NUST Entry Test 2020 Tips

The National University of Sciences and Technology enjoys an unparalleled position as one of the country’s leading institutions. Offering a wide array of disciplines, NUST is highly sought after by students in the country, and admission into NUST is highly competitive. The NUST Entrance Test (NET) is your passport to getting an admission into the university.

How to register for NUST Entry Test (NET)?

Visit http://www.ugadmission.nust.edu.pk and register with your email ID. Upload a recent picture and fill and submit the online form. Deposit the fee from any branch of HBL or Standard Chartered. Allocation of test dates and sessions will be made on the basis of first come first serve. Candidates should bring their printed admit cards along with original CNIC or Photo ID to the test centre.

How to prepare for NUST Engineering Entry Test (NET)

Register and Appear for all 3 exam series (NET-1, 2 & 3)

First of all, try and appear for all 3 entry test sessions- NET 1-3. Since multiple attempts are allowed and NUST considers the highest score, it is always good to use all opportunities that NUST offers. Though NUST has never officially acknowledged this, many of those who appeared in all 3 entrance exams like to believe that NET 1 is the easiest and 3 the hardest because of the kind of questions involved. NET 1 does not include too many questions from the 2nd year syllabus since a lot of students have not completed the course by then. Some may say this is a myth, but students who have actually appeared in all 3 NET’s rend to report this trend.

Prepare according to the test- don’t focus on learning entire chapters by heart.

In terms of preparation, we would suggest that your concepts for the course should be clear. Students in the FSc stream have an edge over A level students since the syllabus of the NET is in line with the course contents that they have been studying for the past 2-3 years so they are familiar with it. Cramming will not help; make sure you have a clear understanding of the material. The only thing that you need to learn are the formulas and certain basic principles. The test in objective so no one will expect you to reproduce paragraphs for a topic.

Selective studying for NUST Entry Test is a bad idea!

A lot of students believe in selective studying. We highly discourage that. You can never be sure what topic they might focus on in the test so taking a risk is not advisable. Make sure you have a decent command over everything in the syllabus and have an idea of the overall picture. What if you prepared 5 chapters perfectly and left out 3? Having multiple questions from the 3 that you left out on your test can really be a nightmare!

Answer the question once you’re sure about what it is asking for

The NET is typically 3 hours long with 200 multiple choice based questions. Timing should not be an issue unless someone is very slow at reading. It is important to strike a balance between reading the question carefully and answering it promptly. Look for keywords. If a question says which of the following is not an example of abc? The last thing you want to do is get excited by reading the word abc because you remember preparing the topic well and forget to read the word not. This is a common pitfall for most students so keep your eyes open for such words. Make sure you keep a pencil and underline such keywords while reading the question.

Solve the questions smartly and make guesses using a systematic approach

When attempting the test answer the questions you know or believe you can guess and leave the rest unattempted. Note down the question numbers on the rough paper provided so you can get back to them later. You will never want to leave a question unattempted since there is no negative marking. Making a guess will not hurt. In fact, an educated guess might help increase the chances of you answering a question right. Ideally, you should read a question and guess the correct answer before looking the options. Then peek at the options and you will immediately see what you are looking for. Looking at the options before processing the question yourself may make you confused when you see a lot of options with familiar words. Secondly, if you want to make a guess-use the process of elimination. Mentally cross out the options that you are sure are not a potential answer so you have fewer options to guess for. A systematic approach will always help over a totally wild guess.

Prepare for the test according to subject weightage. Giving equal time to prepare for all subjects may not be the best idea

Another tip that most of you may never have considered is the fact that focus more on the subjects that have more weightage. For example, in a test for Computer Science, there will be 80 maths questions and 60 physics questions followed by 30 chemistry/computer questions. So for example if you prepare maths and physics well and get 70 and 54 in them, you already have secured 124 marks. If you are certain you can manage 10 in chemistry and 5 in English with minimal preparation in a worst-case scenario, that sums up to about 140, decent marks without having to be the jack of all trades. This tip is about strategy and should only be used if a student is ill-prepared and short on time. Otherwise, play it safe and begin preparing well in advance.

NUST Entry Test (NET) 2020 schedule

For 2020, the dates for Series I and II have already passed. NET-3 is generally conducted in June & July, but owing to COVID-19, NUST has not announced them yet

NUST Entry Test (NET) Past Papers

Past papers should be central to your preparation. All the other tips that we have shared, from time management to avoiding selective preparation, will work best only if you have practiced loads of past papers and are well versed with what the paper looks like. A lot of online websites offer such material.

The NET is not rocket science. Prepare timely and smartly. Avoid last-minute preparations. Get a good night’s sleep so you are fresh and alert on the day of your exam. If you work hard and are focused, you will be able to pursue a degree in your dream university! Best of luck!

Cover image credits: Source: nstp.pk