{"id":18008,"date":"2026-04-08T15:33:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2026\/04\/08\/pmdc-lowers-mdcat-pass-marks\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T15:52:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:52:30","slug":"pmdc-lowers-mdcat-pass-marks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2026\/04\/08\/pmdc-lowers-mdcat-pass-marks\/","title":{"rendered":"PMDC Lowers MDCAT Pass Marks to Fill Seats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">PM&amp;DC Announces 3% Reduction in MDCAT Passing Marks to Fill Vacant Seats<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">ISLAMABAD:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> In a major decision to address the issue of vacant seats in MBBS and BDS programs, the Pakistan Medical &amp; Dental Council (PM&amp;DC) has announced a one-time reduction in the passing percentage for the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Following thorough deliberations at the national level, including consultations with Health Standing Committees, the PM&amp;DC Council has approved a relaxation of up to 3% to help institutions fill remaining vacancies for the 2025\u201326 academic session, ensuring both fairness and the financial stability of the institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Revised Passing Criteria<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-18082 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/islamabadmail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-08-at-8.47.07-PM-223x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"223\" height=\"300\" \/><\/span><\/strong><br class=\"ng-star-inserted\" \/><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Under the new notification, the passing threshold has been lowered:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ng-star-inserted\">\n<li class=\"ng-star-inserted\">\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">MBBS:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> Reduced to <\/span><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">52%<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> (down from the standard 55%).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ng-star-inserted\">\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">BDS:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> Reduced to <\/span><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">47%<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> (down from the standard 50%).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Strict Conditions for Universities<\/span><\/strong><br class=\"ng-star-inserted\" \/><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">The PM&amp;DC has clarified that this is a conditional relaxation aimed primarily at institutions that have exhausted their current applicant pool:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ng-star-inserted\">\n<li class=\"ng-star-inserted\">\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Priority to Existing Candidates:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> Admitting universities that already possess a pool of eligible students under the previously announced (higher) criteria are strictly bound to give priority to those students first. This applies especially to private medical and dental institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ng-star-inserted\">\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Application of the Reduction:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> The up to 3% reduction can only be applied if seats remain vacant <\/span><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">after<\/span><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> all eligible students in the existing pool have been considered and the university is satisfied that no more eligible candidates are available.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ng-star-inserted\">\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Validity of Previous Admissions:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> Any admissions or processes already completed under the Admission Regulations 2025 will remain completely valid and are to be treated as properly regulated.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ng-star-inserted\">\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Transparency:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> Admitting universities are mandated to ensure strict merit-based transparency, institutional accountability, and careful monitoring of the admission process for these vacant seats.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Strong Call for Fee Reduction<\/span><\/strong><br class=\"ng-star-inserted\" \/><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">In a significant move to support deserving candidates, the PM&amp;DC has stated that private institutions are <\/span><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">strongly encouraged<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> to consider reducing their tuition fees from the currently notified or capped structures. The council emphasized that this step would enhance affordability and facilitate access to medical and dental education for meritorious students.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Final Admission Deadline<\/span><\/strong><br class=\"ng-star-inserted\" \/><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">The absolute final date for concluding all admissions is set for <\/span><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">April 15th, 2026<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">. The PM&amp;DC has directed all Provincial Health Departments and admitting universities to ensure full compliance with these instructions, issuing a stern warning that any violation will be dealt with under applicable laws and regulations.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PMDC cuts MDCAT passing marks by 3% for 2025\u201326 to fill vacant MBBS and BDS seats, enforces fee rules and sets April 15 deadline for admissions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18010,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18008\/revisions\/18010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}