PESHAWAR: More than 50 students, who passed their intermediate examinations from Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Peshawar, have made it to the list of top 200 successful candidates appeared in medical and dental college test (MDCAT) held in seven districts on October 26 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Of them, 19 are students of Islamia College Peshawar, 11 of Government Degree College Mingora Swat, nine of Jinnah College for Women University of Peshawar, four each of Dawn School and College System Swat, Qurtaba Public School and College Dera Ismail Khan and Edwards Model College Timergara Lower Dir, three each of Peace School and College Nowshera, Islamia Model College Timergara, Peace Group of School and College Haripur, Tameer Watan School and College Abbottabad, Capital Degree College Peshawar and Fazle Haq College Mardan.

According to statistics released by Khyber Medical University (KMU), admitting university for MDCAT-2024 to select students for admission into MBBS/BDS to public and private sector medical and dental colleges, a total of 51 students of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Peshawar are among the top 200 candidates.

Peshawar, the oldest education board in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, grabbed 25.50 per cent positions among the 200 successful candidates. Second position went to BISE Mardan with 36 (18pc) of its students made to the list whereas Swat with 33 (16.50pc) of its students secured third place in the list.

Twenty three (11.50pc) students of Abbottabad also qualified the test and 18 (9pc) students of BISE Malakand remained in the list. From Dera Ismail Khan, 13 (6.50pc) candidates were listed among the top achievers while 11 (5.50pc) candidates from Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education made to the list. The number of students was recorded seven (3.50pc) from Kohat and five (2.50-pc) and one student each from Cambridge, Aga Khan University Examination Board and Rawalpindi, who were included in the list.

KMU is preparing final list of admission for a total of 3,302 seats in 20 medical and 11 dental colleges in public and private sectors. The public sector has 1,754 MBBS and BDS seats that include 1,109 open merit while the rest are reserved for self-finance, merged districts, backward areas, Afghan refugees, army public school, federal seats and students with disabilities.

In the recent test, 53.26 per cent of candidates qualified for MBBS and 58.43 per cent for BDS. Only two per cent of the candidates managed to score above 170 marks. Nine per cent of students scored between 160 and 170 marks while a significant 31 per cent failed to reach the minimum required score of 90 marks, making them ineligible for admission to medical or dental colleges.

According to official result summary, 894 candidates (2.33%) scored between 170 and 180 marks, 3,516 candidates (9.15%) obtained marks between 160 and 169, 3,658 candidates (9.51%) scored between 150 and 159 marks, 3,253 candidates (8.46%) obtained marks between 140 and 149 while 3,115 candidates (8.10%) secured marks between 130 and 139, 2,961 candidates (7.70%) scored between 120 and 129.

Likewise, 3,080 candidates (8.01%) obtained marks between 110 and 119, 2,887 candidates (7.51%) scored between 100 and 109 and 2,817 candidates (7.33%) obtained marks between 90 and 99 while 12,258 candidates (31.88%) scored 89 marks or below.

A total of 39,986 students appeared in the test. Countrywide, 140,000 candidates gave the test for 22,000 seats in public and private medical and dental colleges.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2025