EMREE Exam 2026: The Complete Guide to the Emirates Medical Residency Entrance Examination

EMREE at a glance

Who can sit EMREE and how to register

The official site states that the exam is open to medical graduates and final-year medical students who satisfy the residency training application criteria of the UAE health authorities. UAE nationals and all other nationalities who meet those criteria may register. You do not need a TOEFL score or a UAE licence to sit the exam, although residency programmes set their own English and licensing requirements later.

Registration is done online: you create a single account on the official registration page, log in while an enrollment window is open, enrol in a sitting and pay by credit card. You may register for only one examination at a time. Read the full requirements on our EMREE eligibility page and the step-by-step guide on EMREE registration.

Dates, fees and exam day

For the 2025-26 cycle the board published 12 EMREE sittings between 21 December 2025 and 14 June 2026, with results released between one and five days after each sitting. As of 1 November 2026 the 2026-27 calendar has not been officially published; check the official home page for updates. Our EMREE exam dates page reproduces the full 2025-26 table.

The exam fee is AED 1,000. The home page says this excludes tax, while the application process page calls it “all inclusive”, so confirm the final amount at checkout. Registrations are non-refundable and cannot be moved to another date. See EMREE exam fees for residency application fees charged separately by EHS and DoH.

The exam is delivered in person at the College of Medicine & Health Sciences in Al Ain. Face recognition and an official ID (passport and/or Emirates ID) are required, and candidates arriving more than 10 minutes late are not admitted.

What the exam tests

The official exam structure page describes EMREE as testing the medical knowledge and skills “expected of a graduate with at least one year training”, focusing on clinical application, diagnosis and management in a UAE context. The Nov 2025 blueprint weights seven disciplines:

• Internal Medicine – 20%
• Obstetrics and Gynaecology – 15%
• Paediatrics – 15%
• Surgery – 15%
• Family Medicine (Ethics and Patient Safety in the outline) – 15%
• Psychiatry – 10%
• Public Health / Preventive Medicine – 10%

The blueprint also sets a 40/40/20 easy/moderate/difficult split and approximate competency ranges. Explore the EMREE blueprint and the condensed EMREE syllabus.

Scoring, results and how residency programmes use them

The pass mark for 2025-26 is 60%, set by standard-setting and subject to change each cycle. Your electronic statement shows your score and ranking, and every attempt, pass or fail, appears on the transcript forwarded to the health authorities. Results are valid for up to 2 years.

Passing EMREE is a qualifying step, not a guarantee of a residency place. DoH Abu Dhabi lists a minimum entrance examination score of 70 for UAE graduates and international graduates, and Dubai Health/MBRU considers your score, percentile and number of attempts. Details are on our passing score and results pages.

How to prepare with EMREE UAE

Official rules are set only by the exam board and the health authorities. What follows is our study recommendation, not an official requirement.

1. Take the free 20-question EMREE diagnostic to find your weak disciplines.
2. Work through the subject question banks in proportion to the blueprint weights, starting with Internal Medicine.
3. Build stamina with timed practice tests and then full-length 120-question mocks.
4. Target weak areas with the custom exam builder.

Compare plans on our pricing page. No preparation resource, including ours, can guarantee a pass. Still have questions? Visit the EMREE FAQs.

By the EMREE UAE editorial team · How we write and check content