Note
The official DGHS and DGME sites could not be fetched directly to prepare this page; the facts below are corroborated from the circular text as reported by multiple Bangladeshi admission-news sites. Candidates should confirm the exact GPA cut-off, exam date, fee and seat numbers for their own admission year on the official DGHS (dghs.gov.bd) or DGME (dgme.teletalk.com.bd) notice before relying on them.
Overview
The Medical Admission Test is Bangladesh's single, centralised entrance exam for the MBBS (medical) and BDS (dental) first-year programmes. It is run once a year by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, through the Directorate General of Medical Education (DGME). One written test, held simultaneously at centres across the country, decides admission to every government and private medical and dental college in Bangladesh for that academic session.
Who can apply
Candidates must have passed HSC (or an equivalent exam, such as Alim) in Science with Biology, normally from one of the two most recent HSC sessions, along with SSC (or equivalent) from an earlier specified year range. For the 2025-26 session, reported eligibility criteria were a combined SSC+HSC GPA of around 9.00 (with some circulars citing 8.50 for certain categories), a minimum GPA of 4.00 in each of SSC and HSC individually, and a minimum GPA in Biology (reported as 3.50-4.00 depending on the source) in both SSC and HSC. A relaxed combined GPA threshold applies to candidates from tribal and hill-tract districts. Because these thresholds have shifted across recent years and secondary sources do not fully agree on the exact figures, candidates should check the GPA requirement stated in their own year's official circular rather than relying on a fixed number.
Exam pattern
The test is a single-sitting, 100-mark multiple-choice question (MCQ) paper, one hour long, with one mark per question and negative marking of 0.25 marks for each wrong answer.
| Subject | Marks |
|---|---|
| Biology | 30 |
| Chemistry | 25 |
| Physics | 20 |
| English | 15 |
| General knowledge (Bangladesh and international affairs) | 10 |
| Total | 100 |
Questions are drawn from the HSC Science-group syllabus in these subjects. A minimum of 40 marks out of 100 is reported as the pass mark, though in practice a seat is secured only through rank in the merit list, which is almost always well above the pass mark for government colleges.
Marking and results
Final merit does not use the MCQ score alone. It combines the admission-test marks with SSC and HSC academic results on a reported 300-mark scale: the MCQ test contributes up to 100 marks, SSC GPA is scaled up to 75 marks (GPA multiplied by 15), and HSC GPA is scaled up to 125 marks (GPA multiplied by 25). Candidates sitting the test for a second time, or current students of a government medical or dental college retaking it, have a reported deduction applied to their MCQ marks. Results and the merit list are published by DGHS/DGME after the test, with a rank-ordered position for every candidate who clears the pass mark.
Important dates
The test is held once a year, typically in the months following the HSC result of that year, with the circular, online application window and test date announced together. For the 2025-26 session, the circular was reported as released around November 2025, with online applications and fee payment closing in late November 2025 and the written test held in mid-December 2025. Exact dates move every year depending on when HSC results are published, so candidates should check the current year's DGHS/DGME circular rather than assume the previous year's schedule repeats.
Fees
The reported application fee for the 2025-26 test was BDT 1,000, payable only through a Teletalk mobile SIM by sending a confirmation SMS after submitting the online form. Candidates need some additional balance on the SIM beyond the fee itself to cover SMS charges. Fees are set fresh in each year's circular and can change.
How to apply
Applications are submitted online through the DGME's Teletalk-hosted admission portal (dgme.teletalk.com.bd) within the window stated in that year's circular. After filling in personal, academic and HSC-board details online, the candidate confirms and pays the fee by sending a specific SMS from a Teletalk number; the exam centre is assigned at this SMS-payment step rather than chosen earlier on the form. An admit card is then issued for download ahead of the test date.
After the exam
After results are published, candidates who cleared the pass mark are ranked in a single national merit list and then asked to submit an online college-choice list, ranking government and private medical/dental colleges in order of preference. Seats are offered college-by-college in merit order against this choice list; a reported automatic "migration" process later lets a candidate move up to a higher-preference college if a seat there becomes free, up to a cut-off date set by DGHS. Government colleges fill a few thousand MBBS seats and several hundred BDS seats each year on this merit list, with the remaining, larger pool of MBBS/BDS seats at private medical and dental colleges filled from the same list and test score, though private colleges also charge their own tuition fees.
Preparation tips
Treat the HSC Science syllabus in Biology, Chemistry and Physics as the core source of questions; the test does not go beyond the school curriculum, but it tests it at speed.
Practice full 100-question MCQ sets under a strict one-hour time limit, since the negative marking (0.25 per wrong answer) makes guessing risky — leaving a genuinely unknown question blank is usually safer than a random guess.
Do not neglect English and general knowledge; together they are 25 of the 100 marks, and candidates often under-prepare them relative to Biology and Chemistry.
Keep SSC and HSC results as strong as possible well before the test, since both GPAs are scaled into the final merit score alongside the MCQ marks, not used only as an eligibility filter.
Is the same test used for both MBBS and BDS admission?
Yes. A single MCQ test and merit list are used for both MBBS (medical) and BDS (dental) admission; candidates choose which colleges and which programme to apply for when they submit their post-result college-choice list.
Can a candidate retake the medical admission test if they already have a seat?
Reports indicate that candidates who already study at a government medical or dental college, or who are repeating the test from an earlier year, face a mark deduction on retake rather than being barred outright, but rules on this have changed between years, so a candidate in this situation should confirm the current year's circular before applying.
Does a high HSC GPA alone guarantee a medical college seat?
No. Meeting the minimum combined SSC+HSC GPA and Biology GPA only makes a candidate eligible to sit the test. The final merit rank used for seat allocation combines the MCQ test score with scaled SSC and HSC GPA, so a strong GPA with a weak test score, or vice versa, can still miss a seat at a competitive government college.
What happens if a candidate does not reach the pass mark?
A candidate who scores below the reported pass mark of 40 out of 100 is not ranked in the merit list and is not eligible for seat allocation in that year's admission cycle, regardless of their SSC/HSC GPA.