0.75	51.00
HSSC Part I	82%	0.15	12.30
SSC	88%	0.10	8.80
Aggregate			72.10

NUST publishes the weightings, not a step-by-step calculator, so treat this as the arithmetic of the published formula rather than an official tool.

Now the useful part. In the 75/15/10 formula:

• One percentage point of NET is worth 0.75 aggregate points. On a 200-question paper, each extra correct answer is half a percentage point of NET, so it adds about 0.375 aggregate points.
• One percentage point of FSc is worth 0.15 aggregate points.

So five extra correct NET answers are worth roughly as much as 12.5 extra percentage points in FSc Part I. By the time you are preparing for NET, your Matric marks are fixed, and your FSc Part I marks are usually fixed too. The NET is where your aggregate can still move, and it can move a lot. That is why most students should put their marginal hour into NET preparation rather than into chasing one more mark in a college test.

Compare this with medical admissions, where the PMDC formula gives the MDCAT 50%, FSc 40% and Matric 10%. At NUST the entry test carries half as much weight again.

Best score, and which score is picked

NUST's admission procedure states: "Candidates can appear more than once to improve their score. Best score will be picked by the system for merit generation." The merit criteria page confirms "best score" for every programme group. For a few programmes that accept two papers (BS Bioinformatics, BS Food Science & Technology and BS Chemistry), NUST takes the best score "even if appeared in both NETs".

A bad attempt does not hurt you. It costs a fee and a day. The best attempt is what counts.

Closing merits

NUST's procedure page says the closing merit of the previous session for each programme "will be available on the website for guidance." We have not reproduced closing merits here. They change every year with the number of candidates and the difficulty of the papers. Copies circulating on social media are frequently wrong or mislabelled by year. Look them up on NUST's own site for the programmes you want, and treat them as a rough target rather than a cut-off.

Fee, re-checking and other admin

From NUST's NET application processing fee page:

Applicant	Fee per test
Pakistani / dual nationality, NET	Rs 5,000 or USD 40
Foreign national, NET	Rs 10,000 or USD 80
ACT/SAT basis, national seat	Rs 5,000 or USD 40
ACT/SAT basis, international seat	Rs 10,000 or USD 80

The fee is neither refundable nor transferable, and it is valid only for the series you paid it for. According to the FAQ, first, second and third position holders in HSSC exams of the various boards are exempt from the fee and should contact NUST admissions directly. Fees can be paid through 1Link or by credit card, and 1Link payments are verified instantly.

Budget for it honestly. Sitting all four series costs Rs 20,000 in fees alone, before travel. Most students do not need four attempts. Two well-prepared attempts usually beat four tired ones.

Re-checking is available only for the paper-based test. You apply within 5 days of the result with a Rs 500 bank draft. Re-checking verifies unmarked answers and totalling, according to NUST's re-checking page. It is not a re-marking of your choices.

The SAT and ACT route

NUST reserves some seats for admission on ACT or SAT scores, under rules on its ACT/SAT admissions page:

• National seats are open to Pakistani candidates from both the O/A Level and FA/FSc streams. The merit formula is the same as for NET, with the ACT/SAT score taking the 75% slot.
• International seats are for dual nationals and for Pakistanis who studied HSSC abroad or in a foreign system. Merit is 100% ACT/SAT, and these seats carry the international fee structure.
• Merit lists for ACT/SAT seats are prepared separately from the NET merit.
• Minimum scores for engineering, computing, applied sciences and architecture are an ACT composite of 25. For tests taken from April 2025 onwards, that means a composite of English, Maths and Reading of at least 25 plus a Science score of at least 25. Business and social sciences accept SAT scores of at least 550 in each section, or the ACT equivalent set out on the page. Natural Sciences uses the ACT STEM score, minimum 25.
• NUST's institutional codes are 2915 for ACT and 2790 for SAT. Scores must reach NUST directly from ACT or the College Board, and are valid for two years. ACT superscores are accepted.

Dates are where you need to be careful. NUST's Dates to Remember page lists the 2027 ACT/SAT application window as 4 May to 25 July 2027, with 25 July 2027 as the last date for scores to arrive. The admissions portal says ACT/SAT registration for Fall 2027 starts on 20 April 2027, also with a 25 July 2027 deadline. And the ACT/SAT policy page itself, when we checked, still carried 2026 dates. The 25 July score deadline is consistent across all three. Treat it as fixed, and check the opening date on the portal in April. Scores that arrive late are assigned zero weighting.

A Pakistani student can apply on both routes. If you are selected on more than one merit list, the FAQ says you may retain any one seat of your choice.

MBBS at NUST does not use NET

This catches families out every year. NUST's MBBS programme at the NUST School of Health Sciences does not admit on the NUST entry test. NUST's MBBS admissions FAQ says admissions are "purely on merit, based upon the MDCAT conducted by NUMS". The MBBS merit criteria are:

Component (open merit seats)	Weighting
NUMS MDCAT	50%
HSSC / A Level / equivalent	40%
SSC / O Level / equivalent	10%

Foreign students can apply on SAT-II, MCAT or UCAT scores instead of the NUMS MDCAT. If medicine at NUST is your aim, NET preparation is the wrong preparation. Read our MDCAT preparation guide, and check the NUMS test separately on the National University of Medical Sciences website.

A realistic NUST entry test preparation plan

The plan below assumes a Pre-Engineering student in FSc Part II, preparing for NET-Engineering alongside college. It aims for a serious attempt in Series 2 (January to February) and a second, stronger attempt in Series 4 (June to July). Adjust the subject split for other papers, but keep the structure.

Why two attempts, and why these two

Series 1 lands in November, before most colleges have finished teaching Part II. An early attempt will test you on content you have not yet studied. Series 2 gives you a real attempt mid-year. Series 4 comes after your board exams, when you have finished the whole syllabus and have weeks of full-time preparation behind you. Because only the best score counts, a disappointing Series 2 result costs you nothing except the fee. It also hands you a detailed, accurate diagnosis of what to fix.

Some students take Series 1 purely as a rehearsal, to experience the computer-based format under real conditions. That is reasonable if the Rs 5,000 is not a strain. It is not necessary if you have practised properly on the official sample test and on timed mocks.

Month by month

Phase	When	Focus	Hours (realistic)
Diagnose	October	Do NUST's sample test. Sit one full timed 200-question mock cold. Mark every Part I and Part II topic green, amber or red.	2 hrs a day
Build Part II	November – December	Self-study the Part II mathematics and physics units college has not reached yet. Thirty minutes of SAT-style English every day.	2–3 hrs on college days, 5 at weekends
First attempt	January – February	Register in the Series 2 window. Do a full mock every Sunday for the four weeks before your slot. Sit Series 2.	3 hrs a day
Board exam priority	March – May	FSc board exams come first. They are 15% of your NUST aggregate, and the minimum 60% is a hard eligibility line. Keep NET alive with 30–45 minutes of mixed MCQs a day.	Board-led
Full-time push	After board exams to the Series 4 slot	Two full mocks a week. Every wrong answer goes into an error log. Repair the five weakest topics, not the whole syllabus.	6–7 hrs a day
Taper	Final week	No new topics. Error log, formula recall, one last mock at least four days before your slot. Sleep.	3–4 hrs

Register for Series 4 in its April to May window, during your board exams, so that you are not scrambling for a slot afterwards.

How to split time between subjects

Follow the weightings, then adjust for your weaknesses. For NET-Engineering, a reasonable default is about half your NET time on mathematics, just under a third on physics and the rest on English. Many FSc students reverse the proportions in practice. They over-study the physics derivations they enjoy, and they ignore English because it "can't be prepared". The English section is 20% of the paper. Reading comprehension and grammar improve steadily with daily timed practice, and they are the cheapest marks on the paper.

For mathematics, speed matters as much as method. Practise with a timer on the topics that generate long working: integration, analytic geometry, trigonometric identities and series. For physics, the payoff is in concepts and units rather than long derivations. Many NET-style questions can be eliminated down to two options with a quick dimensional check.

The 54-second problem

NUST's FAQ gives 200 MCQs in 180 minutes, which is 54 seconds per question on average. In practice your time is not spread evenly:

• A straightforward English vocabulary or grammar item takes 15 to 25 seconds.
• A physics concept question takes 30 to 60 seconds.
• A mathematics question that needs real working can take two minutes.

The skill to train is triage. Answer the fast questions first, flag the slow ones and come back to them. Because there is no negative marking, make sure every question has an answer before time runs out. A blind guess on a four-option question is right a quarter of the time. A blank is never right.

Practising for a computer-based test

If you sit in Islamabad or Quetta, you will answer on screen, not on paper. That changes a few habits:

• Do NUST's official sample test at least twice, once early to learn the interface and once in the final fortnight.
• Do your full mocks on a screen, not in a printed booklet, for at least the last month. Reading a passage on a monitor and then scrolling to the questions feels different from flipping a page.
• Keep rough paper beside you and practise copying a mathematics question accurately from the screen. Transcription errors are a real and avoidable source of lost marks.
• Use flagging deliberately. Decide in advance what makes a question "skip and come back", for example any question you cannot see a route into within 20 seconds.

Study methods that actually work

The research on study methods is clear, and it applies directly to an MCQ exam. Students who repeatedly test themselves retain substantially more after a week than students who repeatedly reread, even though rereading feels more productive at the time (Roediger and Karpicke, Psychological Science, 2006; summarised by the Association for Psychological Science). A major review of ten common study techniques rated only practice testing and spaced practice as high utility (Dunlosky, American Educator).

For NET, that means:

1. Retrieve before you review. Attempt the MCQs on a unit before rereading your notes on it.
2. Space your revision. Return to each unit after about a day, a week, three weeks and two months.
3. Keep an error log. For each wrong answer, record the topic and the reason: did not know it, misread it, or ran out of time. Each reason has a different fix.

Our guide on how to study effectively goes into these techniques in more depth, with timetables that survive a real household.

Academies, tutors or self-study: an honest view

NUST itself warns candidates "to refrain from organizations / individuals claiming that these have any association with NUST as regard to entry test preparation." No academy is NUST-approved, and no academy has the paper. Treat any claim otherwise as a red flag about everything else the academy tells you.

That does not make academies useless. A good one gives you structure, a peer group, a large bank of practice questions and a weekly test discipline you may not impose on yourself. Those are real benefits, and for some students they are worth paying for. But be clear about what you are buying:

Option	Genuinely good for	Poor fit if
Full-time academy	Structure, pace, a regular mock schedule, a ready-made MCQ bank	You are already disciplined, your weakness is one subject, or the commute eats your study time
Online course	Cheap coverage, rewatchable explanations, access outside big cities	You need someone to notice when you stop turning up
One-to-one tutor	A specific weakness: integration, electromagnetism, reading speed	Your real problem is hours and routine, not understanding
Self-study	Strong FSc students with a written plan and honest self-testing	You have never sustained a routine without outside deadlines

When you assess an academy's marketing, ask the questions that matter. What share of all last year's enrolled students improved their NET score between attempts, not just the toppers? Is the teacher for your batch named before you pay? How many full-length, timed, 200-question mocks are included, and are any of them on screen? No independent body audits academy results in Pakistan, so success rates and topper walls are advertising, not evidence.

For many students the most economical mix is self-study from textbooks, plus an online academy or course for structured practice, plus a one-to-one tutor for the two or three topics that keep costing marks. Paying to be re-taught the parts of the syllabus you already know well is the commonest way families overspend on entry test preparation.

How NET fits alongside other entry tests

Most NUST applicants also apply elsewhere. Each university sets its own pattern, schedule and merit formula, and they do not match NUST's. The main ones engineering and computing students sit are UET's ECAT (see the ECAT portal), FAST-NUCES's admission test (see its admission schedule) and GIKI's admission test (see GIKI undergraduate admissions). Check each one's current pattern on its own site rather than assuming it mirrors NET.

The practical point is about the calendar. NUST's Series 4 runs from June into July 2027, and other universities' summer tests can fall in the same weeks: UET's ECAT portal, for example, listed a sitting from 16 to 21 June 2026. Put every test date on one calendar as soon as it is published, and protect the Series 4 slot. For most candidates it is the strongest attempt of the year.

How this guide was put together

This guide was researched and written by the Scoodemy editorial team. Scoodemy is a Pakistani tutoring marketplace that connects students with tutors and lists schools and academies. We are not a NET academy and we sell no NET course or material.

What we checked: On 7 October 2026 we opened and read NUST's undergraduate admissions pages: dates, subject weightings, merit criteria, eligibility, fee, admission procedure, ACT/SAT policy, re-checking, updates and the UG and MBBS FAQs. We also read the admissions portal and its sample test page, and the NSHS MBBS merit criteria. Every figure in this article comes from one of those pages.

What we deliberately left out:

• Closing merits. They change every cycle, and the circulating copies are unreliable. Use NUST's own published figures.
• Per-subject question counts. NUST publishes weightings, not a fixed number of questions per subject.
• Exact dates for Series 2 to 4. NUST has published months only, and marks the schedule tentative.
• Pass rates, "success stories" and academy rankings. No verified source exists.
• Detailed patterns for ECAT, FAST and GIKI. We link to their official pages instead of repeating figures that each institution revises on its own schedule.

If you find something out of date, tell us through contact us and we will correct it.

Frequently asked questions

How many times can I take the NUST entry test?

Once per series for a particular discipline, and there are four series in the 2027 cycle. NUST uses your best score for merit. Each attempt needs its own registration and Rs 5,000 fee, and scores are valid only for the current admission cycle.

Is there negative marking in NET?

No. NUST's FAQ states there is no negative marking. Answer every question, because a guess can only help.

How many MCQs are in the NUST entry test, and how long is it?

NUST's FAQ gives 200 MCQs in three hours. That is an average of 54 seconds per question, so timed practice matters as much as knowing the content.

Does NET-Engineering include Chemistry?

Not under the current published pattern. NET-Engineering is weighted Mathematics 50%, Physics 30% and English 20%. Older guides and some sample test labels still mention Chemistry. Plan from NUST's weightings page.

Can I apply on FSc Part I marks?

Yes. FA/FSc candidates register on Part I, and the 15% HSSC weighting can be based on Part I. Admission is confirmed only once you produce your full HSSC result with at least 60% and the required subjects.

I am doing A Levels. What do I need?

An IBCC equivalence certificate. You can apply on your O Level equivalence while in A Level, and in that case NUST gives your O Level equivalence marks the full 25% academic weighting. You must then produce an A Level equivalence in the right group, with at least 60%, before classes start. You can also apply through the SAT/ACT route, on national or international seats.

Can I get into NUST MBBS through NET?

No. NUST's MBBS admissions are based on the MDCAT conducted by NUMS, weighted 50%, with HSSC at 40% and SSC at 10%. NET is for NUST's other undergraduate programmes.

Does NUST provide preparation material or recommend an academy?

No. NUST says it neither conducts preparation activities nor provides material, and warns against anyone claiming an association with NUST for entry test preparation. The only official practice resource is the free sample test on the admissions portal.