MCAT Pakistan

Medical & Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) is a test conducted in the Punjab, Pakistan each year for admission in MBBS and BDS degrees. MDCAT is a pre-requisite for admission in all medical and dental colleges both public and private sector in the Punjab.

MDCAT is conducted by the University of Health Sciences, Lahore. Previously, its name was Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and a new name was assigned in 2017. It was started in 1998 on the initiative of then Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif to counter cheating in the examinations at that time. From 1998 to 2007, it was being conducted by the King Edward Medical University, Lahore. Since 2008, University of Health Sciences, Lahore is conducting this test in Punjab. NTS conducts the MDCAT in Sindh. Each year some 85,000 students attempt this test while there are some 3405 open merit seats in public sector medical colleges and some 216 open merit seats in public sector dental colleges of the Punjab. In addition to that there are seats for foreign and dual nationality holders. There are also 76 seats for overseas Pakistanis. Overseas Pakistanis do not have to pay any extra fee on these seats. While the fee for foreign nationals is around $10,000 per year which is often far less as compared to many institutes in other parts of the world.

MDCAT is taken as multiple choice questions (MCQ). Each MCQ carries 1 marks while there is no negative marking for wrong answer. Total score of MDCAT is now 200.