NRE Step-I Moved to 8 November 2026: What the PMDC Notice Says

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) has moved the October sitting of the National Registration Examination (NRE) Step-I. The exam that was due on Sunday 11 October 2026 will now be held on Sunday 8 November 2026. The change was announced in a short public notice (reference Exam-97/2026) dated 5 October 2026 and published on the council's website, where the sitting is still labelled "NRE October 2026".

What the notice says

The notice is three lines long. It states that the Step-I examination "scheduled for 11th October" has been rescheduled to 8 November 2026 "due to unavoidable circumstances", and asks candidates to keep checking www.pmdc.pk for further details. It is signed by the Registration Officer of the council's Examinations Department and copied to the Registrar and the Controller of Examinations at the National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS), Rawalpindi, which conducts the examination on the council's behalf.

One detail has caused confusion on social media: the notice refers to the original date as "11th October, 2025". Every other reference on the document, including its own date, points to 2026, and 11 October 2026 is the Sunday the notice describes. Candidates should treat the year as a typing error rather than a second exam.

Why the date moved

The council has not given a reason beyond "unavoidable circumstances". Dawn reported on 7 October that a senior PM&DC official, speaking without being named, linked the decision to the political situation in the country and the possibility of road closures around Rawalpindi and Islamabad during the first week of October. That explanation comes from one unnamed official and has not been confirmed in writing, so it should be read as reported context rather than an official statement.

Who is affected

The new date applies to everyone registered for this sitting. Registration for NRE Step-I closed in September; the NRE portal (nre.pmdc.pk) continues to show "Registration is closed", so no new candidates can join the November exam. The council's earlier notice of 9 September had extended the registration window, which is why some candidates registered as late as mid-September.

Under the PM&DC Act 2022, foreign medical and dental graduates must pass the NRE before they can be registered to practise in Pakistan. Dawn's report also notes that the examination is held in two steps and at least twice a year.

What has not changed

• The fee, the exam format and the registration list are as they were. Nobody has to re-apply.
• The notice says nothing about NRE Step-II, so the clinical step is not affected by this announcement.
• Admit cards and centre details have not been reissued yet. Watch the NRE portal and your registered email in the last two weeks of October.

What the extra four weeks mean for candidates

Four more weeks is a gift if it is used deliberately and a trap if it becomes four weeks of "I'll start again next Monday". Three suggestions from the FAME teaching team:

1. Keep the original peak. If you were ready for 11 October, do a full timed mock this week to lock in that level, then switch to a maintenance rhythm of one timed block a day. Do not restart the syllabus from page one.
2. Use the time for your weakest two systems only. Your mock-test analytics tell you which subjects are costing marks. Spend the first two of the four weeks on those, and leave the last two weeks for mixed revision.
3. Protect your routine. Sleep, meals and a fixed daily start time matter more in a delayed exam than in a normal one, because motivation dips when a target moves.

What to watch next

Expect NUMS and PM&DC to publish admit-card and centre instructions closer to the date. If the political situation that reportedly triggered the delay changes again, the council will post any further change on the same announcements page, so check it rather than relying on forwarded messages.

FAME's NRE-1 question bank, recalls and video lectures remain open for the November sitting; candidates who had a plan ending in October can extend it from the dashboard.

Sources and references

• PM&DC public notice Exam-97/2026: rescheduling of NRE Step-I (5 October 2026)
• PM&DC public announcements page
• Dawn, 7 October 2026: PMDC reschedules NRE Step-1 to Nov 8
• 24NewsHD, 7 October 2026: PMDC reschedules NRE Step-I