Are you planning to be amongst the creme of the nation? Do you picture yourself waving your graduation cap in the air with dreams to find the next breakthrough in our industries? Are you ready to take ECAT then?
That was a jolt to the dream, to be honest!
Relax! We’ve got your back here. 10 to 15 minutes of scrolling down this page and bingo! You are quite equipped with preparing for this enigmatic test to be sure.
What is ECAT?
Engineering College Admission Test is the test conducted for engineering aspirants in Pakistan once every year.
When? Mostly July!
Setting the curriculum for the test, determining instructions to conduct it and then checking the exams are all the responsibilities of the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.
It has the regulating body for ECAT for several years under the special status granted to it by the Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif in 1998. This action was taken to counter cheating in the examinations at that time.
What to Expect?
Real-time advice: You cannot waste time if you wish to score well in this test.
Why? Around 50,000 to 60,000 aspirants compete for a meager number of seats for engineering degrees i.e., 2500 to 3000 only throughout the Punjab province and some federal institutes.
Don’t Forget to Read: How to Get High Marks In NUST Entry Test NET [7 Tips]
Now you know what you’re signing up for. So brace yourselves for what lies ahead!
What to Do?
Before jumping on the bandwagon, do some research.
- What does ECAT assess?
- How does it work?
- What is important for the test? etc.
Once you fully realize how ECAT works for you, then you shall get the green signal to proceed with your preparations.
Marks Division in ECAT
Often, without even consulting the official website or a credible source, students tend to hop onto their course books and start their satisfying ritual of cramming every syllable. This won’t work here.
There’s always a way to prepare for an entry test – plan, exercise, assess, revise!
With this golden maxim in mind, you will definitely feel less burdened while preparing for ECAT.
The test consists of 100 MCQs, each carrying 4 marks for a correct answer and a negative mark for an incorrect one. Thus, the total marks that ECAT carries are 400.
Following is the marks division you need to keep in mind while dividing your time for preparation:
- English – 10 MCQs
- Chemistry – 30 MCQs
- Physics – 30 MCQs
- Mathematics – 30 MCQs
Techniques for Preparation
For English Section
The English segment is further divided into
- Vocabulary
- Grammar
- Comprehension
A) Vocabulary
The students are actually quite right when they say it’s almost impossible to cover all the synonyms and antonyms given in the list for the test. And no one compels you to cram them either.
B) Picture Technique
There’s this one technique that might be a way out of this labyrinth. Get the list of all the words given for synonyms and antonyms and work this way:
- Associate an object with the word that has a connection with it. This should be a very common article so it might be easy to memorize it. E.g. with perplexity, you may associate the picture of an elder sister or your father with a crossed face while you’re telling her about your passion for video games.
- Construct a story that incorporates the pictures you formed for various words in the list. This sequence not only saves your time but also ensures maximum memorization.
C) Command on the Social Meaning
This is another technique that generates fruitful results. This calls for a contextual background of the word you are dealing with. Just familiarize yourself with all the vocabulary words and you will probably land safely in the test.
D) Grammar and Comprehension
Grammar and comprehension are more about building a context for the question. Following methods may prove vital in attempting this portion:
- Alpha Placing – this method calls for placing alpha where the blank is in order to complete the sense of the sentence. Otherwise, it would seem like a fragmented bit of information instead of a cohesive and coherent arrangement of elements to form a meaningful sentence.
- Key Rules and Groups – Make a group of rules concerning grammatical concepts while you are preparing for the ECAT English section. This way navigating a rule violation becomes systemic, saving your time during the paper attempt.
For the Science Section
The test syllabus consists of the curriculum included in the textbooks provided in Intermediate part I and II, DAE or A-Levels examination, etc. the topics and subtopics in these various books are kept the same to maintain uniformity in preparation.
With 90% weightage in ECAT, the science section clearly leaps ahead in the race. We cannot let this section pass without adequate preparation.
Try these methods and we assure you you’re doing just fine for the test:
Assessment Before Commencement
Remember you have just taken your board exams or A-Levels or some other equivalent assessment?
Did you prepare for the paper? Of course, yes!
Are most of the topics covered for these exams included in ECAT? Yeah, mostly!
Are you sure you want to start from scratch? You don’t have much time for ECAT once you’re free from your board tests. Not a good idea then, is it?
So, before you jump at chapter 1 of each book, assess yourself!
Start your preparation for the science subjects with our 3-round formula:
A) 1st Assessment
- Get hold onto some past papers, say from 2015-2020. Forget about the MCQs and the weightage of each chapter or topic.
- Solve the paper without learning or revising any topic.
- Solve the paper as if it is a puzzle and you need to grope your way through the labyrinth of questions and make your way to the examiner’s point of view. Try to decipher the mindset of paper setter and recognize how the question has been picked from a certain topic.
- Check for the MCQs you attempted wrong and highlight them.
B) 2nd Assessment
Before you set a date for the next assessment following the same model of 1st assessment, you need to rigorously revise the topics marked unprepared in the first one.
The MCQs attempted wrong in this phase and the topics concerning them will make your preparation more progressive and satisfactory.
C) 3rd Assessment
This phase is the ultimate test that will determine your status for the final exam to be taken within a few days. The time frames concerning each assessment can vary according to your convenience.
However, a margin of ten days shall lie between this final assessment and the real test. During these last preparatory days, shortlisted topics and past papers solved in the three assessments shall be revised with utmost diligence.
Step into the arena! Grab your past papers and pens and start timing your attempts.
This will sharpen your reflexes for the final test and diminish the stressful effects of the time bomb that keeps pinching you during the test.
Useful Video You Need to Watch to Improve Memory (Urdu)
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