The NRE pass rate for China MBBS graduates was about 15.5 percent in the December 2025 session: 333 of 2,154 candidates. The overall pass rate for all foreign graduates that day was about 20.8 percent (1,473 of 7,076), and the June 2025 session was reported at 25.26 percent. These are published numbers for one exam stage, and they come with limits that most social media posts leave out. This guide gives the figures with dates and sources, says what they do not tell you, and explains what to do about them before you pick a university.
We are not writing this to scare you. A low pass rate is a reason to choose carefully and study with the exam in mind from year one. It is not a reason to skip the question.
What is the NRE and who has to sit it?
The National Registration Examination (NRE) is the licensing exam run by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) for Pakistani nationals who earned a medical or dental degree abroad. PM&DC's own press release for the December 2025 session says that no foreign graduate is eligible for provisional or permanent registration, or to practise independently, until they qualify in this examination. The session was conducted by the National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS), Rawalpindi.
It has two steps.
- NRE Step I is a theory exam made up of multiple-choice questions on basic and clinical sciences.
- NRE Step II is a clinical skills examination.
PM&DC says graduates who clear both steps are issued registration certificates. A PM&DC report on the June 2025 sitting states that candidates must score at least 60 percent in each part, separately. Check the pass mark on the current notice before you plan around it.
One more rule matters for your choice of country. A PM&DC public notice dated 31 July 2026 says only Pakistani nationals whose primary medical or dental qualification comes from institutions recognised by ECFMG are eligible to appear in the NRE, subject to other requirements. The notice was issued about Afghanistan, but the rule it repeats applies to everyone. We explain the full registration route in our guide to PMDC registration after MBBS abroad.
What were the NRE results for China graduates?
The most recent session with published country figures is NRE Step I on 14 December 2025. The News reported the country-wise results on 15 January 2026, using PM&DC data. China was one of the largest sending countries, and its pass rate was lower than the overall figure.
| Country | Passed | Candidates | Pass rate (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 333 | 2,154 | 15.5% |
| Kyrgyzstan | 951 | 4,256 | 22% |
| Kazakhstan | 54 | 174 | 31% |
| Uzbekistan | 35 | 116 | 30% |
| Tajikistan | 30 | 91 | 33% |
| Afghanistan | 18 | 160 | 11% |
| Georgia | 0 | not published in the report | 0% |
| All countries | 1,473 | 7,076 | 20.8% |
Source: The News, 15 January 2026. The pass rates are our rounding of the reported counts. The same report lists eight countries with zero passes, including Georgia, and several countries with 100 percent passes on one to three candidates, which officials treated as statistically meaningless.
Two points keep the numbers honest. First, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported the pass rate for medical candidates at 21.17 percent, against 7.23 percent for dental candidates, so you will see 20.8 and 21 percent used for the same session. The difference is how the group is counted. Second, the number of candidates varies slightly between reports. For China, we use the counts from The News and say so.
China supplied about 30 percent of the candidates in that session (2,154 of 7,076) and about 23 percent of the passes (333 of 1,473). Those two shares are why the China figure pulls on the national average.
How does the December 2025 result compare with earlier sessions?
The session before it was in June 2025. Reports published after the December results put the June medical pass rate at 25.26 percent, with 1,252 candidates passing and no dental candidate qualifying. PM&DC's own press release for that sitting said 5,036 graduates had registered (4,995 MBBS and 41 BDS). We did not find a published China-only figure for June 2025.
| Session | Group | Reported result | Source type |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2025, NRE Step I | Medical candidates, all countries | 25.26% (1,252 passed) | News reports citing PM&DC data |
| 14 December 2025, NRE Step I | All candidates | 20.8% (1,473 of 7,076) | The News |
| 14 December 2025, NRE Step I | Medical candidates | 21.17% | Associated Press of Pakistan |
| 14 December 2025, NRE Step I | China graduates | 15.5% (333 of 2,154) | The News |
The honest reading is that the pass rate is low and also moves between sessions. Do not treat any single figure as a fixed number. We did not find published results for a 2026 session. PM&DC rescheduled NRE Step I from 11 October 2026 to 8 November 2026, according to a report dated 5 October. When results appear, the place to check is pmdc.pk, and we will update this guide.
What do these numbers not tell you?
A pass rate is easy to quote and hard to read. Before you decide anything from it, keep these limits in mind.
- The group is mixed. A single session includes fresh graduates, people who finished years ago, and repeat candidates. A low rate for the whole group does not say what happens to a fresh graduate who prepared well.
- The reports do not break results down by university. A country figure averages good, average and weak programmes together. We found no published university-wise NRE data for China.
- The reports do not give a cause. Some commentary blames weak training or a gap between the Chinese syllabus and the Pakistani exam. The published figures prove neither. Treat any confident explanation from an agent or a forum with caution.
- Not everyone who graduated from a China programme went through an English-medium, MOE-listed or recognised university. We cannot tell from the data which candidates did.
- Step I is only half the exam. The News reported that PM&DC expects more than half of Step I passers may struggle at Step II. That is a prediction, not a result.
So the numbers are a warning about how seriously to treat the exam. They are not a verdict on a degree you have not yet started.
Is the NRE the same as the NEB exam?
No, and families mix them up often. They do different jobs.
- The NRE is for graduates who finished a foreign degree and want to register and practise in Pakistan.
- The National Equivalence Board (NEB) exam is for students who have not finished abroad and want to transfer into a Pakistani institution. News reports on the 2026 round say Pakistani students who completed at least two years abroad and reached the third year were eligible to sit it.
The NEB exam for 2026 was announced for 12 September 2026, with online registration from 6 to 20 August 2026 and Rawalpindi Medical University running it, according to ProPakistani. That date has passed, and we did not find a later session. If you plan to rely on NEB as an exit route, check pmdc.pk for the current rules, because they have changed from year to year.
Does the MDCAT removal change the NRE?
No. Since PM&DC public notice No. Exam-59/2026/350 of 5 October 2026, MDCAT is not required for Pakistani students seeking admission to foreign medical institutions. That removed an entry test. It did not remove the exit exam. You still need to graduate from a PM&DC-recognised institution and pass the NRE to practise in Pakistan, and MDCAT is still needed for colleges inside Pakistan. Read our notice explainer, MDCAT not required for MBBS abroad, for the details. Other conditions that were reported in May 2026 are unconfirmed after the notice, so confirm them on pmdc.pk.
This is why the NRE deserves more attention now. With no entry test to filter applicants, the licensing exam is the only national checkpoint between your degree and your practice.
What does the NRE actually test, and is it harder than MDCAT?
MDCAT is an entry test taken after FSc, on the Pakistani FSc syllabus. NRE Step I tests what a medical graduate should know: basic medical sciences and clinical sciences, in multiple-choice form. The June 2025 session was reported as a three-and-a-half hour paper held at four centres (Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar) under NUMS supervision.
So the exams are not directly comparable, and anyone who says one is "harder" is guessing. What we can say is that the NRE covers five or six years of medicine rather than two years of school science, and a 60 percent pass mark per part is a real bar. The detailed subject weighting is on the PM&DC examination pages, which we could not retrieve in full. Download the current syllabus from pmdc.pk and plan from that, not from a coaching centre's summary.
How should you prepare for the NRE while studying in China?
This is the part you control. A student who treats the NRE as a final-year problem has already lost two years. Here is a plan that works with any Chinese medical curriculum.
- Get the PM&DC syllabus in year 1 and keep it next to your university timetable. Mark which subjects your university teaches, and which topics are taught in a different order or depth.
- Study for understanding, not for the semester exam only. Chinese universities often test with their own style of paper. The NRE is a different style, so build the habit of solving MCQs early.
- Start MCQ practice from year 3, once you have finished the basic sciences. Do a small set daily and review every wrong answer against a standard textbook.
- Use your clinical years properly. Step II is clinical, so hospital exposure, history taking and examination skills count. Learn the medical terms in English and Urdu so that Pakistani patients and examiners make sense to you.
- Keep an eye on exam dates. Sessions have been rescheduled, and registration windows are short.
- Join a study group of Pakistani classmates in your final years, and speak with seniors who have already sat the exam. Ask what they wish they had practised.
- Plan your final year around the exam. If your university lets you do the internship in Pakistan or another country, check that it is accepted by PM&DC before you commit.
A short note on attempts: we could not find a clear published limit on how many times a candidate may sit the NRE. Do not rely on an agent's answer. Read the current PM&DC regulations before you assume you can try as often as you like.
What does this mean for choosing a China university?
The NRE figure should change how you shortlist, not whether you go. Use it to ask better questions.
- Is the university listed as PMDC-approved in directories, and does it appear in the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS)? Confirm on pmdc.pk and search.wdoms.org, not on the university's own page or an agent's list. Our step-by-step guide is how to verify PMDC-recognised universities in China.
- Is the university on China's Ministry of Education list for English-medium MBBS? Our MOE-listed universities list shows which of the 45 universities in our directory qualify.
- Does the programme have its own teaching hospital, and will you do clinical rotations in English-friendly wards?
- Can the university or its senior students tell you how many recent graduates sat the NRE, and what happened? A university that refuses to answer is giving you an answer.
- Is the fee in your budget without cutting corners? Our MBBS in China total cost guide covers the full cost over the whole programme.
The point is simple. A cheap fee does not help if you cannot register at the end. The same warning applies to the other direction: a famous city does not guarantee a passing result either. You need a recognised university and a student who studies for the exam.
Titans Abroad only recommends PMDC-approved, MOE-listed universities for China, and will tell a student when a programme is not right for them. We do not charge a consultation fee. If you want a shortlist built around these questions, you can apply on our site. For the wider question of return on a China degree, read is MBBS in China worth it.
What if you want to practise outside Pakistan?
The NRE only matters if you want a Pakistani licence. If your plan is the United States or the United Kingdom, the exams are USMLE and PLAB. China graduates do sit these, and the recognition of your school in WDOMS matters for ECFMG eligibility. We cover the rules in USMLE and PLAB after MBBS abroad. Many students plan for both routes and decide in their final years, which is sensible as long as the university choice is made on recognition first.
Where to check the latest NRE news
Rules and dates on this exam have changed several times in two years. Use the original sources and treat everything else, including this article, as a guide to check.
- pmdc.pk for notices, syllabus, registration and results.
- The PM&DC press release and public notices, such as the 31 July 2026 notice on NRE eligibility.
- The Associated Press of Pakistan report on the December 2025 results.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate of China graduates in the NRE?
In the NRE Step I session of 14 December 2025, 333 of 2,154 China-educated candidates passed, which is about 15.5 percent, according to The News using PM&DC data. The overall rate that day was about 20.8 percent. Rates change by session and by group, so treat this as one data point, not a fixed figure.
What is the NRE and when is it held?
The NRE is PM&DC's registration exam for Pakistani nationals with foreign medical or dental degrees. Step I is a theory exam and Step II is a clinical skills exam. Sessions were held in June and December 2025. NRE Step I for 2026 was moved from 11 October to 8 November 2026 in a report dated 5 October. Check pmdc.pk for the current date.
Is the NRE harder than the MDCAT?
They test different things, so no honest comparison exists. MDCAT is an entry test on the FSc syllabus. The NRE tests medical knowledge from your whole degree and then clinical skills, with a reported 60 percent pass mark in each part. The overall pass rates show that many candidates struggle, but they do not prove it is harder.
What is the NEB exam for foreign graduates?
The National Equivalence Board exam is for students who did part of their degree abroad and want to transfer into a Pakistani college. It is not the licensing exam for finished graduates, which is the NRE. News reports on the 2026 round said students needed at least two years abroad and a place in year three. Confirm current rules on pmdc.pk.
How many attempts do I get at the NRE?
We could not find a published limit on attempts in the sources we checked. Pass rates suggest that many candidates sit more than once. Registration windows are short and fees apply each time, so read the current PM&DC regulations and notices before you plan around repeat attempts, and do not accept an agent's verbal answer.
Which countries have the best NRE results?
In the December 2025 session, the larger groups with higher rates were Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, at roughly 30 to 33 percent, though each had fewer than 200 candidates. Kyrgyzstan had the most candidates at about 22 percent. Tiny groups with 100 percent are not meaningful. Do not choose a country from one session alone.
How should I prepare for the NRE while studying in China?
Get the PM&DC syllabus in year 1 and compare it with your timetable. Start daily MCQ practice from year 3, work on clinical skills in your hospital years, and track exam dates. Ask recent graduates from your university what they wished they had done earlier. Start early, because the exam covers the whole degree.