The Universities of Punjab Say “NOPE” to HEC’s Aptitude Test

A week back when the Higher Education Commission (HEC) came up with their new aptitude test; Undergraduate Studies Aptitude Test (USAT), no one including the University officials liked the idea. The test costs literally Rs.1200/- and the students bashed HEC for “looting” them. The real reason why everyone wasn’t happy about it was that HEC announced this admission test for undergraduates and made it mandatory right when all the universities had already decided on their own entry tests. However, other sources also claimed that USAT is not mandatory and it is optional for universities to either adopt it or not. Don’t know anything about it? Click here to read the full news!

Recently, according to the Education Testing Council (ETC), USAT was considered to be a much better test for students since it includes verbal and quantitative reasoning to assess the candidate’s capability. But the universities claimed that HEC did not consult with the institute officials and hence it was extremely discouraged. Now, the universities have said that they’re conducting their own tests as usual and the admissions shall be based on them, not on USAT. 

The Registrar of the University of the Punjab said, “the universities do not need to follow HEC testing council’s USAT.” Even in the last meeting with the academic council, the University of the Punjab didn’t approve of any test other than their own. Even the Government College University (GCU) had already announced the dates for their entry tests as August 28 till 1st of September. They also said that they won’t be able to adopt this admission test for the undergraduate level this year. 

The Vice-Chancellors of the universities in Punjab had said that they came to know about HEC’s Aptitude Test (USAT) through newspaper advertisements and HEC didn’t consult with them at all. At first, HEC made USAT mandatory for students to get BS admissions but it’s now become optional since the majority of the universities have refused it. 

The Vice-Chancellor of GCU, Prof. Dr. Asghar Zaidi also said that the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education do not offer such quality education that the students, who have just passed their Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC), could be prepared for this very test and hence HEC’s aptitude test decision was turned down by all universities in Punjab.

Things You Didn’t Know About USAT

According to the Education Testing Council (ETC), USAT is a competitive test with the purpose of checking out the aptitudes of candidates that have just passed their Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) and are looking forward to BS admissions in a reputable institute. This test is valid only for a year which means that if you hadn’t got admission to a University this whole year based on your USAT results, you’ll have to go for another USAT next year. 

Since USAT is a general test to measure the talents of the candidates, all the universities can use it as a criterion for BS admissions. But if you’re willing to go for MBBS/BDS programs, make sure you don’t rely on USAT because it is certainly not intended for such candidates. 

The students who were interested in appearing in USAT could register themselves here for online application: http://etc.hec.gov.pk. But unfortunately, the last date for application was August 30. 

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Just because USAT for admissions had been refused by universities this year, don’t forget that there are still many entry tests being taken. We know how students have a hard time studying for the upcoming entry tests of different universities like LUMS, NUST, GIKI, LSE, and more. 

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