Which medical entrance exam do I need?

If you are in Year 12 or have finished school, you need UCAT ANZ. The consortium lists 15 Australian universities for 2027 entry, including Monash, UNSW, Adelaide University, Curtin, Western Sydney and the Newcastle and New England Joint Medical Program.

UCAT ANZ results last one cycle. A 2026 result can only be used for courses starting in 2027.

Some entries on the list are school-leaver pathways into a graduate-entry MD. Examples are UQ’s provisional entry pathway, the Sunshine Coast pathway into Griffith’s MD, and UWA’s Doctor of Medicine via the Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised).

If you apply with a degree, you need GAMSAT. 13 Australian institutions admit on it, most through GEMSAS. Thresholds, GPA rules and routes for each one are on the GAMSAT in Australia page.

Three exceptions to check:

• Tasmania runs one combined undergraduate-entry medical degree. School leavers apply with ATAR and UCAT ANZ. Applicants with previous university study apply with GAMSAT.
• International applicants can use the MCAT instead of GAMSAT at Deakin, Flinders, Melbourne and Notre Dame Fremantle.
• 14 Australian pathways waive GAMSAT, most of them Indigenous or rural entry routes. Each is listed on its university’s page under GAMSAT requirements by university.

UCAT is the main medical entrance exam in the UK. The UCAT Consortium lists 51 UK universities and medical schools for 2027 entry. You sit it between July and September, and UCAT sends your result to your universities in early November. The UCAS deadline for medicine is 15 October.

UCAT also covers some graduate-entry courses. Cambridge requires it for both Medicine (A100) and Graduate Medicine (A101).

GAMSAT is used by 15 UK institutions, mostly for graduate-entry courses. Several of them accept UCAT as an alternative. The current list, and the courses that require both, are on the GAMSAT in the UK page. If a course accepts either test, GAMSAT vs UCAT compares the two.

MCAT is accepted from international applicants at Chester and Swansea.

If you apply from school, you need HPAT-Ireland. ACER lists six universities that require it for undergraduate medicine: University of Galway, RCSI, Trinity College Dublin, UCC, UCD and the University of Limerick.

• You must be in your final year of school or have completed your school leaving certificate.
• It is a 2.5-hour online test of 114 multiple-choice questions, sat remotely.
• ACER says international and non-EU students may be exempt. Check with each university.

If you apply with a degree, you need GAMSAT. EU applicants to graduate entry at RCSI, UCC, UCD and UL apply through the CAO and are ranked on GAMSAT. The full route is on the GAMSAT in Ireland page.

Non-EU applicants to the same four schools can use GAMSAT or the MCAT. The published score equivalences are on GAMSAT vs MCAT.

Both New Zealand medical schools are on the UCAT ANZ list. Neither admits you straight from school. You apply after a set first year at university, or as a graduate.

• Otago takes applicants after Health Sciences First Year, or in its Graduate category. Domestic applicants in both need a UCAT result from the year they apply. For 2027 entry the minimums are the 20th percentile in Verbal Reasoning and the 10th in Situational Judgement. Above those, UCAT carries no further weight. The Alternative category needs no UCAT.
• Auckland requires UCAT ANZ for 2027 entry, worth 15% of the final ranking. For 2028 entry it requires Casper instead, sat in the year you apply.

No New Zealand medical school uses GAMSAT. You can still sit it in New Zealand to apply to Australia, the UK or Ireland. See GAMSAT in New Zealand.

The MCAT is run by the AAMC. The AAMC says all US and many Canadian medical schools require MCAT scores for regular admission, and that many schools do not accept scores more than three years old.

Scores are reported in four sections: biological and biochemical foundations, chemical and physical foundations, psychological and social foundations of behaviour, and critical analysis and reasoning skills.

• UK and Australia or New Zealand, from school: Cambridge says you cannot sit both UCAT and UCAT ANZ in the same year, and it accepts UCAT ANZ. Check that each UK university on your list does too.
• Australia, the UK and Ireland, with a degree: one GAMSAT covers all three. A result lasts 4 years in Australia and 2 in the UK and Ireland. How the test works is on what is the GAMSAT, and who can sit it is on GAMSAT eligibility.
• Ireland and North America, as a non-EU graduate: the MCAT covers North America and the non-EU route at RCSI, UCC, UCD and UL.

If GAMSAT is your exam, you can start with our free GAMSAT practice test. It is timed to ACER’s limits and your first mock needs no account.