139,000 students attend medical college admission test

More than 3,284 students will enter government medical colleges on merit and another 966 will be given admission under different quotas

More than 139,000 students attended the exam for admission to government and private medical colleges across Bangladesh.

The entrance test started at 10 am on Friday at 57 venues throughout the country. The hour-long exam consisted of multiple-choice questions worth 100 marks.

As many as 139,217 students applied for medical college admission.

Public medical colleges in Bangladesh have 4,350 available spots, meaning there are 32 students vying for each seat.

The 71 private medical colleges have 6,772 seats. Altogether, 11,122 students can be admitted to medical colleges.

As many as 3,384 students will be enrolled in public medical colleges on merit, while 846 will get admitted under the district quotas, 87 under the freedom fighter quota, and 33 under the ethnic minority quota.

For the 71 private medical colleges, 33,860 students who pass the entrance test can get admitted based on merit and choice.

Students with a combined GPA of 9 in the Secondary School Certificate or SSC and HSC exams were eligible to take the entrance test.

As many as 143,000 students took the admission test last year.

HIGHER GPA REQUIREMENT CUTS NUMBER OF EXAMINEES: MINISTER

The GPA requirement to pursue a medical degree has been raised by 1 point this year and Health Minister Zahid Maleque believes this may have led to a drop in the number of admission seekers, which was 4,000 lower than last year.

“Applicants who scored an average GPA of 8 in the SSC and HSC were eligible to apply in previous years. But this year, the minimum GPA score has been increased to 9, which might have affected the number of candidates,” the minister told reporters after visiting an exam centre at Dhaka University’s Arts Faculty.

Around 20,000 candidates sat for the medical entrance test at different exam centres on the Dhaka University campus.

Female candidates outnumbered their male peers at this year's medical entrance test, Maleque said.

Of the total candidates, 54% are women and 46% are men. Female candidates typically outperform their male counterparts in the pass rate as well.