FAST Admissions & Academics — Frequently Asked Questions

Should I take the NU Test or the NTS NAT for FAST?

Take the NU Test. FAST allocates the vast majority of its open seats to applicants sitting the in-house NU entry test, making its final closing merit the most forgiving and realistic option to clear.

The NTS NAT stream competes for a much smaller, highly restricted pool of reserved seats. Historically, getting in via NAT has required an almost perfect score, and the merit cutoffs fluctuate violently from year to year.

Read more detailed breakdowns in Entry Test Streams.

Does FAST still accept SAT Subject Tests (SAT-II)?

No. The College Board permanently discontinued SAT Subject Tests (SAT-II) globally in 2021. FAST now evaluates applicants using the regular SAT-I reasoning exam on a completely separate merit list.

While a few legacy campus sub-sites still accidentally show stale references to SAT-II, you should always ignore them and verify current parameters on the central nu.edu.pk admissions page.

See SAT Test Stream for the full SAT admission breakdown.

What is the minimum attendance required to sit finals at FAST?

You must maintain a minimum of 80% attendance for undergraduate programs and 75% attendance for graduate or postgraduate courses.

If you drop below this threshold, the system automatically renders you ineligible to sit the final exam, resulting in an immediate F/A (Fail due to Absence) grade on your transcript. The university only condones up to 20% of absences for genuine, heavily documented emergencies like medical illness.

Full rules on the attendance wall, missed-exam boards, and the cheating policy are in Attendance, Missed Exams & Academic Integrity.

What CGPA do I need to avoid an academic warning?

To stay in good academic standing, you must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00 for Bachelor's (BS/BBA) programs, 2.50 for Master's (MS/MBA) degrees, and 3.00 for a Ph.D.

If your CGPA drops below these lines at the end of any semester, your official Warning Count goes up by one. If you fail to pull your grades up and hit three consecutive warnings, your university admission will be permanently closed.

Read about emergency recovery tactics in Academic Warnings & Probation.

What GPA do I need to go abroad for a funded master's?

Most reputable international universities enforce a hard 3.0 GPA cutoff just to evaluate your application file. To be genuinely competitive, a 3.3+ GPA loaded with top scores in core computing and math subjects is widely reported as good enough for admissions, while a 3.5+ GPA materially secures your odds for fully funded scholarships.

Keep in mind that hitting these target metrics on FAST's brutal grading curve requires far more exhaustion and grind than it would at NUST, LUMS, ITU, or a standard public university.

The SGPA/CGPA formulas and the 3.0 foreign-master's cutoff are detailed in Grading System & GPA Dynamics.

Is FAST's Financial Assistance a grant or a loan?

It is structured strictly as Qarz-e-Hasana—an interest-free loan, not a free grant. You are legally required to start paying back the university three months after your official graduation date or as soon as you secure your first job, whichever comes first.

The entire balance must be cleared within 4 years. For instance, if you receive a standard 60% Financial Assistance package, you will graduate owing roughly Rs. 1,000,000, which translates into a fixed bill of roughly Rs. 21,000 per month for forty-eight months right after you step off campus.

See Financial Aid & Qarz-e-Hasana for the full repayment breakdown.

Can I afford FAST if my family income is around Rs. 80,000/month?

It is exceptionally difficult and entirely dependent on stacking multiple aid pipelines perfectly. If you try it, you must apply to the FAST loan program, the Honhaar Scholarship, PEEF, OSAF, and the Ihsan Trust simultaneously while mapping out your post-grad repayment model.

You should absolutely keep a solid backup option open—such as UET, PUCIT, ITU, or NED—where you can easily absorb the semester fees without heavy debt. If attending FAST requires your family to take out commercial bank loans on top of internal university aid, choosing a cheaper public college and building killer coding skills on your own is a far smarter path for a local tech career.

Is the "gender rules" viral post about FAST real?

No—it is pure online satire. The viral memes listing extreme fine systems for sitting with classmates or talking across genders are jokes. FAST operates like any normal, co-educational university in Pakistan, adhering to standard cultural boundaries and customary social courtesies. While the student stress and academic anxiety the meme mocks are very real, the crazy rules themselves do not exist.

Is BS Computer Science better than BS Cybersecurity if I'm unsure?

Yes, absolutely. A standard BS CS degree covers the entire landscape of engineering, AI, data architecture, and software development, allowing you to easily pivot into cybersecurity later via electives or industry certifications.

Trying to pivot the other way around is significantly harder because a cybersecurity degree locks you into a narrow curriculum. Furthermore, the junior entry-level security market inside Pakistan is quite thin. Only specialize early if you possess a deeply researched, verified passion for the domain.

How long do I have to complete my BS at FAST?

Following Higher Education Commission (HEC) regulations, you have a maximum of six years to finish your 4-year Bachelor's degree.

While you can technically request a one-year emergency extension, the university's Statutory Bodies only grant this for severe, completely unavoidable life events—such as documented medical conditions, a death in your immediate family, maternity, or the observation of Iddat.