MDCAT 2026 Concludes With 138,000+ Candidates: What's Next
Pakistan's Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) 2026 was finally held on Sunday, September 20, with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) reporting more than 138,000 registered candidates sitting the three-hour test across 34 cities, plus an international centre in Riyadh for Pakistani students based in Saudi Arabia. Punjab alone accounted for close to 49,200 candidates — by far the largest single-province group — followed by sizeable cohorts from Balochistan, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad.
Exam day, by the numbers
PMDC and provincial health authorities reported a peaceful, orderly test day, with no major reports of leaked papers or centre-level disruption — a contrast to some past cycles that were marred by controversy. Arrangements were finalized well in advance at every centre, and the test proceeded on schedule nationwide.
Why the exam was delayed by five weeks
This year's MDCAT was originally scheduled for August 16 but was pushed back on the direction of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after students, parents and lawmakers raised concerns about security arrangements, a compressed preparation window, and syllabus discrepancies between FSc and A-Level candidates. PMDC used the extra five weeks to firm up centre-level security and finalize logistics, while keeping eligibility criteria, the syllabus, and the test format unchanged.
What comes next: answer key, result, merit lists
- Provisional answer key: expected within days of the test
- Final result: PMDC typically needs several weeks to process objections and finalize scores, putting the official MDCAT 2026 result in the mid-to-late October window
- Provincial merit lists: each province runs its own admissions process — Punjab through UHS, Sindh through DUHS, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through KMU, and Balochistan through BUMHS — and typically opens the first merit list one to two weeks after the national result is announced
Why your aggregate matters more than your raw MDCAT score
Admission isn't decided by the MDCAT score alone. Every province applies its own weighted formula combining your Matric/SSC (or O-Level), FSc/HSSC (or A-Level), and MDCAT percentages into a single aggregate, and that aggregate — not the test score in isolation — is what gets ranked against a college's closing merit. A strong MDCAT result can still fall short of a competitive aggregate if intermediate marks were average, and a modest MDCAT score can sometimes be offset by a very strong FSc percentage, depending on the province's weightage split.
The takeaway
With over 138,000 candidates chasing a limited number of public-sector MBBS/BDS seats, the gap between a "good" MDCAT score and an actual admission offer will again come down to the province-wise aggregate formula, not the raw test percentage. Track the confirmed answer key and result dates through PMDC's official website rather than relying on unofficial leaks or rumours circulating on social media.