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Monday, May 18, 2026

Top 5 toughest medical exams in the world

etimes.in | May 14, 2026, 08.49 AM IST

Almost everyone wants to be a doctor while growing up. The allure is, of course, undeniable: the opportunity to save lives; the respect that comes with the white coat. From the outside, it is indeed a glamorous job. But those who finally make it to medical school and get to wear that white coat and a stethoscope are the ones who have gone through some of the most brutal examinations ever designed—exams that require years of preparation and can be demanding in every possible way. From the USMLE in the United States to the UK’s GAMSAT, these competitive medical examinations are designed to filter out only the best.When people talk about the toughest medical entrance exams globally, India’s NEET UG always finds a place on the list. The pressure around it is even more grueling than the syllabus and difficulty level. In 2026 alone, NEET UG saw a 96.92% turnout, with over 22 lakh candidates competing for approximately 1.3 lakh MBBS seats across the nation. This alone highlights the high stakes in medical education. Let’s take a look at the top five toughest medical exams in the world and what makes them so challenging.

USMLE

The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is often considered one of the toughest competitive exams in the world. This test is known for its notorious difficulty. USMLE is a three-step licensure exam for doctors who want to practise medicine in the United States. The first test focuses on comprehensive medical knowledge of basic sciences and is particularly feared by medical students, with only about 85% passing on their first attempt. The second evaluates the ability to apply medical knowledge, and skills. The third step assesses whether candidates can apply medical knowledge and understanding of biomedical and clinical science essential for the unsupervised practice of medicine. These three-step exams are taken over a period of several years, with the lowest pass rates in the first step.

MCAT

The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is the gateway exam for prospective medical students in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Caribbean islands. MCAT has earned quite a reputation for its difficulty. Administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges, this exam assesses scientific reasoning, critical thinking, and psychological concepts. The seven hours of a gruelling exam is tough to crack, with an average pass rate of about 65–70%. This competitive exam demands months of intensive preparation, costing thousands of dollars. American medical schools trust MCAT scores explicitly.

GAMSAT

The Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) is a distinctive exam that stands apart as one of the world's most unusual and psychologically demanding medical entrance tests. This test is the gateway for graduate entry into medical schools in Australia, Ireland, and the UK. Students entering dentistry, pharmacy, and veterinary programmes are also required to take this test. This exam is notoriously long—roughly 5.5 to 6 hours. Scientific knowledge, emotional intelligence, and ethical reasoning, among others are assessed in this exam. Pass rates are often between 40–50%. For Australian and British medical schools, GAMSAT's integrity is beyond question.

MRCP

The Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in the UK is one of the notoriously difficult exams. This is a postgraduate medical qualification for doctors who want to specialise in internal medicine in the UK. This British qualification is a set of three postgraduate exams—MRCP Part 1, MRCP Part 2, and MRCP PACES. Cracking MRCP is nothing short of excellence. Pass rates are normally around 50% because of its difficulty. It is a test of medical excellence that even brilliant doctors attempt multiple times before passing.

PLAB

The Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) examination in the UK is another high-stakes licensing examination for international medical graduates seeking registration. PLAB has a two-part format testing both knowledge and clinical skills. Practical competency is an important part of this test, with pass rates for non-UK-trained doctors typically 40–50%.

Disclaimer: This article is based on reports, publicly available data, and information sourced from the internet. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, exam formats, pass rates, and requirements may change over time. Readers are advised to verify details from the official websites of the respective examination authorities for the most up-to-date information.

One-Year PG vs Two: Reimagining the master’s degree under NEP 2020

Given the diversity of higher education landscape, both pathways may need to coexist for some time, allowing varsities to adopt models aligned with their academic strengths

Rajlakshmi.Ghosh@timesofindia.com 18.05.2026

As the implementation of NEP 2020 gathers pace, postgraduate education is undergoing one of its biggest transformations in decades. Universities are introducing multiple pathways to a master’s degree — a one-year PG for students completing a Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), alongside the conventional two-year master’s route for students with a three-year bachelor’s degree.

The shift is aimed at aligning higher education with global norms, improving flexibility, and creating research-centric academic trajectories. Since India’s higher education system is currently operating within multiple parallel academic structures involving traditional three-year UG programmes, FYUP models, autonomous university systems, and professional pathways, experts claim that a one-size-fits-all approach will no longer work. In such a diverse environment, an overly rigid approach may create unintended inequities.

“Traditionally, the master’s degree functioned largely as an extension of UG learning. Today, however, PG education is increasingly being viewed as a stage of advanced specialisation, research orientation, innovation, and professional preparedness. This transition has been shaped both by NEP 2020 and the changing realities of the global knowledge economy. Universities are now expected to prepare graduates who are multidisciplinary, research-oriented, globally competitive, and capable of adapting to rapidly evolving sectors driven by technology and innovation. The one-year PG model emerges from this context. It assumes that students completing an FYUP, particularly Honours or Honours with Research, would have already acquired substantial academic grounding, research exposure, internships, and cross-disciplinary learning during the fourth year itself.

This distinction has also been formally recognised in the UGC framework,” says Prof Raghavendra P Tiwari, vice-chancellor, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda. Global Benchmarks Considering the Indian one-year PG is still at the early stages of implementation and the first FYUP cohorts are only now entering the pipeline, quality will vary widely across institutions. “The UK one-year master’s degrees work because they sit on top of rigorous honours programmes with strong final-year research component besides being backed by established universities. The Indian variant will take years to build comparable credibility. Until then, a two-year PG from a reputed Indian institution carries far greater weight with international peers and employers than a one-year PG from an average university,” says Ram Kumar Kakani, vice-chancellor, RV University.

“The need for the oneyear master’s is not organically driven nor is it choice of central universities,” says Abha Dev Habib, associate professor, Miranda House, University of Delhi (DU) advocating the need for a 3+2 PG format which is structurally more robust. “NEP 2020 introduced a flexible 4+1 structure with multiple exit options for UG and PG degrees, but it also made the system more ‘porous’. The added fourth year has increased student numbers without additional faculty, space, or research facilities. Colleges now face higher teaching loads, inadequate student-teacher ratios, and limited capacity to support undergraduate research.

Under the new system, students who complete the fourth year of their undergraduate programme are eligible for a one-year MSc. However, no additional infrastructure or funding has been provided to support this change,” she adds. Pointing to the larger picture, Prof Tiwari says, “The one-year PG is envisioned as a more focused and intellectually intensive phase where students engage with specialised domains, emerging technologies. However, the effectiveness of this model will ultimately depend on the quality of FYUP implementation.” Given the diversity of the higher education landscape, both oneyear and two-year postgraduate pathways may need to coexist for some time, allowing universities to adopt models aligned with their academic strengths, regional realities, and student aspirations.

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The Beast suit looks the part; now be the beast, chief minister

STORYBOARD ARUN RAM 18.05.2026

Chief minister C Joseph Vijay has kept the black ‘Beast’ suit on. And the sartorial symbolism matters: he is different. Yet symbolism can only open the door; governance must walk through it. Tamil Nadu today is not merely watching what Vijay does; it is watching whom he chooses to do it with. A full cabinet is yet to take shape, and political pressure is mounting.

The trickiest pressure comes from the AIADMK faction led by C Ve Shanmugam and S P Velumani, reportedly seeking at least half a dozen ministerial berths. For Vijay, this is more than coalition arithmetic. It threatens to strike at the heart of his political brand. He did not arrive in office as a veteran administrator promising incremental change. He came as an outsider with a language of renewal. His campaign rested heavily on two intertwined promises: clean governance and a break from cynical politics.

People voted not just for a new govt but for a different political culture. That promise risks early dilution if cabinet formation begins by yielding to pressure groups with tainted faces. Vijay must ask himself a difficult yet necessary question: can a govt elected on the promise of clean governance afford even the appearance of compromise at birth? The answer may determine whether his tenure acquires moral authority or merely administrative power.

The larger challenge is corruption itself. Anti-corruption politics in India often collapses into spectacle — raids, headlines, accusations against rivals and dramatic speeches. Citizens encounter corruption not in headlines but in queues — at the village office, municipal counter, taluk office, registration department and police station. They meet it while seeking a birth certificate, a land patta, a building approval, an electricity connection or a welfare benefit. This is where Vijay’s anti-corruption mission must begin.

The govt should launch a cleanup mission beginning at the lowest administrative level. Every govt service application should be digitised and trackable. Citizens must know where a file sits, why it is delayed and whom to approach if timelines are breached. Govt offices must display mandatory service timelines and grievance escalation systems. Anonymous public feedback should be encouraged. Officers repeatedly facing complaints should face departmental scrutiny. Corruption survives not because rules are absent but because consequences are rare.

Reform cannot stop at the clerk’s desk. Tamil Nadu’s deeper corruption challenge lies at the other end of the pyramid — in procurement and contracts. Kickbacks for infrastructure projects and civic contracts have become so institutionalised that whispers of protest among contractors are often about the hike in percentage. Citizens may not know the technical details of tenders, but they instinctively understand when contracts appear opaque or politically favoured. And, when the blacktop of a newly laid road peels off, it exposes the gravel of graft.

Every govt contract should be placed in the public domain with tender details, competing bids and award rationale accessible online. Independent procurement oversight, periodic third-party audits and transparent disclosure of project costs and timelines can restore public trust. A chief minister serious about fighting corruption should insist that sunlight, not secrecy, governs public spending. This may discomfort many people in the system who nurse the dream of continuing with their corrupt ways once the new govt gets over its celebratory phase.

That’s when Vijay should remind them what he said after taking the oath on May 10: “Erase that thought right this minute.” Dismantling corruption requires more than personal honesty at the top; it demands institutional redesign. Vijay begins office with advantages most leaders envy — enormous goodwill, emotional connection with supporters and the political capital of novelty. But novelty fades quickly in politics. Govts are remembered not for the excitement of arrival but for the discipline of decision-making. Like the chief minister’s attire, governance should be in black and white. -

arun.ram@timesofindia.com

POKER FACE DMK will never understand reality – C JOSEPH VIJAY , TAMIL NADU CHIEF MINISTER You will. Soon

18/05/2026, 06:21 Times of India ePaper chennai - Read Today’s English News Paper Online https://epaper.indiatimes.com/timesepaper/publication-the-times-of-india,city-chennai.cms 2/3 18/05/2026, 06:21 Times of India ePaper chennai - Read Today’s English News Paper Online