NAT score of 68 — is that competitive enough for engineering admission?
Just got my NAT-IE results back and scored 68 out of 100. I'm trying to figure out if that's going to be enough to get into a decent engineering program. From what I've seen online, the cutoffs vary a lot by university — some top-tier schools like NUST and UET Lahore have effective cutoffs in the mid-70s when you factor in merit formula weighting, while others will consider you around 60–65.
My breakdown was pretty uneven: I scored well on quantitative reasoning (74%) but dropped on the engineering sciences portion, especially the physics-based mechanics questions (around 58%). The verbal section I've basically accepted — I scored 61% and I don't think that's moving significantly even with a retake. The test felt rushed and I left 6 questions blank in the quantitative section that I probably could've answered with more time.
I'm weighing whether to retake the NAT. The second attempt usually shows improvement if you're strategic about it, but it also delays my admission timeline by one cycle. If I'd consistently been scoring 72–74% on full-length practice tests beforehand I probably would've done better — exam day nerves definitely cost me a few points.
68 is workable for a lot of good programs but you're right that NUST and UET will be tight. The merit formula at most universities weights your FSc percentage heavily — if that's strong (85%+), a 68 NAT can still get you into programs that would otherwise feel out of reach.
I retook the NAT after a 64 on my first attempt and got a 73 the second time. The key difference was doing timed full-length tests — I wasn't doing those the first time around and it cost me on pacing. Six blank answers is a meaningful gap you can close with practice.
Don't only look at NUST and UET. COMSATS, GIK, and NED offer solid engineering programs and their NAT cutoffs are more in the 60–68 range. A 68 puts you comfortably in contention at those schools, especially with strong FSc marks.
The engineering sciences section is where most NAT-IE candidates lose ground. Physics mechanics and basic circuit analysis are consistent themes. Three to four weeks of focused problem-solving in those two areas is usually enough to move the needle 5–7 points.