PRC Dentist Licensure

The written component is computer-based and uses single-best-answer multiple choice in the A1, A2 and B1 styles: standalone fact questions, short clinical vignettes, and shared-option sets where several cases draw on one list of choices. The practical skills station exam is a separate, hands-on assessment taken at a designated site.

The national medical examination authority sets and publishes the current question count, section timing and total duration for each examination cycle. These figures are revised periodically, so confirm them on the official site when your registration window opens rather than relying on numbers from earlier years or from forum posts.

It is a broad recall-and-apply exam rather than a trick exam. The difficulty comes from volume: you must hold diagnostic criteria, treatment indications, drug doses and legal duties across nine domains at once. Candidates who study one domain at a time without mixed practice often know the facts but choose the second-best option under time pressure.

Retake eligibility, waiting periods and any limit on attempts are set by the national authority and can change between cycles. Some candidates are eligible for a supplementary sitting within the same year. Check the official announcements for your province and cycle, since local registration offices apply the national rules.

The passing standard is determined and published by the national medical examination authority each cycle, and it is not fixed permanently. Do not plan around a remembered cut-off from a previous year. Use the official published figure, and treat practice scores as a relative guide to your weakest domains rather than as a prediction.

Start with basic medical sciences and oral basic sciences, because oral pathology and pharmacology underpin later clinical reasoning. Then move through oral medicine, surgery, prosthodontics and orthodontics, and finish with preventive dentistry, radiology and ethics. Interleave earlier domains in weekly review so recall does not decay before the exam.

Three recurrences: neglecting basic sciences because they feel remote from clinic work, memorising lists without practising vignette-style application, and skipping ethics and health law as easy marks. Another frequent problem is running out of time on shared-option B1 sets because the candidate re-reads the option list for every case.

No. Clinical work builds judgement, but the paper tests standardised criteria and definitions that may differ from your clinic's habits. Use experience to make vignettes concrete, then verify each answer against a current standard Chinese textbook or the official syllabus rather than against local custom.

Practise the procedures on the specified equipment until the sequence is automatic, and rehearse verbalising your steps and infection-control measures. Ask a colleague to score you against the published station checklist. Technique errors and omitted aseptic steps cost marks even when the final result looks acceptable.

All of these are published by the national medical examination authority and by provincial registration offices. Requirements for recognised qualifications and supervised practice can differ by province. Verify your eligibility and the current fee on the official site before submitting documents, and keep copies of everything you file.