ISLAMABAD: The National Medical Authority of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) on Monday announced the completion of Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) for the session of 2022.
According to PMC, a record number of 202, 065 students got registration for the exam and 194, 108 students have taken the MDCAT from August 30, 2021, to October 2, 2021.
It added a further 729 students are scheduled to take the exam on October 9, 2021, scheduled for the applicants who could not take the exam earlier due to COVID-19 or dengue infections, etc.
The MDCAT was conducted in 22 cities in 25 examination centres across Pakistan and six international locations at Chicago, Doha, Dubai, London, Riyadh, and Toronto.
The MDCAT was the single largest computer-based examination held in Pakistan to ensure that every student entering the field of medical study has the necessary aptitude, knowledge concepts, and analytical skills required for the rigorous medical and dental training programs.
The council had previously considered in detail the grievances of students directed the authority to initiate the comprehensive post-exam analysis.
The Medical and Dental Council during its meeting was briefed on the conduct of the exam. Dr. Arshad Taqi, President PMC informed about the request received from Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services to entrust the post-exam analysis to Quaid-e-Azam University being the premier higher education institution to ensure the satisfaction of all students.
The council while directing the authority to engage Quaid-e-Azam University to conduct the post-exam analysis instructed the analysis to be concluded during the week with the final result of the MDCAT to be announced by October 9, 2021.
The President PMC and Vice-Chancellor Quaid-e-Azam University will jointly review the post-exam analysis report for its approval prior to the final result being compiled.
The Council advised that during the post-exam analysis all questions which are found to be vague, ambiguous or even slightly out of the PMC MDCAT syllabus be removed and students attempting such questions be given a corresponding score for the removed questions.
The Council also directed that if the answer key of any question was found to be incorrect or where more than one answer to a question could be accepted as correct. The answer keys are to be corrected by the post-exam analysis team so that students who have given the correct answer receive the appropriate benefit when compiling the final result.
Students have been asked to be patient and await the final results at which time the commission believes all their concerns would have been addressed.
The council reiterated that as per international standards the question bank was created by experts from all over Pakistan and then reviewed for quality and difficulty levels by two separate sets of experts without any interference by the authority, academic board, or the council to maintain the integrity of the question bank.
The post-exam analysis is part of an examination process and through which the exam itself is scrutinized at the highest level to ensure a fair result and outcome.
The council noted that students should be patient and await the final result and assured all steps are taken to produce a verifiable and correct result that would withstand scrutiny.