MDCAT 2026 Answer Key: How to Score Yourself the Same Evening

Within a few hours of the paper, keys start circulating — academy PDFs, WhatsApp forwards, YouTube walkthroughs. They are useful for exactly one thing: working out your raw score out of 180. They tell you nothing at all about whether you have a seat, because a seat is decided on merit aggregate, and MDCAT is only half of that.

1. 1

   Count every answer you marked

   There is no negative marking in MDCAT. A lucky guess scores identically to a confident answer, so there is no reason to discount guesses when you tally.

2. 2

   Separate the ones you are unsure you marked

   Most candidates misremember 5–10 answers. Put those in an 'unknown' pile rather than assuming the optimistic version — you want a range, not a story.

3. 3

   Produce a low and a high figure

   Low = certain-correct only. High = certain-correct plus every uncertain item. Your true score is somewhere between, and the gap is usually 6–12 marks.

4. 4

   Convert both ends to an aggregate

   Run the low and the high through the aggregate calculator. The spread that comes out is what you should actually plan around.

This is the step almost nobody does on results evening, and it is the only one that answers the question people actually have. The PMDC formula is fixed and public:

1. 1

   Turn your raw score into a percentage

   marks ÷ 180 × 100. A score of 160 is 88.9%.

2. 2

   Weight the three components

   (Matric% × 0.10) + (FSc% × 0.40) + (MDCAT% × 0.50).

3. 3

   Read the result against real closing merits

   Not against a rumour. The Punjab table below is one labelled, consistent slice.

One consistent slice, stated precisely so you know what you are looking at: Punjab, 2024–25 session, final closing merit, open-merit MBBS seats. Not first-list figures, not quota or self-finance seats, not blended across sources.

• Do not treat one unofficial key as final. Score against two, and carry the disputed items as a range.
• Do not compare raw scores with friends. Their Matric and FSc are different, so the same 160 produces a different aggregate for each of you. Compare aggregates or compare nothing.
• Do not act on a predicted closing merit. Predictions published within days of the paper are guesses; the real figure depends on how the whole cohort performed and how seats are allocated.
• Do not conflate MDCAT with NUMS. NUMS sits its own test on 23 August with its own merit calculation. A strong MDCAT does not carry across.
• Do not stop preparing if you are close to a boundary. Until the official result is published, your estimate has a several-mark error bar in both directions.

The official key and the result are published by the admitting authority, not by preparation sites. Check the body that administered your paper directly — that is the only version that settles a disputed item.

In the meantime, the most useful thing you can do with a self-scored number is work backwards from it. If you are within a couple of points of a college you want, the reverse aggregate calculator shows exactly what score would have reached it — which is the information you need if you are weighing a retake.