MU-Varna Entrance Exam 2027: Complete Preparation Guide

Six official headings, regrouped here into eleven areas. Beyond the published scope, two kinds of detail are added: what the official sample paper itself tests (cytokinesis, homologous pairs and chromosome numbers, the electron transport chain, bile and the liver), and the content of the one heading the official list gives with no bullets beneath it, which is flagged in its bullet below.

• The cell and biomolecules: the cell as the basic structural and functional unit, proteins and nucleic acids (structure, enzymes, replication, transcription and translation), viruses (structure and importance), the prokaryotic cell and its functions, the eukaryotic cell (plasma membrane, membrane-bound organelles, nucleus and the structure of chromosomes)
• Cell division: mitosis and meiosis, the order and events of the phases, cytokinesis, chromosomes and homologous pairs, crossing over and independent assortment, chromosome number in somatic cells and in gametes
• Cellular energy: providing the cell with energy, biological oxidation, the role of ATP, glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, oxidative phosphorylation and the electron transport chain
• Genetics: monohybrid and dihybrid crosses, Mendel's laws, interactions of genes and alleles, genetics of sex, linked inheritance and crossing over, mutational variability and the classification of gene, chromosomal and genomic mutations, inherited diseases in humans
• Reproduction, development and homeostasis: individual development in animals and humans, gametogenesis, fertilization, the male and female reproductive systems, homeostasis and the immunological mechanisms of homeostasis
• Tissues and the locomotive system: epithelial, connective, muscle and nerve tissue, the locomotive system (bones, skull, vertebral column, thorax and limbs; muscles: shape, action, types and physiology)
• Cardiovascular and respiratory systems: body fluids, blood plasma and blood cells, the heart and vessels, blood and lymph circulation, the respiratory system (nose, pharynx, trachea, bronchi and lungs, inhalation and exhalation, gas exchange)
• Digestive system and skin: nutrition, digestion in the mouth, stomach and intestines, the liver, gallbladder and pancreas, absorption, the skin (layers, glands, appendages and functions)
• Nervous, endocrine and sensory systems: the nervous system (spinal cord, brain and autonomic nervous system), the endocrine system (glands, pancreas, testes and ovaries), the sensory system (sight and hearing)
• Evolution: the palaeontological history of man and anthropogenesis, comparative anatomical, physiological, embryological and palaeontological evidence for evolution
• Organism and environment: the relationship between organism and environment. The official list gives this heading with no bullets beneath it, so scope is held to school-level ecology: abiotic and biotic factors, populations, communities, ecosystems, food chains and webs, and adaptation to the environment

Thirteen inorganic headings and nine organic ones, regrouped here into fourteen areas with every official heading landing in exactly one of them. Worth reading in proportion: the official sample paper puts roughly two thirds of its Section A items in the organic half.

• Basic concepts and atomic structure: atom, molecule, ion, metal and non-metal, chemical symbols, writing and naming formulae, writing chemical equations, the atomic nucleus, mass number, chemical element, isotopes and atomic mass, the electron, principal energy levels, sublevels, orbitals and quantum numbers, aufbau ordering, Hund's rule and Pauli's principle, electron configuration and orbital diagrams of the first- and second-period elements, ground and excited states
• Periodic law and chemical bonding: the periodic law and the structure of the periodic table, periodic properties, s-, p- and d-elements, atomic radii and electronegativity, Lewis electron-dot structures, the covalent bond and its types, sigma and pi bonds, polar and non-polar, localized and delocalized, donor-acceptor bonds, sp3, sp2 and sp hybridization, polar and non-polar molecules, the ionic bond and ionic compounds, the hydrogen bond, valence and oxidation state
• Elements, oxides and salts: chemical properties of the elements, reactions of metals with hydrogen, oxygen, non-metals, water, acids and salts, reactions of non-metals with hydrogen, oxygen, other non-metals, metals and salts, chemical properties of basic, amphoteric and acidic oxides, properties and preparation of hydroxides and oxygen-containing acids, salts (preparation and physical properties, reactions of salts with metals, non-metals, acids, bases and other salts, decomposition of salts)
• Oxidation-reduction reactions: oxidizing and reducing agents, oxidation and reduction, oxidation numbers, balancing chemical equations, redox reactions between electrolytes
• Thermochemistry, kinetics and catalysis: basic terms in thermochemistry, heat of reaction and thermochemical equations, Hess' law, activation energy and the energetic diagram, reaction rate and its dependence on concentration and temperature, the Arrhenius equation, types of catalysis, the mechanism of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic action
• Chemical equilibrium: general description of chemical equilibrium, qualitative interpretation of the equilibrium constant and the law of mass action, Le Chatelier's principle, changing temperature, pressure and concentration
• Solutions and electrolytic dissociation: composition of solutions, solvent and solute, solubility and saturated solutions, electrolytic dissociation, degree of dissociation, weak and strong electrolytes
• Acids, bases and pH: acids, bases and salts according to the theory of electrolytic dissociation, the Brønsted-Lowry concept and conjugate pairs, strength of acids and bases, ionization of water, the hydrogen exponent (pH)
• Organic structure, isomerism and nomenclature: basic terms in organic chemistry, names of organic compounds, structure and isomerism, chain, position and functional isomerism, functional groups, homologous series
• Hydrocarbons and arenes: alkanes and alkenes (structure and isomerism, nomenclature, homologous series, physical and chemical properties and methods of preparation), benzene and its homologous series (structure, isomerism and nomenclature, physical and chemical properties and methods of preparation)
• Alcohols and phenols: composition and structure, nomenclature, classification and isomerism, homologous series, physical properties of some alcohols and phenols, chemical properties of alcohols and phenols, glycerol
• Aldehydes and ketones: composition and structure of the carbonyl compounds, nomenclature and classification, homologous series, chemical properties including oxidation and reduction, methods of preparation
• Carboxylic acids and amines: carboxylic acids (composition and structure, nomenclature, classification and isomerism, homologous series, chemical properties including esterification, methods of preparation); amines (composition and structure, nomenclature and classification, physical and chemical properties, methods of preparation)
• Amino acids and carbohydrates: glycine, alanine, serine, phenylalanine and cysteine (composition and naming, structure and physical and chemical properties of alpha-amino acids, the peptide bond), monosaccharides (composition and structure, properties of glucose and fructose), sucrose (composition and structure), composition and structure of starch and cellulose

Two compulsory papers, Biology and Chemistry: the Medical University of Varna's own Entry Tests, used to select candidates for its English-taught Medicine, Dental Medicine and Pharmacy programmes. Both are sat on the same date, and each runs for 90 minutes across five sections: multiple choice, gap-filling, matching, true/false, and definitions with short explanations. What each paper can ask is set by the university's two official topic lists, summarised in the syllabus above.

Neither. There is no shared Bulgarian national medical entrance test, and every school writes its own paper. Within Bulgaria the formats differ genuinely: Varna runs two 90-minute papers with five sections each, Pleven runs a Part A multiple-choice block plus a written Part B, Assen Zlatarov in Burgas runs three separate 60-minute tests on one day including an English diagnostic, and Sofia University runs one combined three-hour paper. Preparation built for one does not transfer cleanly to another.

Online, and remotely. Every sitting the university published for the 2026 cycle (4 April, 16 May, 13 June, 16 July and 3 September) was labelled an online exam, and both papers are delivered in English.

On Section A, all questions carry equal marks, no marks are deducted for a wrong answer, and a question with more than one option marked scores nothing. With four options and no penalty, a blind guess is worth +0.25 marks on average and a blank is worth exactly 0, so there is no question worth leaving empty. The one thing to avoid is hedging by marking two options, which scores zero however good one of them was.

There is no numeric pass mark. The university's Entry Tests page and its latest published admission regulation (2025/2026; a 2026/2027 one was adopted on 9 February 2026 but is not on the site), both re-read by IvyTest on 7 October 2026, state only the 42.00 maximum, for EU/EEA and non-EU/EEA applicants alike. Instead, a weak result on either entry test, or on the language-competency test, means no ranking score and no place in the ranking. The 24 out of 42 sometimes quoted for Varna comes from another Bulgarian university's regulation.

Your competitive score is the grade from your school-leaving diploma in the official language of your country, plus your Biology result multiplied by three, plus your Chemistry result multiplied by three, capped at 42.00. Note that the formula takes grades, not raw marks: the university converts raw marks to a grade first and does not publish the conversion table, so a mock percentage cannot be turned into a predicted ranking score. What the formula does tell you exactly is the relative weight: each science exam counts for three times the language grade, and the two sciences together account for 36 of the 42.00 available points.

Yes, entirely. Both papers are set and sat in English, as are the programmes themselves. A separate language-competency test also exists and matters: a weak result on it carries the same consequence as a weak result on Biology or Chemistry: no ranking score at all.

They are the four non-multiple-choice sections in every paper: B is gap-filling with four missing words or terms per item, C is matching across two columns, D is true/false, and E asks for definitions and short explanations with examples where applicable. Counted from the official sample papers, they are 8 of the 43 items in each paper by count, but they are four of the five sections, and the university states that all questions carry equal marks. It does not publish how Sections A to E weigh against each other, so treat them as content you have to be able to write, not skim.

Varna publishes no seat count per programme, but it does publish the year's totals. In 2026 about 1,000 applicants from 50 countries took part in its admission campaign for international students, an average of three for each place, and 405 new first-year students from more than 50 countries joined its English-taught Medicine and Dental Medicine (university news, 29 September 2026). For scale: the university has more than 6,900 students, about 2,000 of them international.

Within the EU, yes: automatically, as a standard Bulgarian medical degree. There is no separate national board exam afterwards: Bulgaria's state exam is built into the final year of the six-year degree itself, followed by free and indefinite registration in the National Register of the Bulgarian Medical Association (BLS). Outside the EU recognition isn't automatic as a rule, but the UK is an exception. Under the Medical Act 1983 (section 21B, as in force on 12 October 2026), a Bulgarian medical degree is a 'relevant European qualification', so a graduate who applies to the GMC with one, whatever their nationality, is not asked to show the knowledge and skills other international graduates prove through PLAB/UKMLA; evidence of English is still required, and the rule is UK policy that can change. US-bound graduates need ECFMG certification via USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, the same requirement every international medical graduate faces.

Yes. The IvyTest simulator runs Varna-format practice (35 questions per subject, four options, the real +1/0/0 Section A scoring across Biology and Chemistry) in timed, tutor and review modes, with a free diagnostic available without payment.

MU-Varna publishes no past papers, but its Entry Tests page links one free sample test in Biology and one in Chemistry, each with a filled-in answer sheet that works as the key, plus the two official topic lists, all as PDFs. For more practice its own bookshop sells A Handbook of Biology and Chemistry Test Items for the entrance tests (fourth revised edition; eBook €10, print €18) and a Chemistry Textbook for the entrance tests (eBook €10).

The 2027 dates are not published yet. In 2026 the schedule was five online sittings: 4 April, 16 May and 13 June for all applicants, and 16 July and 3 September for EU applicants only, with both papers on the same day. The €340 fee was due a week before your sitting, and the paper documents with the NACID certificate by 11 September 2026. Students in their last year of school may sit the tests before they graduate.

You check your results and your ranking status yourself, in the e-application system (e-application.mu-varna.bg), as the 2025/2026 admission regulation sets out. The announced grades are final and count only for that year; if you sit the tests more than once, your higher grade counts. Admission runs in stages, each with its own ranking, and only applicants whose full set of paper documents and NACID certificate has arrived enter the final ranking.

A school-leaving diploma that lets you enter university in your own country (on the British curriculum, three A-levels; IGCSE, O-levels, AS-levels, BTEC and Foundation programmes are not accepted), a pass in your country's official language (for non-EU applicants, at least 65% of the maximum), proof of English, and a pass in both entry tests. Your documents must be legalised (with an apostille where that applies), translated into Bulgarian and verified by NACID.

For first-year students in 2026/2027, Medicine and Dental Medicine in English cost €10,000 a year and Pharmacy €8,000, set each May by a decree of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers. Applying costs €340 (non-refundable), a retake of Biology or Chemistry €150 per test, and the nine-month English preparatory course €5,000. The university's own brochure puts living costs at €500 to €700 a month.

In the 2026/2027 academic calendar for Medicine and Dental Medicine, first-year students have their winter semester from 5 October to 25 December 2026, exams from 4 to 29 January 2027 and retakes from 4 to 12 February. The summer semester runs from 15 February to 28 May 2027, with exams from 3 June to 9 July and retakes from 12 to 23 July. Alongside classes, students use the university's Blackboard e-learning platform (elearn.mu-varna.bg).

By its own account, MU-Varna dates from 1961, is a state medical university accredited by Bulgaria's National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency, and its Faculty of Medicine is in the World Directory of Medical Schools. Its Admission 2026-2027 brochure cites EduRank (top 5 in Bulgaria for 2025) and uniRank (leading Bulgarian medical university in 2024 and 2025); this guide found no QS or THE ranking on its pages. Varna Free University is a separate, private university.

In the centre of Varna, on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast: the university and its Office of Admissions (room 210A) are at 55 Marin Drinov Street, 9002 Varna. The city has its own international airport. The 2023 student Survival Guide on the university's website says bus 409 leaves from in front of the arrival terminal for the city centre, or you can take a taxi; Burgas airport is about 2 hours away by bus.

The content is secondary-school Biology and Chemistry, but four of the five sections in each paper ask you to write, match or judge rather than pick an option, and a weak result in either test, or in the English test if you sit it, keeps you out of the ranking. It is competitive too: in 2026 about 1,000 applicants took part in the international admission campaign, about three for each place. Practise on the official samples, written sections included.