University of Navarra Medicine Admission Test 2027: Complete Preparation Guide

Seven official blocks across 50 questions. The syllabus gives no per-block split; the official model paper weights cell biology, genetics, human systems and microbiology terminology.

• Unity and life diversity: biodiversity, the species concept, classification systems, the fundamental characteristics of the five kingdoms, levels of organisation of living beings, cell theory and the cell as the unit of structure and function, prokaryotic and eukaryotic models of cellular organisation, and microscopic observation of single-celled organisms and animal tissues
• Human tissues, organs and systems: epithelial, muscular, nervous and connective tissues; the digestive, respiratory, excretory and reproductive systems; the integumentary, nervous, circulatory, endocrine, muscular, skeletal and lymphatic systems; the vital functions of nutrition, relationship and reproduction; the stages of nutrition, nutrients, balanced diet, food classification and vitamins; sensory receptors, the nerve impulse, the synapse and the central and peripheral nervous system; hormonal coordination and the main hormones; and the female and male reproductive systems, gamete formation, fertilisation, embryonic development and the menstrual cycle
• Molecular basis of life: the chemical composition of living beings, primary, secondary and trace bioelements, the organic biomolecules (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids), the inorganic biomolecules water and mineral salts, chemical bonds and their importance in biology, and biocatalysts and enzymes
• Cell structure and function: cell morphology, the structure and function of the cell envelope, nucleus and organelles, membranes in cellular exchange, transport of molecules across the membrane, selective permeability, endocytosis and exocytosis, the cell cycle and its phases, mitosis and meiosis, anabolism and catabolism, energy and ATP, cellular respiration and its biological meaning, aerobic and anaerobic pathways, mitochondrial structure, composition and function, the catabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins, chemosynthesis, and methods of cellular study
• Inheritance and molecular genetics: human genetics, genes, chromosomes, genotype, phenotype and karyotype, Mendel's laws, the chromosomal theory of heredity, the inheritance of sex, sex-linked and sex-influenced inheritance, the identification of DNA as the carrier of genetic information, DNA structure and function, RNA structure, types and function, replication, transcription and translation, the genetic code and the experimental evidence for it, genomics and proteomics, genetically modified organisms, mutations and mutagenic agents, mutation and cancer, genetic diseases, and the role of mutation in evolution and speciation
• Microorganisms and their applications: the diversity of microorganisms and their ways of life, bacteria and viruses including classification, structure and life cycle, interactions with other living organisms, the intervention of microorganisms in biogeochemical cycles, pathogenic microorganisms and infectious disease, asepsis and antisepsis, methods of study and cultivation, the use of microorganisms in industrial processes, and their social and economic importance
• Immunity and its applications: immunology, the immune system and immunity, types of immune response, the body's defences, the inflammatory response, cellular and humoral immunological reactions, antigens, antibody structure and function, the antigen-antibody reaction, the mechanism of the immune response, immunological memory, natural and artificial acquired immunity, vaccines and sera, allergies and immunodeficiencies, AIDS and its effects on the immune system, monoclonal antibodies and genetic engineering, and organ transplantation and rejection

Eight official blocks across 50 questions, joint-largest by weight. No calculator is allowed, so quantitative items must resolve through estimation, cancellation or scientific notation.

• Basic concepts: Avogadro's hypothesis, the concept of the mole, molecular mass, atomic mass, isotopes, inorganic formulation, solutions and the ways of expressing concentration, the kinetic theory of gases, the general law of perfect gases, Dalton's law, and the stoichiometry of chemical reactions
• Atomic structure and the periodic table: atomic mass and the atomic mass unit, the Thomson and Rutherford atomic models, quantum theory, Bohr's model and its limitations, an introduction to quantum mechanics, the de Broglie hypothesis, the Heisenberg principle, the orbital concept and atomic orbitals, electron configurations with Pauli's principle and Hund's rule, the periodic classification of the elements, and periodic properties and their relationship to position in the table
• Chemical bonding and properties of substances: the concept of bonding and the energy stability of bonded atoms, ionic bonding, lattice energy and the Born-Haber cycle, the properties of ionic substances, covalent bonding and bond parameters, Lewis theory, molecular geometry and valence bond theory, hybridisation of atomic orbitals, bond polarity and molecular polarity, intermolecular forces, the properties of covalent substances, and metallic bonding and the properties of metals
• Energy transformations in reactions: thermodynamics, systems and variables, pressure-volume work, heat, endothermic and exothermic processes, enthalpy of formation, of reaction and of bond, Hess's law, entropy, Gibbs free energy and the spontaneity of chemical reactions, energy diagrams and the reaction coordinate, and the energy applications of chemical reactions
• Kinetics and equilibrium: the dynamic aspect of chemical reactions, reaction rate and the factors influencing it, collision theory and effective collisions, activation energy, catalysts and how they work, the dynamic concept of chemical equilibrium, the equilibrium constants Kc and Kp and the relation between them, Le Chatelier's principle, heterogeneous equilibria, precipitation reactions, solubility and the solubility product, and applications to everyday life and industry including the Haber-Bosch process
• Acids and bases: the general characteristics of acids and bases, the Arrhenius and Brønsted-Lowry theories, the ionic balance of water, the concept of pH and its calculation and measurement in aqueous solutions, strong and weak acids and bases, neutralisation, the quantitative treatment of aqueous salt solutions as acid-base equilibria, buffer solutions, acids and bases of industrial and everyday interest, and acid rain and its consequences
• Electron transfer reactions: the concept of oxidation-reduction, oxidising and reducing agents, oxidation number, balancing redox reactions, the stoichiometry of redox reactions, redox titrations and their experimental treatment, standard reduction potential, oxidation and reduction potentials, the spontaneity of redox reactions, electrical cells and batteries, electrolysis, Faraday's laws, industrial and economic importance, and the corrosion of metals and its prevention
• Organic chemistry: the characteristics of the carbon atom, the nomenclature and formulation of the main oxygenated and nitrogenous organic compounds, types of organic reaction (substitution, addition, elimination and oxidation-reduction), structural and spatial isomerism, hydrocarbons, petroleum and its derivatives, alcohols, esters and acids and how they are obtained, polymers and addition and condensation polymerisation, and an assessment of the use of organic substances in society and the resulting environmental problems

Five official blocks across 50 questions. Two scope limits matter more here than anywhere else in this guide: the official syllabus contains no direct-current circuit content at all (no Ohm's law, no resistors in series or parallel, no Kirchhoff) and no geometrical optics beyond reflection and refraction. Do not import either from another medical entrance syllabus.

• Basic tools in physics: trigonometry and simple geometric relationships between angles and straight lines, vectors, scalar and vector products, the basic relation between integration and differentiation, units of the International System, and unit conversion and dimensional consistency
• Movements and forces: reference systems, velocity and acceleration, rectilinear and circular motion, normal and centripetal acceleration, Newton's laws, conservation of momentum, gravitational forces and the variation of weight with distance, friction force as a function of displacement, and Hooke's law
• Energy, work and heat: work, kinetic energy, gravitational potential, conservative forces, gravitational potential energy, conservation of energy, power, energy and heat, and the principles of thermodynamics
• Electricity and magnetism: Coulomb's law, the electric field, electric potential and potential energy and the relationships between them, equipotential surfaces, the analogy between gravitational and electric fields, the relationship between electricity and magnetism, and Lorentz's law; note that this block stops at fields and forces and never reaches circuits
• Waves and optics: simple harmonic vibratory motion, the magnitudes and characteristics of waves including amplitude, period, frequency, wavelength and propagation velocity, reading a harmonic wave equation, mechanical and electromagnetic waves, transverse and longitudinal waves, the transport of energy without transport of matter, reflection and refraction, and standing waves

Derived, not official: UNAV publishes no syllabus for this paper, stating only that it is a scientific article followed by 30 multiple-choice questions. The areas below come from the official model paper, a bibliometric study of Spanish tuberculosis research output indexed in MEDLINE between 1997 and 2006. This is also the only block with four options rather than five.

• Scientific article structure: the abstract and its objective, material-and-methods, results and conclusions; the introduction and the study question; methods including the database, search strategy, inclusion criteria, variables and statistical tools; the results section; the discussion with its interpretation, comparison against earlier work and limitations; the concluding claim and its implications; and telling a method apart from a result
• Data extraction and comparison: locating exact figures, percentages and sample sizes; rankings across countries, provinces and institutions; category comparisons such as hospitals against universities or national against foreign journals; indicators of output; reading tables and figures referenced by the text; and ordering items by frequency
• Interpretation and inference: drawing only conclusions the passage supports, comparing a finding against the study's own comparisons with other fields, recognising stated limitations, distinguishing what the article claims from what the reader assumes, and identifying which of several statements the passage rules out
• Biomedical and research vocabulary: epidemiology, incidence, prevalence and public health; microbiology, infectious disease, pulmonology and internal medicine; clinical against laboratory specialties; bibliometrics, MEDLINE, PubMed and MeSH; case report, review and clinical trial; institutional sectors such as hospital, university, research council and primary care; publication language, journal type, output and impact factor; and basic statistical comparison at reading level

It is UNAV's own on-site admission test for Medicine at its Pamplona campus: 180 counting questions in roughly three hours, split between a 150-question science paper (50 Biology, 50 Chemistry, 50 Physics, plus 6 reserve questions) and a separate 30-question reading-comprehension paper on a scientific article. No calculator is permitted.

No. Spain's private medical schools each write and grade their own paper, and UNAV's is the longest in this set by a wide margin: 180 questions against 75 at CEU Cardenal Herrera and 100 at Universidad Católica de Valencia. UNAV also runs other admission routes of its own for candidates at a school outside Spain, the ISAT plus an online test and an International Baccalaureate route; see "Which admission route is mine?" below.

In person, on the Pamplona campus, with calculations worked by hand in the question booklet and no calculator permitted. For 2027 entry UNAV's deadlines page gives the in-person test as Saturday 13 March 2027, in the afternoon, for applications made by 9 March. Candidates at a school outside Spain can instead take the ISAT plus the School's own test, which is sat online, in English, in December or March, with a webcam and proctoring software, starting at about 14:30 Spanish time.

One mark per correct answer, nothing for a wrong answer, nothing for a blank. So guessing always helps, and by slightly different amounts on the two papers: a blind guess is worth 1/5 = +0.20 marks on a five-option science item and 1/4 = +0.25 on a four-option reading item. Leave the whole paper blank and you forfeit an expected 37.5 marks. Converted to grade points the difference nearly vanishes: every unanswered question costs about an eighth of a point of the exam grade, wherever it sits.

Because UNAV's own documents disagree, and the more specific one wins. Its admissions page states "Cada pregunta cuenta con cinco posibles respuestas", and the official science model paper confirms five options on every Biology, Chemistry and Physics item. But the official reading-comprehension model paper is uniformly four-option across all 30 questions, with no exceptions; both PDFs were read in full on 21 September 2026. This guide follows the item-level document for the reading paper.

No, and this has been checked directly against two official UNAV pages. What exists are two other thresholds that are easy to confuse with one. The first is an entry condition: a 1st-year high-school final grade of 7/10 or higher, with enrolment in the 2nd year. The second is the final admission grade formula: 70% entrance exam plus 30% the average of your 1st-year official subjects. Neither is a pass mark on the paper.

Because UNAV weights the subjects rather than counting the questions: Biology 30%, Chemistry 30%, Physics 25%, Reading Comprehension 15%. Work it per question and a Biology or Chemistry item is worth 0.60 points of the exam grade against 0.50 for a Physics item (a fifth more for identical effort), and a reading item is worth the same 0.50 despite there being only 30 of them. Splitting revision by question count rather than by weight systematically over-invests in Physics.

Two things that appear on most other medical entrance papers. UNAV's official Physics syllabus contains no direct-current circuit content at all (no Ohm's law, no resistors in series or parallel, no Kirchhoff's laws) and no geometrical optics beyond reflection and refraction. Its electricity block stops at Coulomb's law, fields, potential and the Lorentz force. Preparing circuits or lens optics for this exam is a full loss of study time.

On site, in Spanish or in English: UNAV's Medicine admissions page says the on-site test is held "en español o en inglés". On the ISAT route the School's own test is in English, with an online Spanish test for candidates whose first language is not Spanish. The degree itself is taught in Spanish and English, and the official science model paper UNAV publishes is in Spanish. Confirm your intended language with Admissions when you apply.

Within the EU, yes: automatically, as a standard Spanish medical degree. Practising as a specialist in Spain additionally requires the MIR (Médico Interno Residente), Spain's national residency-entry exam, which sits alongside rather than instead of that recognition. 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 Spanish 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 the full 180-question format (five options on Biology, Chemistry and Physics, four on Reading Comprehension, +1/0/0 marking, no calculator) in timed, tutor and review modes, and reports results in grade points using the 30/30/25/15 weighting rather than as one raw total. A free diagnostic is available without payment.

UNAV publishes no past papers. Its Medicine admissions page links two free model PDFs instead: a science model with 10 questions each in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, five options per question and no answer key, and a reading-comprehension model with a scientific article and its 30 four-option questions. The same page links the three subject syllabi as PDFs. The practice questions on this page are IvyTest's own.

For 2027/28 entry the window opened on 1 October 2026. Apply through the miUNAV portal by 9 March 2027 and sit the on-site test in Pamplona on Saturday 13 March 2027, in the afternoon; the resolution follows on 15 April and enrolment closes on 31 May 2027. For Medicine the earlier window (apply by 9 December 2026, test on 12 December, resolution on 21 January 2027, enrolment by 23 February) is for international applicants only.

To sit the on-site test you must be in the 2nd year of Bachillerato or equivalent, with a 1st-year final grade of 7/10 or higher, and apply through miUNAV with the €100 processing fee. UNAV asks for the Bachillerato (preferably in health sciences) or an equivalent high-school diploma and, where Spanish law requires it, a pass in the PAU; if you sit the PAU, you must pass it at its first sitting to enrol in Medicine (international students don't need the PAU). The International Program also needs an English certificate.

There is none to look up. Navarra admits on its own test, not on a PAU cut-off: the final admission grade is 70% the entrance exam and 30% the 1st-year Bachillerato average, and UNAV publishes no cutoff or minimum score. The PAU matters for the waiting list, where a place depends on the PAU result (the two best grades of Biology, Chemistry or Physics, each multiplied by 0.2) and on places falling vacant.

No. The Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA) is a separate, public university, also in Pamplona, with its own Grado en Medicina: 75 places, taught in Spanish, with Bachillerato and related higher vocational qualifications as its access routes and places handled through UPNA's own pre-enrolment. Its notas de corte are UPNA's to publish. This guide covers the private Universidad de Navarra (UNAV), whose 200 places go through the admission test above.

For 2026/27 the first year costs €20,400 (€340 per ECTS × 60 credits), the same for Medicine and Medicine + International Program, plus €95 secretariat fees. Applying costs a €100 non-refundable processing fee. Admitted students pay €5,500 as the first enrolment payment, deducted from the year's tuition. UNAV's Prof. Jiménez Vargas scholarships go to 5 first-year students a year, covering up to 70% of tuition, for a Bachillerato average of 9 or more and family income of up to €20,000 per person.

UNAV publishes no acceptance rate and no applicant numbers. Its Grado en Medicina page advertises 200 places, and on 31 August 2026 the School of Medicine welcomed 220 new students from 23 nationalities, according to UNAV's own news. Admission is decided on the final grade (70% exam, 30% 1st-year average), so the exam is the part of it you can still move.

Partly. The degree is taught in Spanish and English. The Medicine + International Program, chosen when you apply on miUNAV, teaches the 1st year fully in English and part of the 2nd, adds electives taught by doctors from partner universities abroad and international rotations for a limited number of top students. It needs an English certificate (Cambridge Advanced at 180 or more, TOEFL 95 or IELTS 7, among others); without one you are admitted to Medicine. Students without Spanish need B2.2 before starting.

Yes, whatever their nationality. Students in their final school year can sit the on-site test in Pamplona, in Spanish or English; those at a school outside Spain can instead take the ISAT plus the School's online test in English (ISAT 30%, online test 40%, school record 30%), and IB students apply on predicted grades of 37 or more, with 6 in Biology HL and Chemistry HL, and an interview. The on-site and ISAT routes need a 1st-year grade of 7/10 or more.

On the measures checked, yes. QS's own Medicine table in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 puts the University of Navarra =143rd in the world, and Times Higher Education ranks it =275th in its World University Rankings 2027 and 176–200th in Medical and Health 2026. UNAV adds that it is 7th in Spain in Life Sciences and Medicine and that the CYD ranking 2026 puts it first among Spanish universities overall; IvyTest has not checked those two in the rankings' own tables. Its Medicine pages add that the School holds the WFME international quality seal and that its curriculum was developed with Harvard Medical School.

Six years and 360 ECTS, in six modules: the structure and function of the human body, social medicine and research, clinical training, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, supervised rotations with the final project, and electives. Year 1 is From the molecule to the cell I and II, Foundations of structure and function, Integrated organ systems I and II, Anthropology and Practice of Medicine I. Year 3 is a full rotating year at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, in Pamplona or Madrid.

Yes, and it says so itself. UNAV describes itself as a university of Christian inspiration, begun in Pamplona in 1952 at the initiative of St Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, and its Grand Chancellor is the Prelate of Opus Dei. Theology is taught in every degree. Its stated values describe the University as open to people of every background, without discrimination by religion, and UNAV's published Medicine admission rules contain no religious condition.

It depends on where you are at school, not on your nationality, and you may apply by one route only. On site (anyone in their final school year, from Spain or abroad, with 7/10 or more in the 1st year): apply by 9 March 2027 and sit the test in Pamplona on 13 March, in the afternoon, in Spanish or English: 150 science questions plus 6 reserve and a 30-question reading paper, weighted 30/30/25/15; your final grade is 70% test and 30% 1st-year average. ISAT (a school outside Spain, 7/10 or more): share an ISAT result from the January, July/August or October/November sittings, then sit the School's test online in English in the December round (apply by 9 December 2026, test on 12 December) or the March one: 150 science questions plus 6 reserve, weighted 35/35/30, no reading paper, from about 14:30 Spanish time, plus an online Spanish test if Spanish is not your first language and possibly an interview; your final grade is ISAT 30%, School test 40%, 1st-year average 30%. IB: predicted 37 or more, with 6 in Biology HL and Chemistry HL, and an online interview, no test.

Yes: r/NavarraUniversity, where Universidad de Navarra applicants ask each other about the University of Navarra Medicine Admission Test and share how their preparation is going. It is run by the IvyTest team. Dates, rules and results come only from the university's own pages, listed under Official sources on this page.

r/NavarraUniversity