HEC USAT 2026 on 25 October: Portal Closed, Slip on 16 October, Paper Pattern

The HEC USAT, the Undergraduate Studies Admission Test, is on Sunday 25 October 2026. The registration portal closed on 2 October. HEC's Education Testing Council (ETC) lists roll number slips for Friday 16 October, marked tentative. If you registered, wait for the slip. If you did not, the portal is shut.

Many students call the 25 October date a "HAT" date. It is the same sitting, but the tests are different. The HAT is for MS, MPhil and PhD. The USAT is for students who finished 12 years of education and want a place in an undergraduate programme.

We opened ETC's announcements page, its test calendar page and its USAT content weightage document on 7 October 2026. The dates and the paper pattern below come from those pages. We could not find the USAT fee or the rule on which universities accept the score on any HEC page, so we say so where it matters.

The HEC USAT test date is 25 October 2026

The USAT is on Sunday 25 October 2026. ETC's announcements page says "Portal Closed on 02.10.2026" and lists USAT roll number slips for Friday 16 October 2026, tentative. HEC has the result on its calendar for mid November, so plan for about three weeks of waiting.

The test calendar was revised on 25 August 2026. HEC said it aligned the HAT and USAT registration dates with the Commonwealth Scholarship portal. So any older screenshot of the calendar may show a different date. The result date is marked reported because the calendar names it as a Friday, and 16 November 2026 is a Monday.

Registration is closed and HEC shows no late window

The portal closed on 2 October and ETC's page does not mention a late window or an extension for the USAT. If you missed it, the next route is the next ETC sitting, so watch the same page for its dates. Do not pay anyone who offers a late seat.

Paying an agent or a "consultant" for a USAT seat is a trap. The only place to register is etc.hec.gov.pk. HEC's help desk is at onlinehelp.hec.gov.pk and its helpline is 051-111-119-432.

ETC holds its tests in several sittings through the year, so a missed sitting is not the end of your admissions. Check the ETC Test Calendar for the next one before you plan your admissions.

The USAT has 75 MCQs and an essay, split by stream

Part I is 75 multiple choice questions in 100 minutes. Part II is two essays in 40 minutes. ETC's weightage document has six versions, one for each stream of 12 years of education. Verbal reasoning is 20 questions and quantitative reasoning is 25 in every version.

The verbal section has analogy (5), synonym or antonym (4), sentence completion (6) and comprehension (5). The quantitative section has arithmetic (6), algebra and functions (4), geometry (3), equations (3), statistics (3) and scenario based or mental mathematics (6).

Part II asks for one argument based essay out of three choices, worth 15 marks. It also asks for one narrative based essay out of three choices, worth 10 marks. You may write either one in English or in Urdu.

How to download the USAT roll number slip on 16 October

Log in to etc.hec.gov.pk on or after 16 October with the account you used to register, open your USAT application and download the slip. ETC's earlier HAT notice says slips also go to the registered email about a week before the test, so check your spam folder too.

1. Open etc.hec.gov.pk on 16 October or later.
2. Log in with the account you registered with.
3. Open your USAT application on the dashboard.
4. Download the slip and check your name, CNIC, stream and centre.
5. Print it on paper. A phone screenshot is not enough.

The slip date is marked tentative on HEC's page. If it is not there on the 16th, try again the next day before you worry. If your payment went through but no slip appears by 20 October, raise a ticket at onlinehelp.hec.gov.pk and keep the payment receipt.

Bring the printed slip and an original ID on test day

ETC's test day rules for its tests say to carry the printed slip and your original CNIC or passport. A candidate under 18 should bring a B-Form with the inter result card. Arrive about 45 minutes early. Phones, smart watches and calculators stay outside.

These rules were published for ETC tests in general, and we read them for the September HAT sitting. Your own slip is the final word, so follow its reporting time and its list of items. Use a black or blue ball pen on the OMR sheet. HEC says answers in pencil are not assessed in its tests.

If you are not sure that a university will take your USAT score, ask the admissions office before you pay for any test. HEC's pages we read do not say which universities use it. We also did not find the fee, so use the amount the portal showed with your payment code.

What to do while you wait for the result

Use the weeks before the result to check that your university and programme are recognised, and to line up your documents. Our guide to checking if a university is HEC recognised takes about two minutes. It matters more than the score itself.

If you plan to study law, the test is the LAT, not the USAT. Our HEC LAT guide covers it, and the portal for it opened on 4 October. For MS, MPhil or PhD, read the HEC HAT guide, which has the same 25 October date but a different paper.

Common questions

When is the HEC USAT in October 2026?

On Sunday 25 October 2026. ETC lists slips on 16 October, tentative, and the portal closed on 2 October.

Can I still register for the USAT on 25 October?

HEC's announcements page says the portal closed on 2 October. We found no late window. The next sitting is on ETC's test calendar.

How many questions are in the USAT?

There are 75 MCQs in 100 minutes, and then two essays in 40 minutes. The subject part depends on your stream.

Is the USAT the same as the HAT?

No. The HAT is for MS, MPhil and PhD admission. The USAT is for undergraduate admission after 12 years of education. Both are held by ETC and both fall on 25 October 2026.

What is the USAT fee?

We could not find the fee on any HEC page we opened. The portal shows the amount with your 1Link payment code, so go by that.

Do I have to take the USAT for every university?

We could not confirm this. HEC's pages do not list which universities accept it, so ask your university's admissions office.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked on 7 October 2026. We read ETC's announcements page, its test calendar page and its content weightages page, which links the USAT paper pattern. The etc.hec.gov.pk portal itself needs a login, so the slip steps are the portal's general process and we did not test them.