The 2026 MDCAT is over, and the question in every home now is the same: "What will the merit be this year?" Nobody can give you the real figure until the admitting universities publish their merit lists. What we can give you is the next best thing: last session's official closing merit in every province, the multi-year trend where the data exists, ePrepare's published estimate for KPK, and the MDCAT score each figure needs at the board marks most students have.
Every number on this page comes from an official merit list or from an estimate we have already published, and each estimate is labelled as ePrepare's. Where a province has not published the figures, we say so and point you to the official source rather than guess.
The short answer: no university has announced 2026-27 merit yet. ePrepare's estimate for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) puts the last public MBBS college at about 93.94 (about 93.74 if 150 more seats are added) and Khyber Medical College at about 95.26. Last session (2025-26), open-merit MBBS closed between 94.7727 and 93.1131 in KPK and between 94.8677 and 93.5091 in Punjab, and the lowest open-merit offer at Federal Medical College, Islamabad was 93.8303. For a public MBBS seat in KPK or Punjab, plan for an aggregate of 94 or more. With 95% in Matric and 93% in FSc, 94 needs about 171 out of 180.
Closing merit 2025: last session, province by province
These are the official 2025-26 figures from each admitting university's own lists. They are not all the same kind of number, because each university publishes differently, so read the notes before you compare.
| Province (admitting body) | Open-merit MBBS, 2025-26 | What the figure is |
|---|---|---|
| KPK (KMU) | 94.7727 to 93.1131 | Highest and lowest college closing, KMU's final round (round 6) |
| Punjab (UHS) | 94.8677 to 93.5091 | Highest and lowest college closing, UHS's thirteenth and final list |
| Islamabad (SZABMU) | 93.8303 | Lowest open-merit offer at Federal Medical College |
| Balochistan (Bolan Medical College) | 89.4646 | Last provincial-merit seat on the first list; later lists may go lower |
| Sindh, Karachi Division (DUHS) | Not published by college | Merit no. 1,000, the last called for final allocation, was 82.19% |
| NUMS colleges | Not published in a form we could check | See NUMS's admissions portal |
Three notes on reading this table:
- KPK and Punjab are nearly level. Punjab's lowest public college (Narowal, 93.5091) closed about 0.4 above KPK's (KIMS, Kohat, 93.1131), while the top colleges, King Edward Medical University (94.8677) and Khyber Medical College (94.7727), were within 0.1 of each other.
- Balochistan's figure is from the first list. BMC published a second list on 30 April and a third on 15 June 2026, so the final closing on some seats may be lower. District seats on the first list closed between 78.3808 (Chagai) and 86.2687 (Kech).
- Sindh's figure is not a closing merit. DUHS called merit numbers 1 to 1,000 for its final MBBS allocation in Karachi Division. A student near number 1,000 got a seat only if one was still open, and seats are shared out district by district.
Every college's figure is on our KMU closing merit, UHS closing merit and MDCAT closing merit pages.
How closing merit has moved: the KPK trend
KPK is the only province where our data covers several years. Our team compiled the last open-merit seat from KMU's merit lists for every year from 2020 to 2025:
| Year | MBBS last open seat | BDS last open seat | MBBS change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 93.107 | 92.578 | +2.10 |
| 2024 | 91.007 | 90.62 | +0.63 |
| 2023 | 90.38 | 89.78 | +1.28 |
| 2022 | 89.1 | 88.589 | +2.72 |
| 2021 | 86.38 | 85.57 | -0.35 |
| 2020 | 86.73 | 86.32 | First year in our data |
From 2020 to 2025, the MBBS line rose 6.38 points and fell only once, in 2021. Since the 2021 low it has risen by about 1.7 points a year on average. One MDCAT mark out of 180 is worth about 0.278 aggregate, so the 2.10-point jump in 2025 alone was worth about 7.6 MDCAT marks. Our article on KMU closing merit trends goes through each year in detail.
We do not have earlier years for Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Islamabad or NUMS in our data, so we do not draw trend lines for them. UHS publishes its past selection lists on uhs.edu.pk, and SZABMU its merit lists on szabmu.edu.pk.
Expected MBBS merit 2026-27: ePrepare's estimates
Our team published early estimates for KPK's open-merit seats before any KMU merit list. They are ePrepare's estimates, not KMU figures. The real closing will depend on seats, applicants and how hard the 2026 MDCAT was.
| KPK public college (open merit) | 2025-26 closing (KMU) | 2026-27, ePrepare's estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Khyber Medical College, Peshawar | 94.7727 | 95.26 |
| Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad | 94.1909 | 94.84 |
| Khyber Girls Medical College, Peshawar | 93.8899 | 94.60 |
| Bacha Khan Medical College, Mardan | 93.8111 | 94.55 |
| Saidu Medical College, Swat | 93.7859 | 94.43 |
| Nowshera Medical College | 93.6182 | 94.36 |
| Gajju Khan Medical College, Swabi | 93.5626 | 94.32 |
| Gomal Medical College, D.I. Khan | 93.4152 | 94.20 |
| Bannu Medical College | 93.4020 | 94.18 |
| KMU Institute of Medical Sciences, Kohat | 93.1131 | 93.94 |
For dental colleges, the estimate runs from about 93.88 at Khyber College of Dentistry to about 93.51 at KMU Institute of Dental Sciences, Kohat. If 150 more seats are added, the estimate for the last MBBS college falls to about 93.74.
The estimate for the last college is 0.83 above its 2025-26 closing. That is about half the average yearly rise since 2021, so treat it as a floor rather than a ceiling.
No estimate for other provinces. We have not published 2026-27 estimates for Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Islamabad or NUMS, and we will not invent one. For those provinces, last session's official closing is the best guide you have. Where we have several years of data (KPK), merit rose in four years out of five, so plan to be above last session's figure, not level with it.
Why merit rises almost every year
No university publishes a reason for its closing merit, so treat these as likely factors, not proven causes:
- The whole field is scoring higher. In KPK, the rank of the last open-merit MBBS seat stayed between 922 and 1,054 in every year from 2020 to 2025, while the aggregate at that rank rose 6.4 points. KMU filled its seats at about the same place in the list each year; the students at that place simply scored higher.
- More students sit the MDCAT. PM&DC said in July 2024 that almost 180,534 students appeared the year before and that about 200,000 were expected in 2024.
- The paper changed. PM&DC's 2023 curriculum set 200 MCQs with 20% hard questions; the 2025 paper had 180 MCQs with 15% difficult questions. Fewer hard questions can push top scores up, though nobody has shown that officially.
- Seats. More seats usually lower the closing and fewer raise it. Our own estimate shows this: the last KPK college is estimated at 93.94, or 93.74 if 150 seats are added.
What aggregate do I need? The MDCAT score at typical board marks
Once your Matric and FSc are fixed, the 10/40/50 formula tells you the MDCAT score each target needs. Here it is for the main figures above, rounded up to whole marks:
| Target aggregate | Matric 95%, FSc 93% | Matric 92%, FSc 90% | Matric 90%, FSc 88% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95.26: KMC, ePrepare's 2026-27 estimate | 175 | Out of reach | Out of reach |
| 94.8677: KEMC Lahore, 2025-26 | 174 | 179 | Out of reach |
| 93.94: last KPK college, ePrepare's 2026-27 estimate | 171 | 176 | 180 |
| 93.8303: FMC Islamabad open merit, 2025-26 | 170 | 176 | 179 |
| 93.5091: last Punjab college, 2025-26 | 169 | 174 | 178 |
| 93.1131: last KPK college, 2025-26 | 168 | 173 | 177 |
| 92.6061: last KPK self-finance MBBS, 2025-26 | 166 | 171 | 175 |
| 89.4646: BMC provincial merit, first list 2025-26 | 154 | 160 | 163 |
How we worked it out: MDCAT needed = (target − 0.1 × Matric % − 0.4 × FSc %) ÷ 50 × 180. At Matric 95% and FSc 93%, 93.9414 − 9.5 − 37.2 = 47.2414, and 47.2414 ÷ 50 × 180 = 170.07, so you need 171. With 85% in both Matric and FSc, the highest possible aggregate is 92.5, so every target from 92.6061 upwards is out of reach; matching Balochistan's 89.4646 would need 170. Try your own marks in the aggregate calculator, and if you are applying in KPK, the college predictor shows every college against your aggregate. The FSc side is covered in our guide to FSc and Matric marks for MBBS.
Aggregate required for private medical colleges
Private colleges use the same 10/40/50 aggregate, and their merit is published far less consistently than public merit. Here is everything our data holds:
NUMS private affiliated colleges
NUMS published a sixth selection and upgradation list for each private-sector affiliated medical college on 27 January 2026. The lowest and highest aggregates on each college's sixth list for MBBS open merit, session 2025-26:
| College | Lowest on sixth list | Highest on the same list |
|---|---|---|
| CMH Multan Institute of Medical Sciences | 86.5380 | 92.1017 |
| CMH Lahore Medical College | 85.3227 | 92.0077 |
| CMH Institute of Medical Sciences, Bahawalpur | 84.8045 | 91.9515 |
| CMH Kharian Medical College | 84.4790 | 92.7136 |
| Wah Medical College | 84.1045 | 92.5847 |
| HITEC Institute of Medical Sciences, Taxila | 83.9712 | 89.2909 |
| Karachi Institute of Medical Sciences | 83.8453 | 87.3258 |
NUMS uses its own test, reported as a percentage, so the test part is half of your NUMS percentage. To reach 86.5380 with 92% in Matric and 90% in FSc, you would need 82.68% in the NUMS test. The Balochistan domicile list for QIMS is separate; its sixth list ran from 81.9880 down to 81.5864.
KPK and Punjab private colleges
- KPK: KMU does not publish college-wise closing merit for private colleges. Its final 2025-26 private open-merit MBBS list ranked 2,580 candidates and gave KP domicile holders priority. Our guide to private medical colleges in KPK lists every college's fee.
- Self-finance seats in KPK's public colleges are a different thing: they sit inside the public colleges and closed between 92.6061 and 93.2748 for MBBS in 2025-26.
- Punjab: our data does not include UHS's private-sector closing merit. Check UHS's private admission lists on uhs.edu.pk.
How to use these numbers this admission season
- Work out your aggregate to the decimals your university uses.
- Compare it with last session's closing for every college in every list you qualify for, then add a margin for a rise. In KPK, use our estimate as the working target.
- Apply widely. List every college you would join in your true order, apply in every category you qualify for, and add BDS and private options if you are near the line. Our guide to how MBBS merit is calculated explains merit lists, upgrades and closing merit.
- Watch every list. Closing merit usually falls a little from the first list to the last as students take upgrades or miss fee deadlines.
Frequently asked questions
What is the expected merit of MDCAT 2026?
No university has announced it yet. ePrepare's estimate for KPK's public colleges puts the last MBBS college at about 93.94 and Khyber Medical College at about 95.26 for 2026-27. We have not published estimates for other provinces; their 2025-26 closings are the best guide.
What is the merit of MDCAT in Pakistan?
Each province has its own merit. In 2025-26, open-merit MBBS closed between 94.7727 and 93.1131 in KPK and between 94.8677 and 93.5091 in Punjab, and the lowest open-merit offer at Federal Medical College, Islamabad was 93.8303. Balochistan's provincial merit on the first list was 89.4646.
What was the closing merit in 2025?
For session 2025-26, KPK's last open-merit MBBS college (KIMS, Kohat) closed at 93.1131 in KMU's final round, and our yearly series puts the last open-merit seat of 2025 at 93.107. Punjab's last public college (Narowal) closed at 93.5091 in UHS's final list.
What will be the merit of MBBS this year?
It will be known only when the merit lists are out. In KPK, merit rose in four of the last five years, by about 1.7 points a year on average since 2021, so plan to be above last session's closing. For a public MBBS seat in KPK or Punjab, an aggregate of 94 or more is a sensible target.
What aggregate is required for a private medical college?
It depends on the college and the list. On NUMS's sixth lists for its private affiliated colleges in 2025-26, the lowest MBBS open-merit aggregates ranged from 83.8453 to 86.5380. KMU and UHS private-sector closing figures are not in our data, so check their private admission lists.
Is 93 aggregate enough for MBBS?
Last session, 93 was just below the lowest open-merit MBBS closing in KPK (93.1131) and Punjab (93.5091), and below ePrepare's 2026-27 estimate for KPK (93.94). It would have been above KPK's self-finance MBBS closings at eight of the ten public colleges, and above every NUMS private affiliated college's sixth-list lowest.
Can merit go down in 2026?
It can. KPK's closing merit fell once in our data, in 2021, and more seats or a harder paper can pull it down. But it rose in every other year from 2020 to 2025, so do not plan on a fall.
Merit will be what it will be; the part you control is your own score. If you are preparing for the next MDCAT, ePrepare's full-length papers and question bank show you every week how close you are to the aggregate in this table. Create your free ePrepare account and start practising.
Sources: KMU round-6 (final) closing aggregates for public colleges, session 2025-26, and ePrepare's 2026-27 estimates, as shown on our KMU closing merit page; yearly KPK figures compiled by the ePrepare team from KMU's merit lists (cas.kmu.edu.pk); UHS thirteenth and final college-wise selection list, 2025-26; SZABMU merit lists, 2025-26; Bolan Medical College first list of successful candidates, 24 March 2026, via the BMC website; DUHS final merit lists and notices, Karachi Division; NUMS sixth selection and upgradation lists for private affiliated colleges, 27 January 2026 (numspak.edu.pk); KMU private-sector final merit list (caspr.kmu.edu.pk); PM&DC, MDCAT Curriculum 2023, press release of 19 July 2024 and press release on the MDCAT 2025 syllabus. Estimates are ePrepare's, not any university's. Merit changes every year; always check the official lists.
