Engineering Colleges' Admission Test (ECAT) is a computer-based test conducted in the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

each year in May/June for admission in BE/BS/BSc Engineering degree. ECAT is conducted by the

University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore The University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (UET Lahore) is a public university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan specializing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. It is the oldest and one of the most ...

. It was started in 1998 on the initiative of then Chief Minister Punjab

Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif ( Urdu, Punjabi: , ; born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who is currently serving as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan, in office since 11 April 2022. He is the current president o ...

to counter cheating in the examinations at that time. Each year around 40,000 students attempt this test while there are around 3000 open merit seats in public sector engineering institutions of the Punjab. ECAT is a pre-requisite for admission in the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore and its affiliated institutions and all other public sector engineering institutions in the Punjab. Some private institutions also require ECAT as a pre-requisite.

History

ECAT was leaked out in the year 2011. Since then, the test secrecy and difficulty level has been increased by UET.In the year 2020, test was shifted to computer-based mode by the collaboration of Virtual University of Pakistan

Test structure and scoring

ECAT consists of 100

multiple choice questions Multiple choice (MC), objective response or MCQ (for multiple choice question) is a form of an objective assessment in which respondents are asked to select only correct answers from the choices offered as a list. The multiple choice format is mo ...

. Each question carries 4 marks with 1 mark deducted for each wrong answer. Total marks are 400. 30 questions are from

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, 30 from

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

, 30 from

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

, 10 from

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

Test Difficulty Level

ECAT is widely considered as most difficult entrance test of any university in Pakistan where only around 1-2% candidates are able to score 50% or above marks. In ECAT-2021, average score was only 73 out of 400 (18.25%), lowest since the test started in 1998. Average marks in ECAT from year 2011 to onwards are as below,

History

Test structure and scoring

Test Difficulty Level

See also