Guidance for entry test if you are an A-level student

After doing A-levels in Pakistan many students end up either in poor universities or opt for a gap year. All thanks to the poor equivalence system of our country and the dreaded entry tests.

But don't worry you do have a chance!!!

• First things first you should know what's tested.......

            Most of you will know that entry tests are based upon the syllabus of fsc and NOT A-level
            so you should be mentally prepared about it. And bear in mind only maths,physics,english
            and chemistry are tested (generally)

• Is it true that nothing of A-level course will come?

            No this is NOT entirely true, there are some common topics to both fsc and a-level
            courses. So the topics that are covered in A-levels you have an edge over fsc students
            because you study them in much more detail than them.

• So what's the right way to prepare for entry tests?
  
    This is the golden rule to prepare for entry tests that I had used and it worked for me!!!
  
  start your preparation right after AS exams and do NOT prepare for SAT/IELTS or any other such test for foreign universities. (After AS you should have decided either to apply abroad or apply in local universities - you can't choose both!)

•  Is it worth the effort to apply abroad?
  
   In my opinion it is not! Many of my class mates who got excellent scores in SAT/ACT ended up joining local universities. Why you ask? The reason is that unless you can afford to study abroad the chances of you getting a good scholarship are low because not only is the competition tough but you need extra curriculars too. Bear in mind that you not only have to provide finances for your education but also for your food,clothing,accommodation and much more....So even if you end up with a 70-80% scholarship you will still have a hell of a lot of expenses!

•  The million dollar question are academies worth it?It depends on you. Generally I have seen they don't help a lot but if you want to satisfy yourself you can take some extra help. I went to KIPS during my A2 and despite the fact that they only helped to speed up my rate of attempting mcqs the teachers there merely revised the topic - they only provided outlines. But the actual suffering was that they took 6 hours/day without any break. Then I realized that no academy or tuition can teach you the course of 2 years in just a few months of time. So choose wisely because you need to save your time as much as possible.

• Which books to study?
  
  You have to study fsc (both 1st and 2nd yr) from ONLY PTB (punjab textbook board) books.
  Also use KIPS books to know the important points of each chapter (they are esp helpful in maths)
• From where can You practice mcqs?
  KIPS books provide good mcqs for you to practice so practice them. Apart from that you should practice actual past papers of different universities. Although they are not available to everyone but I have their few papers namely of NUST,PIEAS and GIKI. (They were made by students who took the entry tests and are 100% real) - Contact me via email if you need them.
  
  
  

My experience of entry tests has taught me a very important thing about entry tests. Some universities' test pattern is similar to A-levels exams. These are namely - NUST,GIKI,PIEAS
 so you have good chances of getting admission there.

For more information about their tests visit the following posts:

GIKI
NUST