PGET Paper Pattern: Basic Sciences, the Specialty Paper and the 75th-Percentile Rule

Most Pakistani postgraduate tests set a fixed pass mark. The UHS Postgraduate Entrance Test does not: its notice for the 25 October 2026 sitting sets the minimum passing score at the 75th percentile, and gives PGET marks 75 per cent weightage in the induction merit. That one rule changes how a candidate should prepare. This article explains the paper and then the strategy the rule implies.

The two papers

• Paper I, 10:00 to 12:00, 100 MCQs. Basic medical sciences from the MBBS curriculum for medical candidates, and basic medical and dental sciences for dental candidates. Separate papers for the two streams.
• Paper II, 13:00 to 15:00, 100 MCQs. A specialty-specific paper for the group chosen at registration. The groups for MBBS graduates are Medicine and Allied; Surgery and Allied Group I (General Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Urology, Plastic Surgery); Surgery and Allied Group II (Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, Cardiac Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, and General Surgery); Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Paediatric Medicine; Anaesthesia; Radiology; Psychiatry; Ophthalmology; ENT; and Pathology. BDS groups are Prosthodontics, Operative Dentistry, Periodontology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Orthodontics.
• Table of Specifications. UHS notified the ToS on 7 September 2026; it lists what each paper samples and is published on the university website.

What a percentile pass mark means

A fixed pass mark asks "did you know enough?". A percentile asks "did you do better than most of the field?". At the 75th percentile, roughly a quarter of candidates pass regardless of how well the whole cohort performs. Three consequences follow:

1. There is no safe score. A mark that passed last year may not this year if the field is stronger. Prepare for the highest score you can reach, not for a threshold.
2. Common questions matter most. Because everyone is measured against everyone, the questions that separate candidates are the moderate ones most people can answer with preparation. Dropping those is far more costly than missing the obscure ones.
3. Speed is a competitive weapon. At 100 questions in two hours, a candidate who finishes with time to revisit flagged questions gains marks the slower candidate leaves on the table.

Preparing for Paper I

Revise the basic sciences by system rather than by subject: for each system, the anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology and microbiology together. House officers find this faster because it mirrors how they met the material on the wards. Use question sets to find the gaps and read only to fill them.

Preparing for Paper II

Read the ToS for your group first. Then work through the group's core topics with specialty-level questions: for Medicine and Allied, the common presentations and their first-line management; for the surgical groups, operative anatomy, trauma and perioperative care; for Obstetrics and Gynaecology, antenatal, intrapartum and gynaecological pathology; and so on. The specialty paper is where candidates who merely "revised MBBS" fall behind those who prepared for the group.

The merit calculation

With PGET at 75 per cent of merit, the remaining weight comes from academic record as set out in the Central Induction Policy. Passing PGET is necessary but not sufficient; seat availability and policy rules still apply. Candidates should therefore check both their PGET standing and the seat matrix for their group when results come out.

What this means for you

Treat PGET as a race against the cohort: maximise correct answers on moderate questions, build speed with timed 100-question papers, and give Paper II the specialty preparation it demands. FAME's PGET mocks are set to the two-paper, two-hour pattern, and the per-topic analytics show which moderate questions you are still losing.

Sources and references

• UHS: PGET 2026 admission notice (papers, groups, passing criteria, weightage)
• UHS: Table of Specifications notification for PGET (7 September 2026)
• UHS: PGET Table of Specifications