What’s NSTC?

Heya fellows! Yesterday, I was thinking, about what topic I should write first. But then I thought, why not tell you guys what’s NPTC?

As you have already read in our biographies that we are among the top 50 students regarding physics in Pakistan and most of you would’ve liked how do we even know that we come in the top 50? Are we just boasting?

Your query – justified! But let me tell you that it’s not a random shot but actually it’s calculated. And the best part is, YOU can be an alumni too.

NSTC means National Science Talent Contest. It’s a test that FSc – 1 students or A-1 students can give. It’s registration opens round about November – December. And the respective test is held in February ( roughly ).

During the submission of form, you have to choose your favourite science subject out of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology (in which you are most competent). As you already know, we chose Physics because it’s simply just amazing. Thus on the given date of the test, you have to appear in that subject’s test and nail it. First there are 5 mcq’s each of all 4 subjects. Then there are 50 mcq’s of the particular subject you chose. And then finally, 3 long questions of 10 marks each. Remeber! There is negative marking so you have to be careful.
Then result is announced in 3 months or so. Every year an international Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Mathematics competition is held in different countries in July and NSTC is a 1 year training programme for choosing a team for that competition. Here:

• NPTC stands for National Physics Talent Contest
• NCTC stands for National Chemistry Talent Contest
• NBTC stands for National Biology Talent Contest
• NMTC stands for National Mathematics Talent Contest

Similarly, there are IPhO, IChO, IMO and IBO which are the international competitions. Theyselect top 50 students in each subject and cut them down to top 5 or 10 as required through a series of training camps ( that’s how we know we are in the top 50, 10 and 5  ). For Physics, they are held at PIEAS, Nilore, Islamabad. For Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology, at some universities in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad respectively.