What is the clinical skills exam in the PM&DC NRE?

The Clinical Skills Examination (CSE) is the skill-based, clinical component of the National Registration Examination (NRE), set by the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PM&DC) for Pakistani medical graduates who seek registration. It is meant to assess the essential clinical skills required for practice by a general medical practitioner, and its format is similar to an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). The rules below come from PM&DC's National Registration Examination (Medical): Standard, Structure and Syllabus 2024 — the CSE is described in Section II and Section VII of that standard; for the examination and registration steps in Pakistan and the other home countries, see this site's section page.

What the CSE assesses

The CSE aims to assess essential clinical skills that would include interpretation of clinical data, including diagnostic data, formulation of diagnosis and development of management plans (Section VII). The CSE would also include examination skills and key procedural skills (Section VII).

Format and timing

The format of the CSE is similar to an OSCE (Section II). The duration of the CSE shall be approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes, including the initial briefing, and will consist of 20 stations (Section VII). Each CSE station shall be assigned 8 minutes, with 2 minutes for the changeover (Section VII).

Station distribution by discipline

The distribution of disciplines for the CSE stations is set out in Section VII:

Discipline	Total number of stations
Medicine and Allied	07
Surgery and Allied	07
Obstetrics & Gynaecology	02
Paediatrics	02
Ophthalmology (Eye)	01
Otorhinolaryngology (ENT)	01
Total	20

Who is eligible for the CSE

The NRE consists of two components: a theory component and the skill-based clinical component, the CSE (Section II). Only candidates qualifying in the theory (MCQs) component of the NRE will be eligible for the CSE (Section II).

Pass rules

Candidates will have to pass both the theory and the CSE components separately in order to be declared successful in the NRE (Section II). The minimum pass percentage of the CSE, including mandatory stations, is 60% (Section II); the pass percentage is fixed at 60% for the final result of the CSE (Section VII).

There will be three mandatory stations in the CSE. A candidate must clear all three mandatory stations in order to be declared to pass in the CSE. If a candidate obtains an aggregate of 60% or above in the CSE yet fails even one mandatory station, s/he will be declared as fail in the entire CSE (Section II). There will be no negative marking in both components of the NRE (Section II).

Candidates who pass the theory component but fail the CSE will have to re-appear in the CSE component only and will re-register for the CSE only (Section II). If a candidate fails in three consecutive attempts of the CSE, s/he will have to appear in both the theory and CSE components on the fourth attempt; after every three failed attempts at the CSE, candidates will have to sit the entire NRE (Section II).

Can the CSE details change

The details about the content and conduct of the CSE — duration, number of stations, pass percentage — remain subject to change at the discretion of PM&DC, provided that any such change is notified and displayed on the PM&DC website at least 12 weeks prior to the date of commencement of the CSE (Section VII). This page reflects the 2024 standard; check PM&DC's current notice for the sitting you will take.

Sources

• National Registration Examination (Medical): Standard, Structure and Syllabus 2024 — Pakistan Medical & Dental Council

Checked 11 October 2026.

This page is an unofficial summary, is not legal or professional-licensing advice, is not published by the bodies named, promises no admission, examination or registration outcome, and the official text and the regulator's own instructions prevail if they differ.