University of Rijeka Medicine Entrance Exam 2027: Complete Preparation Guide

Items 1-40 of the paper. Four official headings, with Cytology split in two because it spans cell architecture, metabolism and cell division. No Biology item in the official sample paper uses a figure.

• Cell structure and membranes: cell theory and Schleiden and Schwann, main cell types and their similarities and differences, bacterial cell structure and organization, bacterial conjugation and binary fission, nutritional types of bacteria, the cyanobacterial cell, the cytoskeleton and its organization and function, cell membrane organization and function, the fluid mosaic model of Singer and Nicolson, membrane transport, the Na/K pump, membrane-bound and non-membrane-bound organelles and their main functions, vesicular traffic between organelles
• Cell metabolism and cell division: ATP production and the Krebs cycle, photosynthesis and the Calvin cycle, biologically important macromolecules and their classes, functions and examples, body water and its intracellular and extracellular portions and ionic composition, the chemical elements of the human body, the cell cycle, mitosis and meiosis
• Genetics and molecular biology: genetics and genomics, genotype and phenotype, alleles and interactions between alleles, multiple alleles, linked and sex-linked genes, Mendel's laws, monohybrid crosses with complete and with incomplete dominance, dihybrid crosses with dominance, test crosses, karyotype and homologous chromosomes, numerical chromosome aberrations including aneuploidy and polyploidy, spontaneous and induced mutations, DNA replication, DNA transcription, mRNA translation, the genetic code, codons and anticodons
• Human physiology: blood composition and function including erythrocytes, leukocytes and thrombocytes, the ABO blood group system, anemia and its types, the main hematopoietic tissues and organs, the cardiovascular system and types of blood vessel, the cardiac cycle, stroke volume and minute volume, the components of the heart conduction system, the parts of the respiratory system, types of immunity and histamine, digestive system composition and function, the metabolic pathways of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, diseases due to lack of vitamins and minerals, urinary system composition and function, endocrine glands and their hormones, spermatogenesis and oogenesis, fertilization, gastrulation and the three-layer embryo
• Ecology, evolution and systematics: ecology, population, ecosystem, biocenosis, biotope, biome, biotic and abiotic factors, ecological amplitude, ecological succession, land reclamation, endemism, relict species, species range, mimicry, evolution and the factors that drive evolutionary change, Carl Linnaeus and binomial nomenclature, the hierarchy of taxonomic ranks

Items 41-80. The official Preparation terms give only two headings (General and Inorganic Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry), so the nine groups below subdivide them along their own listed terms. The subdivision is IvyTest's; every term in it is official.

• Matter, atoms and the periodic system: chemical and physical changes, mixtures and pure substances, elements and compounds, states of matter, the atom and atomic mass, structure of the atom and isotopes, electronic shells, subshells and orbitals, electron configuration, the periodic system of elements, atomic and ionic radii, ionisation energy, electron affinity and electronegativity, noble gases
• Chemical bonding and structure: chemical bonds, ionic and covalent compounds, double and triple covalent bonds, bond polarity, intermolecular forces, molecules and molecular mass, ionic and molecular crystals, the metallic bond and alloys
• Stoichiometry and gas laws: relative atomic and relative molecular mass, molar mass, simple gas laws, the standard molar volume of a gas, the mole and Avogadro's constant, mass percent composition of a compound, empirical and molecular formulae
• Solutions, acids and bases: solutions, solution stoichiometry expressed as mass percent, molarity and molality, electrolytic dissociation, strong and weak electrolytes, acids, bases and salts, neutralisation and hydrolysis, pH and pOH
• Thermochemistry, kinetics and equilibrium: enthalpy, exothermic and endothermic processes and reactions, rate of reaction, activation energy and catalysis, the equilibrium constant and its expression, Le Chatelier's principle
• Redox and electrochemistry: redox reactions, oxidation and reduction, oxidation numbers, galvanic and electrolytic cells, electromotive force
• Properties of the elements: physicochemical properties of hydrogen, classification and properties of metals, alkali metals and their properties, alkaline earth metals and their properties, the technically important metals aluminium, iron and copper, halogens and their properties, element names and symbols
• Organic compounds and reactions: classification of organic compounds, hydrocarbons and their classification and properties, isomerism and stereoisomerism, substitution and addition reactions, cycloalkanes, aromatic compounds, mono- and disubstituted benzene derivatives, alcohols, ethers and phenols, amines, aldehydes and ketones, the properties and production of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acetone, carboxylic acids, hydroxy acids and amino acids, IUPAC nomenclature
• Biomolecules and esters: esters, fats and oils and the ester bond, soaps and detergents, carbohydrates and their structure, classification and properties, proteins and their structure and classification, the peptide bond, nucleic acids and their structure and classification

Items 81-120. The official Preparation terms open with two unheaded lines on units and vector quantities, then run through Mechanics, Oscillations and Waves, Hydromechanics, Thermodynamics, Electromagnetism, Optics, and Atomic and Nuclear Physics. Every Physics item in the official sample paper is text-only and states its own constants.

• Units and vector quantities: the International System of Units, base and derived units, the use of prefixes and unit conversion, the distinction between vector and scalar quantities
• Motion and force: motion, velocity and acceleration, freely falling objects, horizontally and vertically launched projectiles, contact and field forces, weight, Newton's first, second and third laws, addition and resolution of forces, normal force and friction force, work, kinetic energy and potential energy, power, conversion of mechanical energy, uniform circular motion, centripetal acceleration and centripetal force
• Rigid body mechanics: definition of a rigid body, resultant force acting on a rigid body, free and fixed rigid bodies, conditions for equilibrium of a rigid body, rigid body rotation with angular velocity, period and frequency; note that torque and lever calculations appear in the official sample paper even though the term list does not name them
• Oscillations and waves: periodic oscillations, simple harmonic and damped harmonic oscillations, the period of a simple pendulum, resonance, wave motion, transverse and longitudinal waves, the properties of waves including wavelength, frequency and velocity
• Hydromechanics: phases of matter, density of a substance, the definition and units of pressure, hydrostatic pressure, buoyant force and the application of Archimedes' principle, fluids in motion, the equation of continuity, Bernoulli's equation
• Thermodynamics: temperature, the kinetic theory of gases and the molecular interpretation of temperature, heat, specific heat capacity and heat capacity, thermal equilibrium and mixing problems, melting and hardening with melting point and latent heat, evaporation with boiling point and latent heat of vaporization, the first and second laws of thermodynamics, thermal expansion of solids and liquids, the ideal gas law, isothermal, isobaric and isochoric processes, adiabatic processes
• Electrostatics and electric circuits: electric charge and electric current with their definitions and units, Coulomb's force, the definition and units of electric field and potential difference, Ohm's law, electrical resistance, resistivity and conductivity, the definition and unit of capacitance, the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with and without a dielectric, capacitors in series and in parallel, resistors in series and in parallel, the application of Kirchhoff's rules, electrical power
• Magnetism and electromagnetism: magnets and magnetic fields, the magnetic field of straight wires carrying an electric current, the force on an electric current in a magnetic field and on a charge moving in a magnetic field, Faraday's law of induction and Lenz's law, alternating current, transformers and the transformer equation, capacitance in an AC circuit and capacitive reactance, inductance in an AC circuit and inductive reactance, electromagnetic waves, the electromagnetic spectrum and the production of electromagnetic waves
• Optics: the ray model of light, reflection of light and image formation by plane and spherical mirrors, total internal reflection, refraction, Snell's law and the index of refraction, thin lenses with focal point, focal length and optical power, ray tracing for converging and diverging lenses, the thin lens equation and magnification, Huygens' principle, interference and diffraction of light, polarization
• Atomic and nuclear physics: the photoelectric effect, structure of the atom, the Bohr model and the spectra of the hydrogen atom, the structure, properties and size of the nucleus, binding energy and nuclear forces, radioactivity with alpha, beta and gamma decay, nuclear reactions and the conservation of nucleon number and charge, the law of radioactive decay and the half-life of a radioactive element, transmutation of elements, nuclear fission and fusion

High-school level Biology, Chemistry and Physics, as the Faculty of Medicine puts it, for its English-taught Medicine programme: 120 multiple-choice questions in three blocks of 40 (Biology, then Chemistry, then Physics), with five answer options per question in the official sample and one point per correct answer, out of 120. The topics are those of the Faculty's Preparation terms for each subject, listed in full on this page.

Neither. Croatia has no shared national medical admission test, and Rijeka and Zagreb set separate papers. They agree on the surface (120 questions, three sciences, five options) and disagree on the rules that matter. Zagreb applies a floor of 15 correct answers of 40 in every science plus a total of 61; Rijeka applies a single pass mark of 60 correct answers and no per-subject minimum at all, then ranks candidates on a 150-point scale that Zagreb does not use.

On-site, in hybrid mode. The Faculty runs the exam at its own building in Rijeka (Braće Branchetta 20/I) and simultaneously abroad, delivered entirely in English. Three terms run per cycle: around May, around July, and a September term held only if places remain. In the 2026/2027 cycle they fell on 8 May, 3 July and 4 September 2026.

Not published. IvyTest re-checked five official sources on 21 September 2026 (the Call, the Faculty's entrance-exam page and the official sample-questions PDF among them), and none of them states a time limit. This appears to be a genuine gap in the Faculty's public materials rather than something hidden in a document we have not read. IvyTest times its own Rijeka mocks at 180 minutes as a working figure, taken from a web search rather than from an examination regulation, and will replace it when the Faculty publishes one.

One point per correct answer across 120 questions, so the exam is marked out of 120. Negative marking is not published either way in any official source checked, so no penalty is the likely reading but not a confirmed rule. On that reading a blind five-option guess would be worth +0.2 points against 0 for a blank, and eliminating two options before guessing would raise that to about +0.33, which is where the actual gain is, rather than in guessing blind.

60 correct answers out of 120, across the whole paper; in the 2026/2027 results nobody passed with fewer than 64. There is no per-subject floor for Medicine. The "20 of 40 per subject" figure that circulates in preparation guides is a study recommendation somebody wrote, not a Faculty rule, which means, arithmetically, that 40 Biology plus 20 Chemistry plus 0 Physics would still pass. That is not a preparation strategy, because those 40 Physics points still count fully toward the ranking.

Not by rule. Passing makes you rankable: admission is decided on a maximum of 150 points (your 120 exam points plus up to 30 points for your secondary-school record), and the 2026/2027 quota is 50 students. In 2026/2027, though, the Faculty's results notice for every term said that all who passed would receive the Acceptance Letter. A candidate who passes but misses a place can reserve one for the next academic year by paying one third of the tuition.

Yes, entirely: the whole paper is delivered in English for the Medicine in English programme, in Rijeka and abroad alike. Croatian becomes relevant later: the Faculty requires a Croatian language certificate at B1 level or higher before enrolment into the fourth year, and the Croatian course is included in the tuition.

The Faculty calls it high-school level, and its published results show the pass mark is a real bar. In 2026/2027, 48 of the 60 candidates who sat passed: 24 of 24 in May, 13 of 20 in July and 11 of 16 in September. The 12 who failed scored between 34 and 58 of 120. The quota is 50 a year, one of the smaller English-taught cohorts in our catalogue; after the May and July terms 29 of those places had been taken by enrolment, leaving 21 for September (the University's enrolment results of 24 July 2026).

The Faculty states that the doctor's professional status is regulated by Croatia's Act on Regulated Professions and Recognition of Foreign Professional Qualifications, in compliance with Directive 2005/36/EC, the EU directive on recognising professional qualifications. It also states that it is recognised by FAIMER and listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, and that its students are eligible for the US (USMLE) and Canadian (MCC) licensing exams. For the UK, the law answers rather than the Faculty: 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. Other routes are general guidance, not a Faculty statement: confirm them with the regulator concerned.

Yes. The IvyTest simulator runs Rijeka-format practice (120 questions, five options, one point per correct answer, in the paper's own Biology-Chemistry-Physics order) in timed, tutor and review modes, with the negatively worded stems and "none is correct" options the Faculty's own sample paper uses, and a free diagnostic available without payment.

The Faculty publishes no past papers. Its Entrance exam page links one full Sample entrance exam as a PDF (published 2021): 120 questions in the real Biology, Chemistry and Physics order, five options each, with its answer key in a separate PDF, Results of sample entrance exam. The same page links the three Preparation terms PDFs, and the Call for applications page links 13 example questions from 2017, without answers. The practice questions on this page are IvyTest's own.

Not published yet: the Faculty's pages still showed the 2026/2027 Call on 12 October 2026. That cycle ran exams on 8 May, 3 July and 4 September 2026, the last only because places remained. Applications closed 9 working days before the spring and summer terms (27 April, 29 June) and 5 working days before the autumn term (29 August in the Call, 31 August on the Faculty's pages). A preparatory course (€800) ran over the four days before each exam.

Secondary school of at least four years with Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or related subjects) for at least two years, the final graduation exam, and the entrance exam passed with 60 correct answers. Non-native speakers show English (TOEFL iBT 60, IELTS 6, a language school's B2 certificate or their secondary school's certificate). A premedical college, an MCAT of 125 or more in each section, a natural-sciences BA/BSc with good credits, or MediTest-EU above 70% may exempt you from the exam. A foreign diploma must be recognised in Croatia, and every applicant also registers on Postani student.

Tuition is €12,000 a year (€200 per ECTS credit), paid in full at enrolment each year; candidates who pass in May confirm their place by paying one third of it by the end of May. The application fee is €200 and is not refunded. The University's first-year enrolment fee for 2026/2027 is €55.50. The optional preparatory course costs €800, and the Croatian course needed before the fourth year is included in the tuition.

Only from a similar medical study at a university in the EU, and not into the first or last year. The Faculty asks for a grade point average of 3.8 or higher, no repeated years or study breaks, and a Croatian B1 certificate for a transfer into the fourth or fifth year. Requests go in from 1 to 15 September with certified transcripts and course descriptions; exams are recognised where the course load differs by no more than 30%, and places depend on the Faculty's capacity.

A six-year integrated programme of 360 ECTS, taught in English, leading to Doctor of Medicine (dr. med. / M.D.). The first year has Anatomy, Medical Biology, Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry I, and Medical Physics and Biophysics; the clinical years run from Internal Medicine in the fourth year through Surgery and Paediatrics in the fifth to Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Family Medicine and the graduation exam and thesis in the sixth, with Medical English in every year. The Faculty's Curriculum page links each course's syllabus.

The Faculty quotes no ranking of its own on the pages IvyTest read. It describes itself as founded in 1955 and the oldest and largest constituent of the University of Rijeka, recognised by FAIMER and listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, with students eligible for the USMLE and the Canadian MCC exams. The University of Rijeka's own information pack (2024) says it entered the QS World University Rankings in 2020 and is a full member of the YUFE alliance.