Islamabad : The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Admission Board has announced one single date i.e. August 25, 2019, for the holding of the MDCAT entry test across Pakistan for admission to all medical and dental colleges.
For the first time, the MDCAT entry test will take place the same date across Pakistan, including provinces and the federal capital.
The admitting universities have been directed by the Admissions Board to prepare for the test on the notified date.
Students appearing for the MDCAT entry 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 standardize 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. Standardization will include a common syllabus, difficulty rating, and indexation.
In view of amendments to the Admissions Regulations 2018 by the Council earlier, it was also announced that weightage of the MDCAT Entry Test and FSC or equivalent qualification result would be 50% each for purposes of calculating merit. In addition, students who obtain a minimum 60% marks in MDCAT and 70% in FSC and a minimum aggregate of 70% marks (MDCAT+FSc exam) 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 before Eid.