When You Would Actually Sit the Exam
91 programs publish real assessment dates, and 59 offer more than one sitting. Vilnius runs six. The calendar decides your year more than the deadline does.
Quick Answer
Later than the deadline, and often more than once. Of the 271 programs on this site, 259 record something about a test or interview date and 91 publish real calendar dates. The striking part is that 59 of those 91 name more than one sitting, and 47 name three or more — so at a large minority of programs the exam date is a choice rather than a summons. Vilnius University publishes six online medicine exams between 22 January and 18 June 2026. The Medical University of Plovdiv runs five, from 15 April to 18 August, each with its own registration deadline, plus a re-sit on 4 September. The Medical University of Varna runs three open sittings and two more restricted to EU applicants. Across the whole set September is the busiest month, then May, March, June and July, with a second cluster in November. One trap is buried in the Vilnius entry and worth reading twice: non-EU applicants must test no later than 14 May, two sittings before the last one. The published date list is not always the list available to you.
Source Status
Dates are quoted from the 2026-2027 application timelines recorded per program in our catalog. 259 of 271 records carry a test or interview field; 91 name at least one specific calendar date, and the counts of multiple sittings are taken from those 91.
Quick Take
- 91 programs publish real exam or interview dates; 59 offer a choice of sitting.
- September is the busiest assessment month, then May, March, June and July.
- Vilnius bars non-EU applicants from its last two sittings.
The exam is usually after the deadline
Applicants plan around closing dates, then discover the closing date was the easy part. Of the 271 programs on this site, 259 record something about assessment timing and 91 publish specific calendar dates. The rest describe a process without committing to a day.
Where dates exist, the year has a clear shape:
| Month | Programs naming a date in it |
|---|---|
| September | 73 |
| May | 57 |
| June | 53 |
| July | 51 |
| March | 54 |
| November | 37 |
| August | 8 |
| February | 7 |
| January | 5 |
September's peak is the thing to absorb. A great deal of continental assessment happens in the weeks immediately before teaching starts, which means the gap between being tested and being enrolled can be very short — and that you may be sitting an exam while your UCAS-based friends have known their outcome since March.
The UK runs on its own clock entirely, and publishes it far ahead: for 2027 entry, UCAT account registration opens 12 May 2026, booking 23 June, and testing runs 13 July to 24 September 2026. What the test contains is in what is actually on the UCAT.
At 59 programs the date is a choice
This is the finding that changes how you plan. 59 of the 91 name more than one sitting, and 47 name three or more.
| University | Country | Published sittings |
|---|---|---|
| Vilnius University | Lithuania | Six: 22 Jan, 26 Feb, 19 Mar, 16 Apr, 14 May, 18 Jun 2026 |
| Medical University of Plovdiv | Bulgaria | Five: 15 Apr, 15 May, 16 Jun, 17 Jul, 18 Aug, plus a re-sit 4 Sep |
| University of Zagreb | Croatia | Four online: 12 Jan, 12 May, 8 Jun, 6 Jul 2026 |
| Medical University of Varna | Bulgaria | Three open: 4 Apr, 16 May, 13 Jun, plus two EU-only |
| Comenius University Bratislava | Slovakia | Three: 19 Mar, 2 Jun, 6 Aug 2026 |
| Lithuanian University of Health Sciences | Lithuania | Testing from 13 Jan, with dates through a 16 July deadline |
A choice of sitting is worth more than it looks. It lets you sit early to find out where you stand, and sit again later if the first attempt goes badly — see entrance exam second chances. It also lets you fit the exam around school exams at home rather than against them.
Plovdiv publishes the detail that makes this usable: each of its five sittings has its own registration deadline — 8 April, 8 May, 9 June, 10 July, 11 August, and 30 August for the re-sit. So the sitting you want dictates the deadline you face, which is the opposite of how applicants usually reason about it.
Zagreb pairs its exams the same way, with applications closing 22 December 2025, 26 April, 25 May and 20 June for its four respective online exams.
The restriction inside the calendar
Two of the programs above quietly narrow the list for the people reading this site.
Vilnius University publishes six sittings and then states that non-EU applicants must test no later than 14 May 2026 — the fifth of the six. A Canadian or American reading the full list and planning for 18 June would be planning for a date they cannot use.
The Medical University of Varna does it the other way round: three sittings open to everyone, then two further sessions on 16 July and 3 September that are EU-only.
The general lesson is the one that keeps recurring across this site: a published list is published for someone, and it is worth checking whether that someone is you. The same pattern in fees is the fee on the page may not be yours, and in deadlines it appears as citizenship ladders — Rīga Stradiņš gives applicants needing more processing time the earlier deadline, which is covered in can you start in February.
What to do with the calendar
Work backwards from the sitting, not forwards from the deadline. Where a program offers several, pick the one you can actually be ready for and then find its registration deadline. At Plovdiv those are four months apart.
Sit one early on purpose. An entrance exam result is the most honest signal you will get about where you stand, far better than any grade conversion — and it arrives early enough to change your shortlist. The ones you can sit without flying are in entrance exams you can sit from home.
Check the time zone and the clock. Jagiellonian's exam is at 16:00 CEST, Humanitas's recovery test at 14:30 CET. A morning paper in Vilnius is the middle of the night in North America — see deadlines are a time, not a day.
Do not assume the list applies to you, for the reasons above.
And confirm on the university's page for your cycle. Every date here is 2026-2027 and will be reissued. The method is in how to verify a school yourself.
FAQs
When are European medical school entrance exams held?
Across the whole calendar, but with a clear peak: of the programs on this site that publish specific dates, September is the busiest month with 73, then May 57, March 54, June 53 and July 51, with a second cluster of 37 in November. Much continental assessment happens in the weeks just before teaching starts.
Can I choose when to sit the entrance exam?
At 59 of the 91 programs that publish specific dates, yes — they name more than one sitting, and 47 name three or more. Vilnius University publishes six online medicine exams between January and June 2026, and the Medical University of Plovdiv five between April and August plus a re-sit in September.
Do non-EU applicants get the same exam dates?
Not always. Vilnius University publishes six sittings but requires non-EU applicants to test no later than 14 May, the fifth of the six. The Medical University of Varna runs three open sittings plus two further sessions restricted to EU applicants. Check which of the published dates apply to your citizenship before planning around them.
When is the UCAT taken?
For 2027 entry, UCAT account registration opens 12 May 2026, booking opens 23 June 2026, and testing runs from 13 July to 24 September 2026. That is published far in advance, unlike most continental exam dates, and it sits well before the 15 October UCAS deadline for medicine and dentistry.
How long after the exam do I find out?
Where universities publish it, days rather than weeks — the Medical University of Sofia examines on 17 and 18 September with results on 22 September, and Jagiellonian examines on 23 May with a ranking on 1 June. Only 34 programs publish a results or ranking date at all.
Does the registration deadline change with the exam date?
At some universities, yes, and it is easy to miss. Plovdiv attaches a separate registration deadline to each of its five sittings — 8 April, 8 May, 9 June, 10 July and 11 August — and Zagreb pairs each of its four online exams with its own application date. Pick the sitting first, then find its deadline.