Paracelsus (PMU) Admissions Test 2027: Complete Guide

Nine published headings, running from microorganisms through the cell to inheritance and evolution. Depth is Matura/Abitur level.

• Microbiology: prokaryotes and fungi, prokaryotic cell structure including membrane, wall, cytoplasm, ribosomes and plasmids, bacterial growth, reproduction and basic metabolism, classification logic, fungal cell structure and reproduction, and broad medical relevance
• Virology: bacterial and animal viruses, virus structure including genome, capsid, envelope and surface proteins, DNA against RNA viruses at conceptual level, bacteriophages, replication cycles, lytic and lysogenic logic, and host-cell dependence
• Parasitology: general parasitology, host-parasite relationships, reservoirs and vectors, transmission routes, ectoparasites against endoparasites, protozoa against helminths at overview level, life-cycle interpretation, and prevention
• Cell biology: methods including microscopy, staining, centrifugation and electrophoresis, eukaryotic cells, organelles and their functions, membranes and transport by diffusion, osmosis, active and vesicular routes, the nucleus, the cell cycle, mitosis and meiosis with chromosome behaviour, and the cytoskeleton: microtubules, microfilaments and intermediate filaments
• Molecular biology: genetic material and DNA structure, base pairing, semi-conservative replication, mutation and recombination including substitution, insertion, deletion and frameshift, transcription and reverse transcription, and protein synthesis and translation with codons, tRNA and the ribosome
• Genetics: the founders of genetics, the basic genetic laws, homozygosity and heterozygosity, dominant and recessive inheritance, genotype and phenotype, mono- and dihybrid crosses, segregation and independent assortment, Punnett squares and probability, and recombination and linkage at introductory level
• Human genetics: the particular challenges of human genetics, pedigree symbols and three-generation pedigree analysis, autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive and X-linked patterns, phenotype expression, penetrance and expressivity, environmental effects, and recurrence probability
• Cytogenetics: chromosomes, the human karyotype, autosomes and sex chromosomes, numerical aberrations such as trisomy, monosomy and polyploidy, structural aberrations such as deletion, duplication, inversion and translocation, meiotic errors, and prenatal diagnosis
• Evolution: natural selection and adaptation, mutation, genetic drift and gene flow, speciation and common ancestry, evidence from fossils, comparative anatomy and molecular similarity, and medical relevance such as antibiotic resistance and pathogen variation

Four published headings. School chemistry plus simple calculation, reaction recognition rather than advanced mechanism.

• Structure of matter: atoms, molecules and ions, the electronic structure of atoms, isotopes and electron configuration, periodic properties and trends in electronegativity, atomic radius and ionisation energy, molecular structure and bonding theories, ionic, covalent, polar covalent and metallic bonding, Lewis structures, molecular geometry and polarity, intermolecular forces, and liquids and solids
• Chemical reactions: chemical kinetics with reaction rate, activation energy and catalysis, chemical equilibrium and shifts in equilibrium, acid-base equilibria, pH and pOH, strong and weak acids and bases, buffers at overview level, chemical thermodynamics with enthalpy, entropy, Gibbs free energy and exothermic and endothermic change, and balancing equations
• Organic chemistry: electron structure and bonding in carbon compounds, organic acids and bases, organic compounds and functional groups with elements of nomenclature, alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, amines and esters, delocalised electron systems and resonance, aromaticity, benzene reactions and reactions of substituted benzenes
• Biomolecules relevant to metabolism: carbohydrates as mono-, di- and polysaccharides with glycosidic bonds and energy storage, proteins with amino acids, peptide bonds, structural levels and enzymes, lipids including fatty acids, triglycerides, phospholipids and membranes, and nucleic acids with nucleotides and DNA and RNA structure

Six published headings. PMU's own pages confirm diagram questions appear in the science subjects, so ray diagrams and circuit diagrams are worth real fluency rather than recognition.

• Mechanics: dynamics and Newton's laws, forces, mass and acceleration, free-body diagrams, friction, weight against mass, work, kinetic and potential energy, power, and conservation of energy
• Electricity and magnetism: electric charge and electric fields, the Coulomb force as a concept, potential difference, magnetism, the generation of magnetic fields by currents and moving charges, and electromagnetic induction through changing magnetic flux
• Light: light as an electromagnetic wave, wavelength, frequency and the speed of light, the electromagnetic spectrum, interference, diffraction and polarisation, and basic reflection and refraction
• Nuclear physics: the atomic nucleus and isotopes, radioactivity, alpha, beta and gamma radiation, half-life and decay curves, fission and fusion, nuclear energy, and radiation-safety concepts
• Electric currents and resistance: direct-current circuits, current, voltage and resistance, Ohm's law, series and parallel circuits, equivalent resistance, electrical power, and circuit diagrams and measurement logic
• Lenses and optical instruments: convex and concave lenses, focal length and image formation, magnification, ray diagrams, real and virtual images, the basics of the microscope and telescope, and the optics of the human eye at general conceptual level

B2+ comprehension through English texts, with multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank items. Sits inside the same 40% block as the three sciences.

• Scientific reading comprehension: main idea, supporting detail, author's purpose, logical flow, interpretation of short academic and biomedical passages, and locating the textual evidence for an answer
• Vocabulary in context: biology, chemistry and general scientific terms, prefixes and suffixes, cause-and-effect language, and inferring meaning from sentence context without translating
• Grammar in context: tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, connectors such as however, therefore, although, because, whereas and in contrast, relative clauses, prepositions, articles, and fill-in-the-blank completion driven by both grammar and meaning
• Data-linked language: the language of trends and comparisons, quantities, experimental results, and explaining a figure or a table in clear English

Worth 40% of the written test on its own. PMU gives examples rather than a closed list, so treat these as open-ended. Several are timed performance tasks that a static question bank can only approximate; practice trains the underlying skill rather than reproducing the format.

• Numerical reasoning: percentages, ratios, proportional reasoning, tables and graphs, unit conversions, and timed mental arithmetic
• Concentration: repetitive comparison tasks, symbol and number scanning, and sustained accuracy under monotony
• Memory: visual memory, sequence recall, paired items, and short-term retention after an intervening distractor task
• Shapes and patterns: fitting shapes and completing patterns, mental rotation, figure series, missing-piece and matrix patterns, figural analogies, and transformations of rotation, reflection, count, shading and position
• Planning: sequencing, route logic, order constraints, and efficient multi-step execution
• Multitasking: switching rules, tracking two variables at once, and calculating while monitoring symbols
• Attention to detail: spotting inconsistencies in text, numbers, diagrams and tables

A fifth of the written test, and not a knowledge paper. There are no correct answers to learn. Understand what each dimension measures, then answer honestly and consistently: self-report instruments of this kind are built to detect inconsistency, and a manufactured profile is more likely to be caught than rewarded.

• Conscientiousness: carefulness, organisation, persistence and reliability
• Stress tolerance: maintaining function as time pressure rises, stable routines, and recovery after mistakes
• Self-organisation: planning, prioritisation, disciplined execution, and a realistic, balanced working style rather than extreme perfectionism
• Professional attitude: responsibility, integrity, motivation for demanding training, teamwork and patient-centred values

It is Paracelsus Medical University's own digital admissions test for its Human Medicine Bachelor programme in Salzburg: roughly three and a half hours on PMU-provided laptops, covering natural sciences and English (40% of the written test), cognitive abilities (40%) and work style (20%). The highest-ranked candidates are then invited to interview.

Registration for the 2027 procedure runs on PMU's application portal from 1 November 2026 to 31 March 2027. The written test is on 14 and 15 April 2027 in Nuremberg. In Salzburg it runs from 20 to 22 April 2027, and you choose the place and date, which do not decide where you study. Interviews run from 7 to 18 June 2027 and decisions follow at the end of June.

Three blocks over about 3.5 hours. Natural sciences and English (Biology, Chemistry, Physics and English comprehension) are worth 40%; cognitive abilities another 40% (numerical reasoning, concentration, memory, shapes and patterns, planning, multitasking and attention to detail); and work style 20%, a personality assessment with no right answers. The sciences can include factual questions, fill-in-the-blanks and diagrams.

Hard by design rather than by content. The science is at Matura or Abitur level, but results are ranked against that year's cohort instead of a pass mark, and only 135 of the 405 candidates invited to interview are admitted. Sixty per cent of the test is not science, PMU provides no preparation material before you book a date, and you get three attempts in total.

Start with a diagnostic across all three blocks, then give timed cognitive-ability practice as many hours as the sciences: it is worth as much as Biology, Chemistry, Physics and English together. Work through PMU's own published science headings, practise diagrams (ray and circuit diagrams, karyotypes, pedigrees) and sit full 3.5-hour mocks in the final weeks.

PMU's Bachelor fee page gives €22,300 a year for the Bachelor stage, plus a €290 application fee that is not refunded. With the application fee and a €25 lab coat, the first year comes to €22,615, and the three Bachelor years to €68,479 including the USMLE Step 1 fee. The Master stage is priced separately.

No. The MedAT is the standardised test used by Austria's public medical universities. Paracelsus is a private university and runs its own test, with its own structure, its own weighting and its own quota-based selection. The Austrian MedAT convention of five options with one correct answer is not a PMU statement and should not be assumed here.

In person. The written test is sat on laptops PMU provides, over approximately three and a half hours. Third-party sites quoting four or five hours conflict with PMU's own figure and should be treated as stale.

PMU publishes no per-item marking rule and no option count, and this was confirmed against its current Studien- und Prüfungsordnung and Durchführungsverordnung rather than just its website. What it does publish is the selection formula (20% school grades, 80% test result) and the block weighting inside the written test: 40% natural sciences and English, 40% cognitive abilities, 20% work style.

No, and importantly, not because PMU declines to publish one. Its Durchführungsverordnung states that both the calculation of test results and the ranking of candidates are done relatively, within that year's applicant cohort, with admission then fixed by quota. There is no absolute score in the procedure to disclose. The top 405 ranked candidates nationally go to interview, the best 135 to the selection committees, and 80 are admitted in Salzburg and 55 in Nuremberg.

PMU does not state this, and it is worth confirming directly. What is known is that the application page expects high-school English and C1 German, and that the written test contains an English comprehension area of its own. Do not assume the science blocks are in English just because part of the test assesses English.

It is a personality assessment worth 20% of the written test, covering conscientiousness, stress tolerance, self-organisation and professional attitude. It has no objectively correct answers. Instruments of this kind reward honest, consistent self-description and are designed to detect inconsistency, so the useful preparation is to understand what is being measured and then answer straightforwardly, not to construct the profile you imagine the university wants.

Three. Paracelsus's Studien- und Prüfungsordnung caps participation in the Bachelor admission procedure at three attempts in total. That is stricter than most schools in this catalogue, and it is a strong argument against booking a sitting simply to find out what the test is like.

The quota chain is published: 405 candidates are invited to interview nationally (240 for Salzburg, 165 for Nuremberg), the best 135 are proposed to the selection committees, and the committees admit 80 in Salzburg and 55 in Nuremberg. That makes the interview stage exactly a one-in-three cut, on each campus separately as well as overall. PMU does not publish how many candidates apply in the first place, so the odds at the point of entry are not derivable from these figures.

Within the EU, yes: automatically, as a standard Austrian medical degree. Austria has no national licensing exam: the route to practice runs through registration and supervised training, a general Basisausbildung period followed by either a roughly three-year general-practice track or a five-to-six-year specialist track, administered by the Austrian Medical Chamber and ending in the right to practise. 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), the Austrian Dr. med. univ., the degree PMU awards and the title Annex V of the EU Directive lists for Austria, 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 Paracelsus-format practice across Biology, Chemistry, Physics and scientific English, alongside timed cognitive-ability drills for the 40% block most preparation ignores, in timed, tutor and review modes, with a free diagnostic available without payment.

You book a date on PMU's portal and sit the test at the campus you chose, Salzburg or Nuremberg, on a laptop PMU provides, for about three and a half hours. The detailed test description and sample questions arrive only once you have booked. The best-ranked candidates are then invited to an interview, in June 2027 for this cycle.