Out of a total of 7,226 candidates, only 2,828 passed the exam, bringing the overall pass rate to 39 percent.
An analysis of the recently conducted entrance test at the University of Karachi revealed that a majority of successful candidates barely passed the exam, with most of them scoring between 50 and 60 marks out of 100.
According to official data, reviewed by THE PK Press Club Expresscandidates who passed the test scored between 50 and 60% marks, while the pass percentage was set at 50%.
Out of a total of 7,226 candidates, only 2,828 passed the exam, bringing the overall pass rate to 39 percent – a notable improvement from last year’s pass rate of around 25 percent.
The test was conducted for admission into 20 university departments for the 2026 session, including pharmacy, computer science, artificial intelligence, digital media marketing and business administration.
The detailed breakdown shows:
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50-60 points: 1,735 students (61.3%)
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60-70 points: 830 students (29.3%)
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70 to 80 points: 243 students (8.6%)
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80 to 90 points: 20 students (0.7%)
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90-100 points: 0 students (0%)
The results reveal that no student scored above 90, while only 20 students – or less than 1 percent – scored between 80 and 90. Together, candidates who scored 70 or above made up only 3.6 percent of all participants, or 263 students in total.
This means that 61 percent of new admissions this year will come from students who scored 60 percent or lower. Sources within the university said that although the pass percentage has improved compared to last year, the number of high-performing candidates remains alarming.
Essentially, the data suggests that the University of Karachi admissions test continues to challenge even the best students – with only a handful managing to achieve what the report describes as the “elite group’ of those who scored more than 80 points, which represents only 0.28 percent of the total candidates.
KU last week conducted its entrance test for admission to morning and evening programs for the academic year 2026. For this purpose, the university has established 22 examination centers in different departments. According to university officials, 7,769 applications were received for 1,347 spots across 20 departments. Among them, 7,536 candidates took the test.
The test covered admissions to programs such as Doctor of Pharmacy (Morning and Evening), Doctor of Physiotherapy, BS Computer Science (BSCS, BSSE, AI), Business Administration (BBA), Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Aeronautical Technology, Applied Physics, Environmental Studies, Food Science and Technology, International Relations, Mass Communication, Commerce, Public Administration and B.Ed (H), among others.
