HUMAT · Scoring
HUMAT scoring: points, section minimums and when to guess
Checked against Humanitas's official documents on 18 October 2026. The 2027/28 call is not out yet; figures are from 2026/27.
Key figures
- maximum, on both rankings
- 960
- per correct answer in the heaviest section
- +22
- of that value for a wrong answer
- −¼
- for a question left blank
- 0
Every HUMAT answer is marked twice, once for the Medicine and Surgery ranking and once for MEDTEC, with different points per section. A wrong answer always costs a quarter of what a right one earns, a blank costs nothing, and each section has a minimum you must reach to be ranked at all.
In short
- Medicine and Surgery: +22 per correct answer in Scientific Thinking & Academic Literacy, +16 in Biology & Chemistry, +10 in Mathematics & Physics. MEDTEC swaps the first and last.
- A wrong answer loses a quarter of the section's value (−5.5, −4 or −2.5). A blank scores 0.
- Each section has a minimum: 88, 64 and 40 for Medicine, 40, 64 and 88 for MEDTEC. Miss one and you are left off that ranking, whatever your total.
- With five options, a blind guess is worth exactly nothing on average. Rule out one option and it is worth something; rule out two and it is worth a lot.
- Only the better of your two rounds counts.
Points per answer, section by section
When you register you say whether you are competing for Medicine and Surgery, MEDTEC School or both. The same 60 answers are then scored with the table for each ranking you chose.
Medicine and Surgery
| Section | Correct | Wrong | Blank | Maximum | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific Thinking & Academic Literacy | +22 | −5.5 | 0 | 440 | 88 |
| Biology & Chemistry | +16 | −4 | 0 | 320 | 64 |
| Mathematics & Physics | +10 | −2.5 | 0 | 200 | 40 |
| Total | 960 | 192 |
MEDTEC School
| Section | Correct | Wrong | Blank | Maximum | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific Thinking & Academic Literacy | +10 | −2.5 | 0 | 200 | 40 |
| Biology & Chemistry | +16 | −4 | 0 | 320 | 64 |
| Mathematics & Physics | +22 | −5.5 | 0 | 440 | 88 |
| Total | 960 | 192 |
Tables 2 and 3 of the 2026/27 call and Humanitas's two "test evaluation" sheets, read 18 October 2026. The 2027/28 call has not been published yet.
The section minimums: a fifth of each section
Every minimum is 20% of its section's maximum: 88 of 440, 64 of 320, 40 of 200. In answers, that is the equivalent of four correct answers out of 20 with no wrong ones, in every section. Four wrong answers cancel one right one, so a section with four right and four wrong falls short.
The bar is low, but it is per section, and it does keep people out. The call marks a candidate below any minimum as "rejected". On the 2026 lists, read on 17 October 2026, that was 483 of the 1,085 entries on the EU Medicine list, 244 of 747 on the non-EU Medicine list, 196 of 521 on the EU MEDTEC list and 99 of 332 on the non-EU MEDTEC list.
Counts of entries marked Rejected, from the Humanitas research article's aggregates of the published ranking lists. A candidate who registered for both programmes appears on both lists.
Should you guess on the HUMAT?
With five options and a penalty of a quarter, the arithmetic is unusually clean. A blind guess is right one time in five: on a question worth 22, that is +22 once and −5.5 four times, which averages exactly zero. Leaving it blank also scores zero, so a pure guess gains nothing on average and only adds luck.
The picture changes as soon as you can rule an option out. With four options left, a guess is right one time in four and the penalty no longer cancels the gain. The table gives the average value of answering, per question, against zero for a blank.
| Options you can rule out | Worth +22 (heaviest) | Worth +16 (middle) | Worth +10 (lightest) |
|---|---|---|---|
| None (blind guess) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| One | +1.38 | +1.00 | +0.63 |
| Two | +3.67 | +2.67 | +1.67 |
| Three | +8.25 | +6.00 | +3.75 |
- If you can eliminate at least one option with confidence, answering is worth more than a blank, in every section and on both rankings.
- If you cannot eliminate anything, a guess is neutral on average. Near a section minimum it is not neutral for you: a wrong guess can take you under the bar. Protect the minimum first.
- A flagged answer still counts. If you mark a question "To review" with a letter selected and the section ends, that letter is your answer. Choose "I omit the answer" if you want it blank.
Averages over many questions, assuming the options you have not ruled out are equally likely. If one of the remaining options looks more likely than the others, a guess is worth more than the table shows.
A worked example: one set of answers, two scores
Take a candidate who answers 14 right, 3 wrong and 3 blank in Scientific Thinking & Academic Literacy; 12 right, 4 wrong and 4 blank in Biology & Chemistry; and 8 right, 6 wrong and 6 blank in Mathematics & Physics.
| Section | Answers | Medicine and Surgery | MEDTEC School |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific Thinking & Academic Literacy | 14 right, 3 wrong | 308 − 16.5 = 291.5 | 140 − 7.5 = 132.5 |
| Biology & Chemistry | 12 right, 4 wrong | 192 − 16 = 176 | 192 − 16 = 176 |
| Mathematics & Physics | 8 right, 6 wrong | 80 − 15 = 65 | 176 − 33 = 143 |
| Total | 34 right, 13 wrong | 532.5 | 451.5 |
Every section clears its minimum on both rankings. For scale only: the lowest scores among entries marked Admitted or Registered on the 2026 EU lists were 450 for Medicine and 347.5 for MEDTEC (read 17 October 2026). Next year's cut-off depends on next year's candidates and places, so it may land anywhere.
Ties, rounds and when you see your score
- Ties on Medicine and Surgery go to the better Scientific Thinking & Academic Literacy score, then the better Biology & Chemistry score, then the younger candidate.
- Ties on MEDTEC go to the better Mathematics & Physics score, then Biology & Chemistry, then the younger candidate.
- You can sit one session in each of the two rounds. If you have a valid score in both, only the higher one is used.
- After each round you can view your test through the Humanitas Registration Portal. There is no provisional ranking: the final one is published on a set date (30 March in 2026), on MyPORTAL.
- A score from the penultimate year of school counts only for the following year's admission.
Questions
Is there negative marking on the HUMAT?
Yes. A wrong answer loses a quarter of what a correct answer in that section earns: −5.5, −4 or −2.5 points depending on the section and the ranking. A blank scores zero.
What is the pass mark for the HUMAT?
There is no overall pass mark, but every section has a minimum: 88, 64 and 40 for Medicine and Surgery, 40, 64 and 88 for MEDTEC. Below any one of them you are not ranked for that programme. Above them, places go down the ranking.
What is the maximum HUMAT score?
960 points on both rankings, for 60 correct answers.
Should I guess on the HUMAT?
Only when you can rule out at least one option. With five options and a quarter-point penalty, a blind guess averages exactly zero, the same as a blank; each option you eliminate makes answering worth more.
Do both HUMAT rounds count?
Only the better one. You may sit once in each round; if both scores are valid, the higher is used for the ranking.
How are ties broken on the HUMAT?
Medicine and Surgery looks first at Scientific Thinking & Academic Literacy, MEDTEC at Mathematics & Physics; then both look at Biology & Chemistry, then at age, preferring the younger candidate.
Official sources
Every figure on this page was read on the source itself on the date above. (18 October 2026)
Practise in the real format
The free practice paper has 60 questions in the current three-section format, every answer explained. When you want more, the IvyTest Humanitas package adds a full simulator, the study guide and lessons.
The HUMAT, one question at a time
- HUMAT format: the three sections and their timing
- HUMAT scoring: points, section minimums and when to guessYou are here
- HUMAT test day: the online exam from home, step by step
- Medicine or MEDTEC: one HUMAT, two rankings
- HUMAT 2027 dates: registration, rounds and results