2.2 Fees, Payment & Retakes

2.2 Fees, Payment & Retakes

Quick Answer: For the 2026 admission cycle, AQL only costs R195, AQL & MAT costs R390, and a re-mark costs R250. Pay through Lesaka EasyPay (Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Checkers, Spar, or easypay.co.za). Scores are not released without payment. You cannot write MAT only. If NBTP cancels a session you already paid for, you do not pay extra; if you reschedule, you pay again.

The 2026 price list — and what it is not

These amounts appear on the NBTP homepage, FAQ 28, and the 2026 brochure. There is no MAT-only tariff. If a faculty needs mathematics, you still pay R390 and you still sit AQL that morning. Midday walk-ins for MAT alone are not allowed on pencil-paper or online.

The fee is per registration, not per university application. One paid sitting can serve several faculties. A second attempt in the same cycle is a new full fee. OpenExamPrep does not collect these amounts.

How to pay so results can actually be released

After you click Submit you can download or print a registration letter with a barcode / 14-digit NBT reference. That number is your Lesaka EasyPay reference.

Default path for writers who can reach EasyPay in South Africa: take the registration letter to a Lesaka EasyPay paypoint, or pay at easypay.co.za and print the receipt. Paypoints include Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Checkers, and Spar, plus other merchant sites. Keep the receipt — EasyPay is how NBTP verifies payment so results may be released.

EFT is not the everyday option. FAQ 29 reserves the Standard Bank details for writers who have no EasyPay paypoint or online EasyPay access — typically international writers and those in countries bordering South Africa:

• Bank: Standard Bank
• Account name: UCT
• Account number: 071503854
• Branch code: 025009
• Payment reference: NBT234140
• SWIFT: SBZAZAJJ
• Email confirmation to cea-nbt@uct.ac.za and include your 14-digit NBT reference number, name, and ID number.

Trap: treating NBT234140 as if it were your personal booking number, then omitting the 14-digit reference from the email. CEA cannot match the deposit. Trap: paying EasyPay for sitting one, missing that date, booking sitting two, and expecting sitting-two scores while sitting one is still unpaid. An outstanding balance blocks later results.

You may change an online booking until the closing date posted on the test schedule. After that date, the booking is frozen. The last day to register online is also the last day to change the registration.

Worked payment scenario: EasyPay versus border EFT

Sipho books AQL & MAT in Johannesburg and pays R390 at Checkers the same afternoon using the EasyPay number on his letter. He does not email CEA. The merchant receipt plus the EasyPay number is the trail NBTP expects.

Amina is writing from Namibia, where EasyPay is not available. She EFTs R390 to the UCT Standard Bank account using reference NBT234140, then emails cea-nbt@uct.ac.za with the 14-digit NBT number from her letter, her name, and passport number. Until that proof arrives, her scores stay locked even if she completes both papers.

Who pays twice — and who does not

Registered applicants who do not report must rebook venue and date and pay again. No learner may come mid-day to write just MAT. If NBTP cancels because of low registration or a hall problem, watch the SMS and email: you should be moved without a second R390. If you then decide the new date clashes with a sports tour, that is a writer-side reschedule: pay again.

Worked retake scenario: second score in one cycle

NBTP allows an individual to write twice per cycle. You must pay the total fee both times. If you write MAT a second time, you must also write AQL a second time that morning. There is no "MAT-only upgrade" on the second attempt.

Before you spend another R390, ask each faculty whether it will accept a second score. Not all will. Writer results are uploaded about four weeks after a sitting, which helps leave a minimum of about six weeks between attempts so the second date is usable. If you book two Saturdays a week apart, you will not have seen the first score when you pay for the second.

A re-mark is a different product: R250, requested within 30 days of receiving results, paid via EasyPay on your NBT reference, with a signed application form and proof of payment. The re-mark is electronic and takes four weeks. It is not a second sitting and it does not add teaching time.

Combined AQL+MAT writers: do not split the day or the fee

The afternoon paper is not a product you can park on another Saturday. Online writers also sit AQL first and MAT the same day unless NBTP communicates a deviation. If load-shedding cuts MAT after a completed AQL, incomplete sessions caused by the writer's power, camera, or connectivity remain a re-register problem, not a free MAT-only continuation. Budget for lunch at a venue, or for data and a load-shedding plan if you are online — those are not extra NBTP tariffs, but they decide whether you finish the sitting you already paid for.

If a payment has not reflected before results day, email nbt@uct.ac.za or call 021 650 3523. Staff will not read scores over the phone. Bring the EasyPay receipt or the EFT proof plus the 14-digit reference.