University of Zagreb Medicine in English Entrance Exam 2027: Complete Preparation Guide

Six official blocks, split along their own bullet groups. No block carries a published question weighting, and the official Biology sample paper uses no figures at all.

• Cell structure and membrane transport: chemical components of the cell and macromolecules, organization of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell, animal and plant cells, cell organelles and their structure, cell membrane structure and transport, endocytosis and exocytosis
• Cell metabolism: cellular respiration, photosynthesis
• Nucleus, DNA and cell division: cell nucleus and nucleolus, euchromatin and heterochromatin, DNA structure and replication, the cell cycle, cell division by mitosis and meiosis, chromosomes
• Classical genetics and inheritance: genotype and phenotype, alleles, homozygotes and heterozygotes, Mendelian genetics and types of inheritance, monohybrid cross, multiple alleles, dihybrid cross, X-linked inheritance, linkage and chromosome maps, sex determination, karyotype
• Molecular genetics and biotechnology: the genetic code, transcription and translation, mutations, genetics of the prokaryotic cell including the prokaryotic chromosome and plasmids, bacteriophages, recombinant DNA and biotechnology
• Reproduction, development and pregnancy: meiosis and differentiation of germ cells, fertilization, cleavage, gastrulation, neurulation, differentiation, male and female reproductive systems, pregnancy, parturition
• Circulatory, respiratory and immune systems: circulatory system and heart, blood, blood groups and transfusion, respiratory system, immune system
• Digestive, endocrine and urinary systems: digestive system, exocrine glands and digestive enzymes, endocrine glands and hormones, kidney and urinary tract, body fluids
• Nervous system and sense organs: central nervous system, anatomy and function of the sense organs (eye, ear, nose and tongue)
• Musculoskeletal system, skin and homeostasis: musculoskeletal system, skin, regulation of body temperature
• Evolution: chemical and biological evolution, human evolution, Darwinian evolution theory
• Ecology: basic ecological terms including environment and abiotic and biotic components, ecosystems, the biosphere, human influence on ecosystems, pollution

Three official blocks, subdivided along their own listed content groups. One area below is derived from the official sample paper rather than from the requirements document; see the note on kinetics and equilibrium.

• Matter, atomic structure and bonding: the atomic nature of matter, characteristics of matter, structure of the atom, elements and atoms, the periodic table and periodic trends, structure and properties of ionic and covalent compounds, bonds in chemistry, Lewis structures, intermolecular forces
• Stoichiometry and gases: fundamental laws of chemistry, composition, chemical equations and stoichiometry, the mole and Avogadro's number, molar gas volume, behaviour of gases
• Solutions, acids, bases and salts: solutions and colloids, miscibility and density, strong and weak electrolytes, acids, bases and salts, pH, neutralization, colligative behaviour of dissolved particles
• Chemical energetics, kinetics and equilibrium: chemical energetics, exothermic and endothermic processes, enthalpy, entropy and free energy, spontaneity, reaction rate and the factors affecting it, catalysis and inhibition, equilibrium processes; note that rate, catalysis, inhibition and equilibrium are not named in the official requirements document but are tested in the official sample paper, so prepare them anyway
• Redox and electrochemistry: oxidation and reduction, oxidation numbers, oxidising and reducing agents, standard reduction potentials, electrochemistry, electrolysis and the link between charge and amount of product
• Inorganic chemistry: nomenclature of inorganic compounds, trends across the periodic table, representative groups and families including the sulfur, halogen, oxygen and nitrogen families, metals and their compounds, p-block elements and their compounds, transition metals and their compounds
• Organic chemistry: isomerism and stereochemistry, functional groups, basic reaction mechanisms, organic nomenclature, nomenclature, properties and reactivity of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes and aromatic hydrocarbons, halogenoalkanes and halogenoarenes, alcohols, thiols, phenols and ethers, aldehydes and ketones, amines, carboxylic acids and their derivatives, simple five- and six-membered heterocycles
• Biochemistry: carbohydrates in linear and cyclic formulae, monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides, lipid classification, composition and properties, proteins including basic amino acids and peptide bonds, nucleic acid composition, nucleotides, base pairing, structure and function

The official requirements open with an unheaded block on units, vectors and mathematical functions, then run through mechanics, gases and thermodynamics, waves and acoustics, electricity and magnetism, optics, and atomic and nuclear physics. Their closing "General requirements" paragraph (simple numerical calculation, basic geometrical formulas and basic physical constants) is a skill statement that applies across every block below rather than a topic of its own.

• Units, vectors and mathematical foundations: SI base units and conversions of units, the nature of physical quantities, scalars and vectors, vector components, vector addition, physical application of basic mathematical functions, reading and identifying function graphs
• Kinematics: motion in one dimension, position and displacement, velocity and speed, acceleration, equations of kinematics for constant velocity and constant acceleration, free fall, motion in two dimensions, projectile motion, uniform circular motion, centripetal acceleration and centripetal force, satellites in circular orbits, apparent weightlessness and artificial gravity
• Newton's laws and gravitation: Newton's first, second and third laws of motion, the concepts of force and mass, weight and the gravitational force, Newton's law of universal gravitation, resultant forces and force equilibrium
• Momentum, torque and rigid bodies: effect of force, impulse of force, moment of force, pressure, the impulse-momentum theorem, the principle of conservation of linear momentum, the effects of forces and torques on the motion of rigid objects, the lever
• Work, energy and power: work done by a constant force, work done by a variable spring force, kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy, elastic energy, conservation of energy, power
• Fluid mechanics: the model of an ideal liquid, pressure in a liquid induced by an external force, Pascal's law and its application to pressure gauges, hydrostatic pressure, Archimedes' law and buoyant force, fluids in motion, the equation of continuity, Bernoulli's equation
• Kinetic theory of gases and thermodynamics: measuring temperature, the Celsius and Kelvin scales, the molecular model of an ideal gas, pressure, temperature and root-mean-square speed, the ideal gas law, translational kinetic energy, processes at constant temperature, pressure or volume, work done by an ideal gas, the first law of thermodynamics with internal energy, heat and work, specific heat capacity
• Oscillations, waves and acoustics: the ideal spring, the pendulum, simple harmonic motion, the nature of mechanical waves, frequency, period and amplitude, equations of wave motion, phase and antiphase, the nature of sound, speed of sound, sound intensity
• Electrostatics and electric circuits: charged objects and electric force, Coulomb's law, the electric field, electric potential energy, voltage, electric current, electric resistance, Ohm's law and the simple circuit, branched circuits, Kirchhoff's laws, resistors in series and parallel, electric power, capacitors, capacity and the arrangement of capacitors
• Magnetism and electromagnetic induction: the magnetic field, the force on a moving charge and on a current in a magnetic field (Lorentz and Ampère forces), the magnetic field produced by a current, Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction, induced emf and induced current, transformers, the electric oscillating circuit, alternating current
• Electromagnetic waves and wave optics: the nature of electromagnetic waves, the electromagnetic spectrum and its properties, light as an electromagnetic wave, diffraction, interference, polarization and the Brewster angle, the double-slit experiment, the diffraction grating
• Geometric optics: reflection, refraction, total internal reflection, the formation of images by plane mirrors and by converging and diverging lenses, the thin-lens equation and magnification, dispersion of light
• Quantum nature of light and matter: wave-particle duality, quantum properties of light, the photoelectric phenomenon, Einstein's equation for the photoelectric effect, the wave nature of matter and the de Broglie wavelength of a particle
• Atomic and nuclear physics: structure of an atom with atomic nucleus and electron shell, nuclear structure, mass defect of the nucleus, nuclear binding energy and binding energy per nucleon, radioactivity and radioactive decay, alpha, beta and gamma particles, nuclear reactions

It is the test the University of Zagreb School of Medicine uses to select candidates for its English-taught Medical Studies in English programme: 120 questions split evenly across Biology, Chemistry and Physics, with five answer options per question. To pass you need at least 15 correct answers in each subject and 61 in total.

No. There is no shared Croatian national medical admission test behind it. Zagreb sets and marks its own paper, and the University of Rijeka, the other English-medium Croatian medical school in our catalogue, sets a separate one. The two happen to agree on 120 questions, three sciences and five options, but they differ on the rules that decide eligibility: Zagreb applies both a per-subject floor (15 of 40) and a total (61 of 120), while Rijeka applies a single pass mark of 60 correct answers and no per-subject minimum at all.

Online, in the 2026/27 cycle. The School ran five online sittings (12 January, 12 May, 8 June, 6 July and 31 August 2026), each with a rehearsal a few days before, and applications had to reach it by post or through an official representative at least 15 days ahead. What it does not publish is the proctoring set-up, the time limit or whether a calculator is permitted, so confirm those directly.

In correct answers: the School's published results sheets list each candidate's correct answers per subject, out of 40, and in total, out of 120. Negative marking is genuinely unpublished: the School states only how many correct answers you need and is silent on wrong answers and blanks in either direction. No penalty is the likely reading, and on that reading a blind five-option guess would add 0.2 of a correct answer on average against 0 for a blank, but since the rule is not published, that is a conditional calculation rather than a fact to build a strategy on.

Two separate thresholds, and both must be cleared. First, at least 15 correct answers out of 40 in Biology, Chemistry and Physics individually. Second, 61 correct answers out of 120 in total. Clearing all three subject floors at the minimum only gets you to 45 correct answers, so the two rules are genuinely independent and neither one implies the other.

Not on the evidence available for this programme. The Medical Studies in English page states 15 per subject and 61 in total, and IvyTest has found no official earlier version with different figures. The moving 305-of-600 and 330-of-600 thresholds often quoted for Zagreb belong to the School's separate Croatian-language Medicine admission, which is marked in points. Re-check the School's page each cycle all the same.

A full third of it: 40 of the 120 questions, with its own floor of 15 correct answers. The official Physics requirements run from units and vectors through mechanics, fluids, thermodynamics, waves and acoustics, electricity and magnetism, optics, and atomic and nuclear physics, and close with a general expectation of simple numerical calculation and basic physical constants. This is the single biggest difference from the Bulgarian and Czech schools that test Biology and Chemistry only.

Yes. The paper is delivered entirely in English for the Medical Studies in English programme, so no Croatian is needed to sit it. Croatian does become relevant during the programme: Croatian Language is a mandatory course from the first year through the third, and the School says it supports the clinical part of the study, where you talk with patients.

Zagreb caps Medical Studies in English at 60 admitted students a year, per its 2026/2027 call for applications. It publishes no acceptance rate as such, but its Admission page says the ratio of applicants to enrolled students is usually 4:1: about four applicants for every student who enrols, the School says. What is also published is the eligibility structure (15 correct in each science plus 61 in total), and clearing it makes you eligible for a conditional Offer of Place rather than admitted.

Within the EU, yes: automatically, as a standard Croatian medical degree, since Croatia is an EU member state and medical qualifications are covered by the professional-qualifications recognition directive. 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 Croatian 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. Croatia-specific in-country licensing steps have not been researched by IvyTest and should be confirmed directly.

Yes. The IvyTest simulator runs Zagreb-format practice (120 questions, five options, across Biology, Chemistry and Physics) in timed, tutor and review modes, with per-subject reporting against the 15/40 floors and the 61-answer total, and a free diagnostic available without payment.

The School publishes no past papers, but its Entrance exam page links three free example tests on its website, one each for Biology, Chemistry and Physics, with 40 five-option questions each, answered online: each answer is marked 'Correct response' or 'Incorrect response' as soon as you choose it. Applicants who have paid the €300 application fee and sent a complete application can also ask for the handbook Entrance Exam Examples with Additional Questions as a PDF: three exams built from 2020 and 2021 questions, with their answers, plus 100 more questions. It may not be passed on.

The 2027/28 sittings are not published yet. In the 2026/27 cycle the School ran five online exams (12 January, 12 May, 8 June, 6 July and 31 August 2026), each with its own deadline: the application had to reach it by post or through an official representative at least 15 days before. Applicants exempt from the exam had to apply by 15 June 2026 and transfer students by 20 June 2026, and enrolment takes place in Zagreb in September.

You need a completed secondary education (normally four years; the School also takes applicants from countries with three-year systems) ending in a school-leaving or state graduation exam, a pass in the entrance exam, a doctor's certificate that you meet the health requirements, and an English certificate unless you are a native speaker or went to an English-medium school (TOEFL iBT 60, IELTS 6 or Duolingo 105, among others). School grades are not used to rank you. A pre-medical college, an MCAT of at least 125 in each section or a BA/BSc in the natural sciences with good credits in Biology, Physics and Chemistry can exempt you from the exam, and a foreign diploma must be recognised in Croatia before you enrol.

Tuition for Medical Studies in English is €12,000 a year if paid at once, or €12,200 in two instalments of €6,100, each paid before the semester begins. Applying costs €300, paid by bank transfer to the School. If you pass and qualify, you accept the conditional Offer of Place by paying a first tuition instalment of €2,500, which is non-refundable. The Letter of Acceptance and the Student Contract follow only once you have paid it and, with your diploma recognised, appear on the joint national list. Housing comes on top: the School quotes private rooms from €200 a month and studios from €300.

Yes, but only into the second year. The School evaluates each transfer once it has all the application documents, including detailed course descriptions and university transcripts, against its own curriculum; for 2026/27, transfer applications were due by 20 June 2026. Study completed at a university abroad must also be recognised in Croatia before you can fully enrol.

The School calls its admission procedure very strict, and its own results sheets bear that out. Of the 120 candidates listed for the 12 May, 8 June, 6 July and 31 August 2026 sittings, 58 passed: 31 of 46, 6 of 18, 13 of 35 and 8 of 21. Every candidate marked as failing was below the total of 61 correct answers, so it was the total, not a single subject, that decided them: every published fail fell below 61. The questions themselves are high-school level, but in three full sciences.

Medical Studies in English lasts six years (12 semesters), carries 360 ECTS credits and leads to the title Doctor of Medicine (MD). The first year covers Anatomy, Medical and Molecular Biology, Physics and Biophysics, and Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Croatian Language is a mandatory course from the first year through the third. Teaching uses problem-based learning and small groups, the final year includes Clinical Rotations in Croatia or abroad, and you finish with a graduate thesis. Each year's schedule and textbook list is published.

On the pages IvyTest read, its Medical Studies in English site quotes no ranking, and IvyTest has not checked any ranking table. What the School does state: it is the oldest medical school in Croatia, founded in 1917 within a university founded in 1669; it educates more than 60% of the country's doctors; Medical Studies in English received the CeQuint certificate for quality in internationalisation in 2015; and 466 students graduated from the programme between 2009 and 2025.