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Medical entrance test on Aug 25

By Our Correspondent
June 12, 2019

LAHORE: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) Admission Board has announced one single date, August 25, 2019, for MDCAT entrance test across Pakistan for all medical and dental colleges.

For the first time the MDCAT entrance test will be held on the same date at all locations in Pakistan in every province and the federal capital. The admitting universities have been directed by the admission board to be prepared for holding the entrance test on the notified date.

Students appearing in MDCAT entrance test held by any of the admitting universities would be able to rely on the result for admission nationally in any private or public medical and dental colleges pursuant to the merit policy as determined by the admission board of the PM&DC.

In another first, the admission board also decided to set down strict standards to be followed by every admitting university when preparing the MDCAT examination paper in order to standardise the examination in all respects irrespective of where a student takes the exam. This will enable all students to be rated on merit on a national level in a fairly equal manner. Standardisation will include a common syllabus, difficulty rating and indexation. To set down the standards, the admission board has formed a committee headed by a member of the admission board and including nominees of each admitting university to meet on June 14 to finalise and notify the standards to be followed by all admitting universities.

In view of amendments to the Admissions Regulations 2018 by the council earlier, it was also announced that weightage of the MDCAT Entrance Test and FSC or equivalent qualification result would be 50% each for purposes of calculating merit. In addition students who obtain a minimum 60pc marks in MDCAT and 70pc in FSC and a minimum aggregate of 70pc (MDCAT+FSC) would qualify for inclusion in the merit list and for admission subject to merit policy. The merit policy and methodology will be announced by the Admission Board in due course pursuant to the Admissions Policy as approved by the council in its meeting held just before Eid.