ENGLISH - For MDCAT

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According To PMDC Syllabus 2023 - 2024
Content List for English

AIM
The aim of English section of MDCAT is to measure the applicants‟ skills in English language and to evaluate how prepared they are for undertaking graduate studies in medicine in English. The test applies a common standard to everyone to be able to evaluate the preparation of the applicants from different sectors, regions and socio- economic backgrounds.

The benchmarks for the test have been developed in the light of the Syllabus used in HSSC and CIE. Since the students who take the MDCAT come from a wide range of educational contexts, the test comprises items that may be applied to a broadband of language competencies that are not exclusive to one particular type of Syllabus.

OBJECTIVES

1. To ensure complete alignment between the English Syllabus used in various sectors at the HSSC and CIE level and the test items.
2. To create a balance of items from different benchmarks of the English Syllabi outlined for MDCAT.
3. To make sure that difficult and ambiguous items beyond the scope of high school education are not included.
4. To design the test specifications
5. To design, select, and arrange test task items

1. Benchmarks & Content

OBJECTIVE
1. Comprehend key vocabulary

BENCHMARK
Use one or more of the following strategies to determine meaning of key
vocabulary:

1. contextual clues and illustrations
2. background or prior knowledge
3. morphology, syntax, phonics, knowledge of word relationships
4. knowledge of synonyms,antonyms, homophones

CONTENT
High and low frequency words from the course book or to be selected from similar contexts or the contexts the HSSC and CIE students may be familiar with.

OBJECTIVE
2. Demonstrate control of tenses and sentence structure

BENCHMARK

1. Use correct tenses and sentence structure in writing
2. Identify mistakes in the use of tenses and sentence structure in written texts

CONTENT

• All present, past tenses
• Four types of sentences, 
• Conditionals Types of clauses
• Fragments

OBJECTIVE
3. Demonstrate ability to differentiate between correct and incorrect structure of sentences & Use of writing conventions of spelling, capitalization and Punctuation

BENCHMARK

1. Identify sentences with correct grammatical and style structures
2. Identify sentences with incorrect grammatical and style structures
3. Identify Use inappropriate capitalization and punctuation such as semi colons, commas in a series, apostrophes in possessives, proper nouns, and abbreviations

CONTENT
Use the texts prescribed / used in HSSC or CIE for differentiating between correctly and incorrectly written sentences.
The test items to be selected from the type of texts written by HSSC and CIE students and from the contexts common to both the streams

OBJECTIVE
4. Demonstrate correct use of subject-verb agreement & of articles and prepositions

BENCHMARK

1. Use correct subject-verb agreement in written texts
2. Identify mistakes in the use of subject verb- agreement in written texts
3. Use appropriate articles and prepositions in different written contexts
4. Identify mistakes in the use of articles and prepositions in sentences or short texts
5. Select the appropriate article or preposition for a particular context

CONTENT
Use the texts prescribed/ used in HSSC or CIE for selecting test items as well as determining the degree of their complexity
The test items to be selected from the contexts common to the texts at HSSC and CIE level

OBJECTIVE
5.Demonstrate ability to identify mistakes in sentences or short written texts. These errors could be of inappropriate word order, vocabulary etc.

BENCHMARK

1. Identify errors of word order, style, vocabulary etc. in sentences

CONTENT
Use the texts and sentences prescribed/ used in HSSC or CIE for differentiating between correctly and incorrectly written sentences

OBJECTIVE
6. Demonstrate ability to comprehend short written text and select the most appropriate responses

BENCHMARK

1. Comprehend simple, brief passages
2. Select the most suitable responses to the questions posed (text- explicit)

CONTENT
Use the texts prescribed/ used in HSSC or CIE as samples for reading comprehension