PGMI Entrance Test for FCPS-II: Format, Subject Weightage and How Your Merit Is Calculated

📝 What Is the PGMI Entrance Test?

The Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) Peshawar inducts doctors into FCPS-II residency programmes across the teaching hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Induction runs twice a year (January and July) through a centralised, merit-cum-availability system, and the entrance test is conducted by ETEA.

You are eligible once you have passed FCPS-I (or hold a CPSP exemption letter). Open merit seats are for KP domicile holders, with reserved seats for special quotas.

📋 Paper Pattern and Subject Weightage

The test has three categories based on the specialty you apply for. It is a 100-MCQ paper, so each percentage is roughly the number of questions.

🩺 Medical & Surgical Specialties

• General Principles of Medicine / Surgery: 50% (about 50 MCQs)
• Basic Subjects (Applied Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathology, Anatomy): 20%
• English Language: 10%
• Bioethics: 10%
• Basic Biostatistics: 5%
• Communication Skills: 5%

Medical: Anaesthesia, Community Medicine, Medicine & Allied, Pathology, Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Biochemistry & Physiology, Family Medicine.

Surgical: Anatomy, Diagnostic Radiology, ENT, Obs & Gynae, Surgery & Allied, Ophthalmology.

🦷 Dentistry (BDS)

• Clinical Subjects of Final Year BDS (Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Prosthodontics, Orthodontics, Operative Dentistry, Periodontology/Oral Medicine): 40%
• Basic Subjects (Applied Physiology, Dental Materials, Oral Biology, Community Dentistry, Oral Pathology): 30%
• English Language: 10%
• Bioethics: 10%
• Basic Biostatistics: 5%
• Communication Skills: 5%
• 
  

💡 Key insight: English, Bioethics, Biostatistics and Communication Skills make up 30% of every paper. They are the most predictable, highest-scoring sections and often decide the merit list.

⏱️ Difficulty Level

• Medium: 75% of the paper (about 75 MCQs)
• Hard: 25% of the paper (about 25 MCQs)

Clinical stems are long and scenario-based, so reading speed and accuracy matter as much as knowledge.

⚖️ How PGMI Merit Is Calculated

• PGMI Entrance Test (ETEA): 75 marks = Test score % × 0.75
• MBBS / BDS Marks: 20 marks = Average % of all profs × 0.20
• Periphery / Hard-Area Experience: up to 5 marks = 0.5–2.5 marks per completed year, maximum 2 years
• Total: 100 marks

Merit = (Test % × 0.75) + (MBBS/BDS aggregate % × 0.20) + Experience marks

MBBS / BDS Aggregate

Work out the percentage of each prof (marks obtained ÷ total × 100), add them, and divide by the number of profs (4 or 5). Foreign graduates without a DMC get 60%, and CGPA is converted using the HEC formula.

Experience Marks

Less than 12 months earns nothing, 12 to under 18 months counts as 1 year, and 18 months or more counts as 2 years. Only DGHS / health department certificates are accepted, and these marks go only to MOs/WMOs who are exclusive servants of the KP Government.

Worked Example

• MBBS aggregate 71%: 71 × 0.20 = 14.2
• Entrance test 78%: 78 × 0.75 = 58.5
• 18+ months in an area rated 2.5 per year: 5.0
• Total Merit = 77.7

⚠️ Why the test decides everything: every 1% on the test is worth 0.75 merit marks. A candidate with no experience can close the full 5-mark gap with about 7 extra correct MCQs. If two candidates tie, the older candidate is preferred.

🏆 Introducing the GoodDoctor Merit List

Knowing your merit is only half the story. What you really want to know is where it places you.

• 🧮 Merit Score Calculator: enter your prof marks, test score and experience to get your merit instantly using the official formula
• 📊 Real-Time Merit List: see where you stand among other candidates long before the official list is out
• 📈 Compare with Last Year: check your aggregate against previous closing merits to see where you are likely to fall
• 🏥 Likely Hospital & Unit: estimate which hospitals and wards you could realistically be inducted into

This matters because once you submit preferences on the PGMI portal there is no option to surrender, allotted slots are final and no waiting list is kept. Planning with a realistic picture saves you from wasting a choice.

Estimates are based on candidate-entered data and previous sessions. Final merit and allocation are decided by PGMI.

📚 Prepare Where It Counts

With 75% of your merit riding on one paper, focused practice on the real exam pattern is your best investment. GoodDoctor's PGMI bank covers Medicine, Surgery and BDS, plus Ethics, Communication, Biostatistics and English, with past papers and recalls from 2021 to 2026, detailed explanations, high-yield notes and timed mocks built to the real subject mix.

👉 Start practising on GoodDoctor and check your standing on the Merit List today.

Source: PGMI Peshawar Induction Policy Manual for FCPS (Session July 2026) and the official format of the PGMI entrance test for FCPS-II. Always check the PGMI website for the latest notification.