Our Lady of Good Counsel Medicine Admission Test 2027: Complete Preparation Guide

Six topic areas, all pitched at the level of a student finishing upper-secondary school.

• Cell structure and function: cell theory and levels of organisation, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, plasma membrane structure and transport, organelles and cytoskeleton, cell communication and signal transduction, the cell cycle and its checkpoints, mitosis and cytokinesis, cancer as uncontrolled division
• Biomolecules and metabolism: properties of water, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and amino acids, protein structure and denaturation, enzymes with their inhibitors and cofactors, nucleic acids, ATP and energy coupling, glycolysis, the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain, fermentation, photosynthesis
• Genetics and inheritance: DNA structure and replication, transcription and translation, the genetic code, gene regulation, Mendel's laws, monohybrid and dihybrid crosses, incomplete dominance and codominance, polygenic and sex-linked traits, pedigree interpretation, mutations, human genetic disorders, PCR, electrophoresis and recombinant DNA
• Human anatomy and physiology: animal tissues and specialisation, homeostasis with negative and positive feedback, and the digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular, immune, nervous, endocrine, musculoskeletal, urinary, reproductive and integumentary systems and their interactions
• Evolution and ecology: natural selection, variation, adaptation and fitness, evidence for evolution, speciation, genetic drift and gene flow, phylogeny and classification, ecosystems and niches, food chains and trophic levels, biogeochemical cycles, population growth and carrying capacity, biodiversity and conservation
• Microbiology and health: bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa, antibiotics and antibiotic resistance, why antibiotics do not treat viruses, pathogens and transmission routes, hygiene and prevention, vaccination and herd immunity, the human microbiome

• Matter, atoms and periodicity: states of matter, pure substances and mixtures, atoms, ions and isotopes, atomic and mass number, electron shells and configuration, the octet rule, organisation of the periodic table, periodic trends, elements of biological importance
• Bonding and molecular structure: ionic, covalent, coordinate covalent and metallic bonding, Lewis structures and resonance, bond and molecular polarity, VSEPR geometries, intermolecular forces, hydrogen bonding in water, DNA and proteins, and how bonding governs melting point, solubility and conductivity
• Stoichiometry and solutions: the mole, Avogadro's number and molar mass, empirical and molecular formulas, balancing equations, mole-ratio calculations, limiting and excess reagent, percentage yield, concentration, molarity and dilution, introductory gas laws
• Reactions, equilibrium and kinetics: types of reaction, redox and oxidation numbers, oxidising and reducing agents, precipitation and solubility rules, reaction rate and collision theory, catalysts and activation energy, equilibrium and Le Chatelier's principle, exothermic and endothermic energy profiles
• Acids, bases, pH and buffers: Arrhenius and Brønsted-Lowry definitions, strong and weak acids and bases, dissociation, pH and pOH, conjugate pairs, neutralisation and salts, titration, equivalence point and indicators, buffers and the importance of blood pH, acid-base behaviour of amino acids
• Organic compounds and reactions: carbon bonding and hybridisation, chains and rings, nomenclature of the main functional-group families, functional group identification, structural, geometric and optical isomerism, addition, substitution, elimination, condensation, hydrolysis, oxidation and reduction, aromatic compounds, polymers
• Biochemistry and medical chemistry: amino acids, peptide bonds and protein structure, glucose, disaccharides, starch, glycogen and cellulose, fatty acids, triglycerides, phospholipids and cholesterol, nucleotides, nucleic acids and ATP, enzyme chemistry and inhibition, electrolytes and osmotic balance, and the polarity, solubility and ionisation of drugs

• Measurement, units and vectors: SI and derived units, prefixes and unit conversion, scientific notation and significant figures, scalars and vectors, components and resultants, reading slope, area under a curve and proportionality from a graph
• Mechanics: displacement, speed, velocity and acceleration, uniform and uniformly accelerated motion, motion graphs, Newton's laws, friction, normal force and tension, mass and weight, work, energy and power, conservation of energy, momentum, impulse and collisions, circular motion, gravitation and free fall
• Fluids and pressure: density, pressure and hydrostatic pressure, Pascal's principle and hydraulic systems, buoyancy and Archimedes' principle, the continuity equation, Bernoulli's principle at introductory level, viscosity and flow resistance, and the applications to blood pressure, syringes, intravenous fluids and respiratory pressure gradients
• Thermodynamics and heat: temperature scales and thermal equilibrium, heat versus temperature and internal energy, specific heat capacity and calorimetry, conduction, convection and radiation, thermal expansion and phase changes, the laws of thermodynamics conceptually, kinetic theory, body temperature regulation
• Waves, sound and optics: amplitude, wavelength, frequency, period and wave speed, transverse and longitudinal waves, superposition and interference, sound intensity, pitch, resonance and the Doppler effect, ultrasound imaging basics, reflection, refraction and total internal reflection, lenses and mirrors, image formation and magnification, the human eye and corrective lenses
• Electricity and magnetism: electric charge, Coulomb force, electric field and potential, current, voltage and resistance, Ohm's law, series and parallel circuits, equivalent resistance and circuit power, capacitors and biological membranes as capacitive systems, magnetic fields and force on moving charges, electromagnetic induction, generators and transformers, ECG and EEG concepts
• Atomic and nuclear physics: atomic models, photons and energy levels, alpha, beta and gamma radiation, penetration and shielding, half-life and exponential decay, ionising radiation and its biological effects, X-rays, CT, PET and MRI conceptually, radiation protection through time, distance and shielding

• Algebra and equations: fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios and proportions, powers, roots, logarithm basics and scientific notation, expansion and factorisation, linear equations and inequalities, simultaneous equations, quadratic equations, and word problems on rates, mixtures and dosage-style proportional reasoning
• Functions and graphs: function notation, domain and range, linear, quadratic, exponential, logarithmic and inverse relationships, intercepts, slope, maximum and minimum, asymptotes, basic transformations, and interpreting scientific graphs and experimental data
• Geometry and trigonometry: lines, angles, triangles, polygons and circles, perimeter, area, surface area and volume, coordinate geometry, distance, midpoint and the equation of a line, the Pythagorean theorem, sine, cosine and tangent in right triangles, basic identities, and applications to vectors, waves and optics
• Probability and statistics: mean, median, mode, range, variance and standard deviation, tables, charts, histograms and scatterplots, probability rules, complements, independent and dependent events, conditional probability, combinations and permutations, interpreting risk, prevalence and false positives, correlation versus causation
• Introduction to calculus: limits as an intuitive idea, the derivative as rate of change and slope of a tangent, derivative rules for powers, sums and constants, the integral as area under a curve conceptually, and applications to motion, growth and accumulation

Scored at 20 of 80 points in the 2025/2026 call and not in the 2026/2027 table; still useful for an English-taught degree and an English-language test.

• Grammar and accuracy: verb tenses including perfect and continuous forms, subject-verb agreement, modal verbs, zero, first, second, third and mixed conditionals, active and passive voice, reported speech and sequence of tenses, articles, quantifiers and determiners, prepositions, relative clauses and pronoun reference, comparatives, superlatives and parallel structure
• Vocabulary and word formation: academic vocabulary common in science and medicine, synonyms, antonyms, collocations and phrasal verbs, prefixes and suffixes such as bio-, cardio-, neuro-, hypo-, hyper-, -itis, -ology and -emia, word families, false friends and confusable pairs, inferring meaning from context
• Reading comprehension: main idea, topic sentence and supporting detail, inference and implication, author's purpose, tone and attitude, reference words, text structure including cause and effect, comparison, classification and problem-solution, true/false/not-given logic, and reading a scientific passage for method, result, conclusion and limitation
• Sentence correction and writing logic: sentence fragments and run-on sentences, commas, semicolons, colons and apostrophes, linking words such as however, therefore, although and whereas, paragraph coherence and logical order, redundancy, concision and clarity, formal academic register, misplaced modifiers and parallelism errors
• Scientific and academic English: sequencing language for describing processes, language for describing data such as increase, decrease, remain stable, fluctuate and correlate, cause-and-effect language in biology and medicine, definitions and classifications, short abstracts and textbook-style passages, and common terms for anatomy, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention

It is the Catholic University “Our Lady of Good Counsel”'s own written admission test for its English-taught Medicine and Surgery degree in Tirana, the first of two stages. Under the 2026/2027 call (Prot. No. 184, 22 July 2026), the internal selection scores out of 60: a written test worth 30 points (biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics and logic) and your upper-secondary grade average worth 30 points. The 2025/2026 call scored out of 80 with a separate 20-point English paper.

Both, one after the other. The university's own written test described here is stage one, and its notice for 2026/2027 says successful first-round candidates and second-round applicants “must register on the Universitaly Portal in order to sit the IMAT examination” (from 26 August to 9 September 2026 at 15:00), the Italian ministry's centralised English-language medicine test. The ministry allocates this Tirana campus 320 places for 2026/2027, against 150 the prior cycle. For 2026/2027 the IMAT was 60 questions with five answer options in 100 minutes, scored +1.5 for a correct answer, −0.4 for a wrong one and 0 for a blank (Ministerial Decree no. 1005 of 6 August 2026). The internal-test call covers Albanian, other non-EU and specified Kosovo applicants; Italian and EU applicants aren't covered by that call, and Tor Vergata's own call runs its EU competition in Rome, so whether they can enter at Tirana, and how, isn't verified: ask the university.

In person. It is an on-site written multiple-choice test taken in English at the university headquarters on Rr. “Dritan Hoxha” in Tirana. Candidates must present themselves at the Didactic Secretariat at least 30 minutes before the start with an identity card or passport, and possession or use of any electronic means of communication causes immediate exclusion: possession, not just use. The Call does not say whether the paper is paper-based or computer-based, and it says nothing about calculators, so prepare to calculate by hand.

The 2026/2027 call publishes the admission-point weights (written test 30, grade average 30, out of 60) and publishes no per-item marking for the internal test at all: no points for a correct answer, no penalty for a wrong one, no rule for blanks. IvyTest models +1 / −0.25 / 0 across five options on the Italian state model, and says plainly that this is an estimate. Under that estimate a purely random guess is worth exactly 0.00 raw marks on average: (1/5 × 1) + (4/5 × −0.25) = 0.20 − 0.20, so eliminating even one option makes guessing positive. If the real scheme carries no penalty, the same guess is worth +0.20 and you should never leave anything blank. The IMAT that follows is different: +1.5 / −0.4 / 0, published.

No pass mark is published for the internal test itself: the call sets none on the written test and no per-subject floor. The stated thresholds are eligibility conditions on your record: an upper-secondary diploma with an average grade of at least 6.5 on the Albanian scale, and a B2 English language certificate. Beyond that, the internal selection ranks on the 60-point total, so the score you need is whatever the last admitted candidate reaches that year, and the IMAT that follows has its own eligibility rules (Decree no. 1005).

English, throughout. The internal written test is in English, the IMAT is in English and the degree is taught in English; the 2026/2027 call also asks for a B2 English language certificate. No Albanian or Italian language requirement applies to the admission tests.

A great deal: 30 of the 60 admission points in the internal selection, exactly the same weight as the written test. It is also the one component you cannot change by preparing, so a candidate with a weaker school record needs to out-score stronger candidates on the test rather than simply match them.

For 2026/2027, 320: 300 for Albanian citizens, 10 for other non-EU applicants and 10 for specified Kosovo applicants, up from 125 first-round places and a separate 20-place non-EU call in 2025/2026. No applicant volume, acceptance rate or historical cutoff has been published for either stage, so treat any percentage quoted elsewhere as an estimate rather than a university figure.

Neither, and the confusion is easy to fall into because the Call's letterhead reads “Università Cattolica Nostra Signora del Buon Consiglio”. This is the Tirana institution, Catholic University “Our Lady of Good Counsel”. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore is a separate Italian university with its own, completely different medicine admission test, covered separately in this catalogue. Good Counsel College in White Plains, New York, was an American college: Pace University's history says it became the College of White Plains and consolidated with Pace in 1975.

This programme's recognition story is unusual. Albania is an EU candidate country, not a member, so a standalone Albanian medical degree would not receive automatic EU recognition. But this degree is awarded as a joint diploma with the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, an Italian public university, and the school describes it as valid in Albania, Italy and EU countries on that basis, an arrangement that was legally challenged in Italy and upheld on appeal, so it has been tested rather than merely advertised. Confirm the current status with both institutions before relying on it. Outside the EU, recognition is not automatic in any case: UK-bound graduates go through the standard UKMLA registration route, and 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 a science mock of the internal written test in timed, tutor and review modes, scorable under either the estimated −0.25 penalty or a no-penalty rule so you can see how much your answering policy is worth. Its 30 questions in 30 minutes are practice settings, since the university publishes neither figure. English questions stay available as optional practice, outside the mock's score, because the 2026/2027 call scores no separate English test. A free diagnostic is available without payment.

None that IvyTest found. The university's admissions pages, its Medicine course page and its 2025/2026 non-EU call, read in the Internet Archive's copies because unizkm.al blocks automated access, link no past papers, sample test or answer key for the Medicine test. The PDFs it does publish are the calls, the admission criteria, the faculty regulation and the Medicine study plan. The practice questions on this page and in the simulator are IvyTest's own, written to the five disciplines the call names.

No 2027 date has been published in anything IvyTest could read, so plan on the pattern. For 2026/2027 the call (Prot. No. 184) is dated 22 July 2026: Albanian citizens applied from 27 July to 1 August, the first-round test was on 19 August 2026 at 10:00, and a second round, if places remained, took applications on 15-17 September and tested on 18-22 September. Successful candidates registered on Universitaly from 26 August to 9 September (15:00), and the IMAT followed on 29 September 2026. In 2025/2026 the non-EU call (Prot. No. 243) closed applications on 10 September at 23:59 and held the test on 1 October 2025 at 10:00.

For 2026/2027, one written test in English on biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics and logic, worth 30 points, plus your school grade average, worth 30, out of 60. In 2025/2026 the non-EU call scored sciences (biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics) at 30 and a separate English test at 20, with the grade average at 30, out of 80. The university publishes no syllabus: the topic list above is IvyTest's mapping. Those who pass then sit the IMAT.

The university doesn't say what level the science is set at; what makes the exam hard is everything around it. Half the internal score is your school grade average, fixed before you study. The question count, timing and marking are unpublished, so you cannot rehearse exact pacing. And passing leads to a second, longer exam, the IMAT (60 questions, a maximum of 90). No applicant numbers or acceptance rate are published; the 2026/2027 call offered 320 places.

€6,500 a year for 2026/2027, the full annual fee with nothing extra for taking or repeating an exam, on both the Medicine and Surgery course page and the fee page. First-time enrolments who are citizens of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia or Bosnia and Herzegovina get a first-year scholarship of 15% with a school average of 9.00-9.99, or 30% with 10.00. The 2026/2027 test fee was ALL 5,000 for citizens of Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro and €150 for other non-EU citizens.

The English-taught course, founded in 2023-2024, is a single-cycle master's degree of six years and 360 ECTS, 78 of them practical exercises and clinical internship. Lecturers from Rome Tor Vergata teach it in Tirana on Tor Vergata's own programme, and attending at least 67% of each course's hours is compulsory. The first year includes chemistry and introductory biochemistry, physics and statistics, anatomy, histology and embryology, and biology and genetics; the sixth includes 12 ECTS of thesis preparation.

None of the university's pages IvyTest could read states a ranking position, and IvyTest has not collected student reviews. On its level, the university states two things: it was accredited with the highest evaluation in 2007, 2016 and 2017, and its course page lists Medicine and Surgery as a “Single Cycle Degree (Second Cycle Integrated Study Program)”. Established by a Council of Ministers decision of 27 August 2004, it was recognised as a Catholic university in 2011 and joined the International Federation of Catholic Universities in 2016.

In Tirana, at Rr. Dritan Hoxha, where the Medicine test is sat. Its Admission Office's hours are 08:00 to 16:30, Monday to Friday, on +355 4 2273290. As for the meaning of its name, it is a title of the Virgin Mary: in Albanian “Zoja e Këshillit të Mirë”, in Italian “Nostra Signora del Buon Consiglio”, and on its seal “Mater Boni Consilii”, Mother of Good Counsel. It grew from a foundation of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception, the congregation Blessed Luigi Monti founded in Rome in 1857.