ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has decided to standardise medical college admissions tests, which will now be held on the same day across the country, following complaints about entry test standards.

The council has also announced a single date for admissions tests, because of which more than 100,000 candidates will sit their admissions tests on Aug 25 across the country.

Council member Mohammad Ali Raza told Dawn that a number of anomalies were seen in the centralised exam held last year. Students also lodged many complaints, leading the council to decide to address all the issues.

More than 100,000 candidates to sit for MDCAT on Aug 25 across Pakistan

“It has been decided that this year all universities will hold the Medical and Dental College Admissions Test (MDCAT) on the same date,” he said, adding: “In the past, students would appear in tests in different provinces, which increased their expenses. Now they will only appear in one tests, but students will be able to use the results of the test to apply to colleges affiliated with any university.”

It has also been decided to standardise the entry test, he said.

“Last year, some universities prepared easier tests and others had very difficult tests. A few days ago, we held a meeting with vice chancellors of different universities and it was decided that all the entry tests would be prepared from the same syllabus and would be of the same standard,” he said.

Mr Raza added that although the council cannot decide the fee for entry tests, vice chancellors were advised to hold the tests on a cost-to-cost basis and he believed that most universities would charge between Rs1,000 and Rs1,500.

According to a statement released by the PMDC, the council has announced a single date on which the MDCAT will be held across the country.

“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 PMDC,” it said.

The admissions board has also decided to set down standards to be followed by every university when preparing the MDCAT in order to standardise the exam in all respects, it added.

The statement said this would enable all students to be rated on merit at a national level in a fairly equal manner. Standardisation includes a common syllabus, difficulty rating and indexation.

The admissions board has formed a committee to set down the standards, which will be led by a member of the board and include nominees of each admitting university. It will meet on June 14 to finalise and notify the standards.

The statement said: ““In view of amendments to the Admissions Regulations 2018 by the aouncil earlier, it was also announced that weightage of the MDCAT entry test and FSC or equivalent qualification result would be 50pc 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.”

Mr Raza said it had been observed that some students with lower MDCAT scores were admitted into medical colleges on because they had high FSC marks.

“The minimum percentage for both MDCAT and FSC has been fixed so only students who really want to become doctors are admitted,” he said.

“Moreover, last year the results of the FSC exam was delayed due to rain in Balochistan, so it has been decided to allow students to appear in the entry test even if their result has yet to be announced,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2019