Syria's healthcare exams: tested at graduation, ranked for residency

Medical and health education in Syria

Syria's medical degree is the MD, taught over six years at public universities such as Damascus, Aleppo, Tishreen and Al-Baath, and at some private universities. The sixth year is largely a clinical internship (intern year) in university hospitals. Teaching is in Arabic, with English-language textbooks and terminology. Nursing is available as a diploma or bachelor's degree, pharmacy takes five years, and dentistry five years.

Universities fall under the Ministry of Higher Education, and doctors register with the Ministry of Health and the Syrian Medical Syndicate to practise. Postgraduate specialisation is organised through the Syrian Board of Medical Specialties and university programmes. Years of conflict have affected records, institutions and recognition, so documents may need extra verification. Confirm current requirements with the Ministry and the syndicate before relying on these figures.

Syria tests at the end of the degree, not after it

Most countries test after graduation. Syria's distinctive step comes before: students take a unified national exam in their final year, and the result is tied to the degree and to practice. That is the feature to understand first, because it changes who sits the exam and when.

Context matters too. Medical education in Syria has operated through years of conflict, with disrupted teaching, staff departures and large numbers of graduates leaving the country. Published research on the national medical exam describes how results were analysed during the crisis. Plans made on a typical sitting timetable may not hold.

Who needs a licensing exam in Syria

Graduating students in four professions. According to reporting on the policy, the Ministry of Higher Education has required a unified national exam before graduation from certain faculties since 2010, including medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing. The exam is run by the ministry's Center for Measurement and Evaluation, with the Ministry of Health and the relevant syndicate involved in practice.

Midwives and physiotherapists. We found no national exam. Registration is by qualification through the Ministry of Health.

Syrian-trained clinicians abroad. They usually need the destination country's exam in addition. Germany, for example, assesses foreign doctors through its own procedure, and the Gulf requires Dataflow verification and its licensing exams. The Syrian exam does not replace them.

Doctors: Unified National Exam and residency entry

Unified National Exam. A multiple-choice exam in Arabic, taken by final-year medical students. The 2015 reforms also added a preparatory year for entrants to medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, with admission scored half on secondary-school grades and half on a test after that year. That affects new cohorts rather than current graduates.

Residency or Syrian Board entry. Graduates seeking specialty training sit an entrance exam under the Ministry of Health and the Syrian Board of Medical Specialties, reported as MCQ in Arabic.

1. Complete the final-year coursework and clinical rotations.
2. Register for the Unified National Exam through your faculty.
3. Sit the exam, required for the degree and for practice.
4. Register with the syndicate and the Ministry of Health.
5. Apply for residency through the specialty entrance exam if you want a specialty.

Dentists, pharmacists and nurses

These three groups sit their own versions of the Unified National Exam, one per profession, at the same stage of the degree and in the same Arabic MCQ format. The same ministry centre sets and administers them. Pharmacists and dentists then register with their syndicates; nurses register through the Ministry of Health and the nursing body. As with doctors, we could not confirm a current syllabus, so ask your faculty for the blueprint it distributes.

Midwives and physiotherapists

For both professions, we found no national licensing exam. Midwives and physiotherapists register by qualification with the Ministry of Health. If a faculty gives an internal final exam, it is local to that institution. Foreign-trained entrants should ask the Ministry about recognition in writing.

Exams at a glance

Language and recognition

Arabic is the language of instruction and of the national exams. English medical terminology is used alongside it, and many graduates prepare for foreign exams in English. We found no language test for registration inside Syria.

A large number of Syrian-trained clinicians now work or study abroad. For them, the Syrian degree is the starting document and the next exam is set by the host country. Keep certified copies of transcripts, graduation certificates and exam results. Obtaining them later, from abroad, is often the slowest part of an application.

Preparing for the Unified National Exam

• Cover the full curriculum rather than only recent courses, since the exam is cumulative.
• Practise Arabic MCQs in blocks and track weak systems.
• Add English single-best-answer questions if you plan to work abroad.
• Ask your faculty for the official blueprint each year.

What is unconfirmed

Our directory marks the Syrian rows as unverified. The existence of the Unified National Exam since 2010 is supported by published reporting, but we do not state the exam's current format or rules as fact. Check with the Ministry of Higher Education and your faculty.

A degree-linked exam and a ranking exam

Two different exam logics sit side by side in Syria. The Unified National Exam is tied to the degree. It checks the whole curriculum at the end of training and conditions graduation and practice. The residency or Syrian Board entrance exam is a selection exam, used to allocate places. Candidates need to prepare differently for each: the first rewards completeness, the second rewards speed and accuracy under competition.

What the research on the national medical exam shows

Peer-reviewed analyses of the knowledge-based national medical examination during the crisis exist, including an Avicenna Journal of Medicine paper from 2016 that studied results. We cite it as evidence that the exam has operated and been studied, not as a source of current pass rates. If you need numbers, read the paper and the ministry's own releases directly.

Practical steps if you are leaving Syria

• Collect certified documents early: degree, transcripts, exam results, internship records.
• Ask the syndicate for a good-standing certificate where available.
• Choose the destination exam (German procedures, PLAB, Gulf licensing tests) and prepare in the language it is set in.
• Do not assume the Syrian exam counts abroad. It does not exempt you from the host country's assessment.

Last reviewed October 2026