MDCAT answer key challenge: how the objection window works

The answer key is released on the test day or the next morning, and it is final unless you challenge it. The challenge window is measured in hours, not weeks. In 2026 the Punjab portal opened on 2 November and closed at 6:00 PM on 3 November, so a candidate who heard about it on the second afternoon had one day.

What the window is

Every admitting university publishes an official answer key for each paper code. A candidate who believes a key is wrong can file an objection, usually on a portal rather than by email. The 2026 Punjab notice asked for five things for each disputed question: the subject, the question number, what the key says, what you believe is correct, and the textbook page that proves it.

The UHS information guide for the previous cycle described the same shape: an answer-key challenge from the time the key is published until 6:00 PM the next day, with no request accepted before or after that period.

That is the whole window. There is no second chance after the results are declared for a question you did not raise in time.

What 2026 changed

For most cycles the key had to be checked against memory, because candidates were not allowed to keep the question paper. PM&DC's September instruction that universities retain the papers was challenged in court.

The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, held on 16 October 2026 that collecting the papers back was not lawful and ordered the Punjab papers published. The Sindh High Court had already issued notices in a parallel petition. UHS complied and published all four paper codes, A to D, on 2 November, and opened the complaint portal the same day.

The Senate health committee then directed a fresh inquiry into the 2026 complaints and said a question paper should be published within 72 hours of a test. Treat that as pressure on the regulator, not as a rule you can rely on. The 2026 ruling is limited to the Punjab paper of that year.

What counts as evidence

The portal asks for a book title, an edition, an author and a page number. That wording is deliberate. A complaint that says the key is wrong without a citation is weak, and the person reading it has no reason to accept it.

A question that was easy to misread is not a defective question. A question outside the published syllabus is worth raising if you can name the chapter that omits it, because the syllabus is a published document.

Writing the evidence line

The form has one box for the description, so write it in a fixed order and keep it short enough to read once:

Two lines of reasoning attached to a page beat a paragraph of argument attached to nothing. Keep the tone neutral, which is how the reviewer will read it, and do not claim that the examiner was careless.

The questions that are never accepted

Three claims appear every cycle and none of them changes a key.

• A question the candidate did not study. The syllabus is published; a chapter in the syllabus is fair.
• A question answered correctly by a different option. Where two options are both defensible, the item is defective and the whole code is affected; where one option is clearly right and the other is merely plausible, the key stands.
• A question with a typo in the stem that did not change the answer. Say it was hard to read, by all means, but an objection that does not change a mark is not one the university can act on.

What happens after you file

• The university compiles the objections and has the disputed items reviewed by subject specialists.
• Where a key is revised, the change applies to every candidate who sat that paper code, not only the people who objected. That is why a correct objection can have a wide effect.
• Where no key changes, the result stands and no explanation is published per question.
• Re-counting is a separate process. It checks the arithmetic, not the answers.

If your result is revised, it is published again on the university's site. Some universities also open a re-counting window after the result, which in the previous cycle was a short portal window with a fee.

How to be ready before the window opens

You cannot know the window dates in advance. You can be ready for them.

1. Keep the paper and the key the moment they appear. Download both.
2. Read your carbon-copy answer sheet and mark every question you were unsure about. Guesswork is where a wrong key costs you a mark you would have kept.
3. Open the FSc textbook to the chapter. Write the page number against each doubt.
4. Decide which doubts are worth a complaint. Two strong objections are better than ten weak ones.
5. File inside the window, with the book reference, and keep a screenshot of the reference number the portal returns.

The exam day checklist covers what you may carry into the hall. The past papers show what a real key looks like: our 2026 rows are free, with answers and worked explanations.

The three traps

Register on the admitting university's result portal before the test, or note the login you used for registration. In 2026 the Punjab complaint form asked for the roll number, the paper code and the email used at registration, which locked out candidates who had registered with a parent's address and no longer had access to it.

Second trap: a wrong key is rare, and a claim that the whole paper was wrong is not a complaint. The Senate committee forwarded six disputed question numbers from one paper code for independent review. Six is the number to expect at the top end, and it came from candidates who read the paper, not from a rumour.

Third trap: a coaching page that offers to file an objection for a fee is filing the same form you could file yourself, and it has your documents. Keep one folder: CNIC or B-Form, Matric and FSc marksheets, the IBCC equivalence for A-Level, domicile, and photographs to the size the portal asks for. The admissions guide lists every document each stage asks for.