Engineering Colleges' Admission Test (ECAT) is a computer-based test conducted in the Punjab, Pakistan each year in May/June for admission in BE/BS/BSc Engineering degree. ECAT is conducted by the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. It was started in 1998 on the initiative of then Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif 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 prerequisite for admission in the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, its affiliated institutions and all other public sector engineering institutions in the Punjab. From entry 2023 to onwards, it is also a prerequisite for admission in private engineering universities of Punjab.
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. Since 2022, UET conducts computer based test on its own without any external collaboration.
Test structure and scoring
ECAT consists of 100 multiple choice questions. Each question carries 4 marks, with 1 mark deducted for each wrong answer. Total marks are 400. 30 questions are from Mathematics, 30 from Chemistry, 30 from Physics, 10 from English language.
According to the updated rules of Pakistan Engineering Council, from entry 2023 onwards, 33% marks (132 out of 400) are required to pass ECAT.
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, the average score was only 73 out of 400 (18.25%), lowest since the test started in 1998. However, test difficulty level has been reduced since ECAT-2023 due to pass/fail concept introduced upon orders of Pakistan Engineering Council.
Average and maximum marks in ECAT from year 2011 to onwards are as below,