Medical licensing exams in Poland: LEK, LEW, LDEK and FEW explained

Medical and health education in Poland

Medicine in Poland is a six-year single-cycle degree taught in Polish at about twenty public medical universities and faculties, plus a number of private ones. Many universities run English-language programmes with large international cohorts, including students from Scandinavia, Israel, India and Nigeria. The Polish Accreditation Committee (PKA) accredits programmes, and the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education set the framework. Dentistry takes five years, pharmacy five, and nursing three.

The degree links to licensing through the final exams. Since the older postgraduate internship was abolished, graduates take the Medical Final Examination (LEK) or the Dental Final Examination (LDEK), whose score is used to rank candidates for specialty places; it is not a pass-or-fail licence. The right to practise (prawo wykonywania zawodu) is granted by the District Medical Chamber, part of the Polish Medical Chamber (NIL). Specialty training is entered through a competitive national process. Graduates of English-language programmes who plan to practise outside the EU need their home country’s exam, such as the FMGE in India. Confirm current requirements with the chamber.

One exam centre, many exam names

Poland is unusual in Europe because medical testing is centralised. CEM publishes the regulations, runs the sessions, sets the pass marks and releases results for doctors, dentists and pharmacists. The Polish names look alike. They are not interchangeable.

Three letters tell you most of what you need. The last letter says who the exam is for: K (końcowy) is the final exam for Polish graduates, W (weryfikacyjny) is the verifying exam for graduates from outside the EU, and the specialisation exams (PES) come at the end of postgraduate training. The first letters say the profession: LEK for lekarz (doctor), LDEK for lekarz dentysta (dentist), FEW for farmaceuta (pharmacist).

Who needs a licensing exam in Poland

The answer depends on where you trained and which profession you are.

EU, EEA and Swiss graduates normally do not sit a Polish exam at all. They apply for recognition of a professional qualification. If you are a non-EU graduate, the exams below are the ones that matter.

Doctors: LEK, LEW and PES

LEK (Lekarski Egzamin Końcowy)

The LEK is the final medical exam. It has 200 single-best-answer questions with five options each, and you have four hours. The pass mark is 56% of the questions. CEM offers the exam in Polish and in English, which is why many international students at Polish medical universities sit it in English.

Passing LEK is part of getting the right to practise, together with the compulsory degree and the completed course. The score then does a second job. Specialisation places are filled by ranking candidates on their LEK result, so a pass at 60% and a pass at 90% lead to very different choices of specialty and city.

LEW (Lekarski Egzamin Weryfikacyjny)

The LEW is the verifying exam for doctors who graduated outside the EU. The degree must be at least five years. It is an MCQ test scored in points, with a pass mark of 60%. CEM runs two sessions a year and the fee quoted in our research is 700 PLN, which you should check before applying because fees change.

You also need to pass a Polish language exam organised through the Naczelna Izba Lekarska (the Polish Chamber of Physicians). A simplified, conditional route for non-EU doctors was introduced in 2020 alongside the standard route. Rules for it have been changed more than once, so read the current CEM and chamber pages rather than a forum summary.

PES (Państwowy Egzamin Specjalizacyjny)

The PES is the exit exam for a specialisation. It has an MCQ part and an oral part, and CEM publishes archived questions. It is not a licensing exam, but it shapes how doctors in Poland study after graduation.

1. Check your route. Graduated in Poland: LEK. Graduated outside the EU: LEW. Graduated in the EU: recognition.
2. Read the CEM regulations. Eligibility, fee, deadlines and the language of the exam are set per session.
3. Register with CEM. Applications open before each session; late applications are not accepted.
4. Sit the exam. Bring identification and follow the exam-day rules in the regulation.
5. Apply for the right to practise with the Naczelna Izba Lekarska, and complete the language requirement if you are a non-EU graduate.

Dentists: LDEK and LDEW

Dentistry follows the same pattern as medicine. The LDEK (Lekarsko-Dentystyczny Egzamin Końcowy) is the final exam for Polish graduates: 200 MCQs with five options and a four-hour sitting. Non-EU dental graduates sit the LDEW (Lekarsko-Dentystyczny Egzamin Weryfikacyjny), an MCQ test with a 60% pass mark, and a Polish language exam.

The LDEK score is used for specialisation ranking in dentistry too. As with doctors, EU qualifications go through recognition, not through the LDEW.

Pharmacists: FEW

Poland has no licensing exam for Polish pharmacy graduates. Non-EU pharmacy graduates (minimum five-year degree) sit the FEW (Farmaceutyczny Egzamin Weryfikacyjny): 200 MCQs, five options, four hours, 60% to pass. The FEW is in Polish only. There is no English edition.

The PES for pharmacists is a specialisation exam taken later and run by CEM too. Do not confuse it with the FEW.

Nurses, midwives and physiotherapists

None of these three professions has a national licensing exam. A Polish graduate is entered in the register on the strength of the qualification. The body is the Naczelna Izba Pielęgniarek i Położnych (NIPiP) for nurses and midwives, and the Krajowa Izba Fizjoterapeutów for physiotherapists.

Non-EU nurses and midwives go through recognition of their qualifications plus Polish language proof. A simplified procedure for non-EU nurses and midwives was created under a 2020 law. Nurses can later sit a specialisation exam run by the Ministry of Health. For physiotherapists, a statutory national exam (PEF) exists in law but is not in force. The PESFZ is a specialisation exam, not an entry exam. CEM lists it for this reason.

TriagePass does not sell a licensing-exam course for these three groups in Poland, because there is no exam to prepare for. If that changes, we will say so on the nurse and physiotherapist pages.

Comparing the Polish exams

Language and recognition

Polish is the working language of the register and of the clinics. Non-EU doctors and dentists sit a separate language exam through the chamber, and non-EU pharmacists meet it inside the FEW. English helps with the LEK only.

For EU, EEA and Swiss graduates, Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications applies. That route is an application, not an exam. The authority will still ask for language proof before you can practise.

How to prepare for the Polish exams

CEM publishes past question content, and the question style is very consistent from year to year: clinical vignette, five options, one best answer. Use the published material for format and pace. Use a question bank for volume and for the sort of reasoning the vignettes reward.

A realistic plan for the LEK or LEW is to cover the whole examination content list once, then spend most of your time on timed blocks of 50 to 100 questions, reviewing every explanation. Four hours for 200 questions leaves about 70 seconds per item. Practise at that speed.

Last reviewed October 2026