TL;DR: The Physician Licensure Exam (PLE) is administered by the PRC Board of Medicine twice a year to Doctor of Medicine graduates who completed a one-year postgraduate internship. It covers 12 subjects across four testing days, and you need a general weighted average of 75% with no subject grade below 50% to pass.
Introduction
If you are finishing medical school in the Philippines, the Physician Licensure Examination (PLE) is the one exam standing between your Doctor of Medicine diploma and the right to practice as a licensed physician. It is widely regarded as one of the most demanding board exams in the country, not because any single subject is impossible, but because you have to clear 12 subjects across four days without a single failing grade dragging you down.
This guide walks through who can take the PLE, exactly what it covers, the passing grade you need to hit, how often it is given, and how to plan your review. Every figure here is sourced from Republic Act No. 2382 (the Medical Act of 1959), the law that still governs the exam's scope and passing standard, plus official PRC schedule releases and results announcements. Where a detail changes year to year, such as exact dates or the latest passing rate, we point you to the PRC's own pages so you can confirm the current numbers.
Who administers the Physician Licensure Exam?
The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) administers the PLE through the PRC Board of Medicine. The legal basis for the exam is Republic Act No. 2382, the Medical Act of 1959, which originally named the body the "Board of Medical Examiners." That board's functions were later absorbed into what is now the PRC Board of Medicine, but the scope-of-examination and passing-grade provisions of RA 2382 remain the governing framework cited in PRC issuances today.
What are the eligibility requirements for the PLE?
To sit for the PLE, you need a Doctor of Medicine degree, a completed postgraduate internship, and to meet a handful of citizenship and character requirements set out in RA 2382, Section 9. Specifically, a candidate must:
- Be at least 21 years old
- Be a Filipino citizen, or a foreign citizen whose home country allows Filipino citizens to practice medicine under reciprocal terms (confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs)
- Be of good moral character and sound mind
- Have no conviction for any offense involving moral turpitude
- Hold a Doctor of Medicine degree, or its equivalent, from a college of medicine recognized by the government
- Have completed one calendar year of postgraduate internship in hospitals and health centers accredited for that training
The internship requirement is not a formality. RA 2382 explicitly makes the completed one-year internship a precondition for taking the boards, on top of the MD degree itself.
What subjects does the PLE cover?
The complete PLE covers 12 subjects, grouped into a preliminary set and a final set under RA 2382, Section 21. In practice, the modern exam is administered as a single four-day "complete examination" covering all 12:
| Group | Subjects |
|---|---|
| Preliminary subjects | Anatomy and Histology, Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Parasitology |
| Final subjects | Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Pathology, Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics and Nutrition, Surgery with Ophthalmology/Otolaryngology/Rhinology, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Legal Medicine with Ethics and Medical Jurisprudence |
Recent PLE sessions have spread these 12 subjects across four testing days, generally three subjects per day. The exact subject-to-day grouping can shift slightly between sessions, so treat this as a structural guide rather than a fixed timetable, and check the specific room and schedule notice PRC issues before each exam date.
What is the passing grade for the PLE?
You need a general weighted average of 75%, with no individual subject grade below 50%. This is the exact standard written into RA 2382, Section 21: "In order that a candidate may be deemed to have passed his examination successfully he must have obtained a general average of seventy-five percent without a grade lower than fifty percent in any subject."
That "no grade below 50%" clause is what makes the PLE unforgiving. A strong overall average will not save you if you bomb even one of the 12 subjects below the 50% floor.
A candidate who fails the complete or final examination three times must complete a one-year refresher course at a recognized medical school before being allowed to sit for the exam again. This refresher-course rule is also written directly into RA 2382.
How often is the PLE given, and what's the schedule like?
The PLE is given twice a year, spaced roughly six months apart, per RA 2382, Section 18. In practice, recent years have followed a March and September/October cadence. For example, the PRC's 2026 schedule (released under PRC Resolution No. 2113) set PLE sessions for March 23, 24, 30, and 31, 2026, and October 3, 4, 10, and 11, 2026, held across testing centers including NCR, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Pampanga, Rosales, Tacloban, Tuguegarao, and Zamboanga.
Application windows typically open a few months ahead of each session and close several weeks before the exam date, filed through the PRC's online LERIS portal. Because exact dates, application windows, and testing centers are re-published annually, always confirm the current schedule on the official PRC website rather than relying on a prior year's calendar.
Recent example: the March 2026 PLE session had 2,781 examinees and 1,954 passers, a roughly 70% passing rate for that specific sitting, according to PRC's own results announcement. Passing rates vary by session and should not be assumed to carry over to future exams.
How do I prepare for the PLE?
Because the PLE spans 12 subjects built on four years of medical school plus a full internship year, most examinees do not attempt to review from scratch. A typical preparation path looks like this:
- Finish your internship requirements early so your Certificate of Post Graduate Internship and other documents are ready well before the PRC application window opens.
- Enroll in a structured review program, whether a formal review center or a self-organized group review, focused on high-yield topics across all 12 subjects rather than just your strongest ones.
- Prioritize subjects with historically weaker cohort performance, often Legal Medicine, Preventive Medicine, and Biochemistry, alongside the major clinical subjects (Medicine, Surgery, OB-Gyne, Pediatrics), since a single subject below 50% fails you regardless of your overall average.
- Practice with timed, subject-specific question sets that mirror the real exam's format rather than only reading textbooks.
- Build in deliberate rest and tapering in the final week before the exam. Four consecutive testing days is a physical and mental endurance test on top of a knowledge test.
If you are still choosing where to study medicine or which review path to take afterward, our guides on the best medical schools in the Philippines, medical school tuition, and how long a board exam review should take cover the earlier steps in this path.
Comparing the PLE to other Philippine board exam basics
| Detail | Physician Licensure Exam (PLE) |
|---|---|
| Administering body | PRC Board of Medicine |
| Legal basis | Republic Act No. 2382 (Medical Act of 1959) |
| Degree required | Doctor of Medicine |
| Additional requirement | One-year postgraduate internship |
| Subjects covered | 12 |
| Passing standard | 75% general average, no subject below 50% |
| Frequency | Twice a year (roughly 6 months apart) |
| Typical format | Four testing days |
Disclaimer
Exam schedules, application windows, testing centers, and passing rates change every session. Treat the dates and figures above as illustrative of the process and confirm the current-year details, including any updates to the Table of Specifications, directly on the official PRC website before you file your application.
If you're still choosing a path into medicine
Whether you are a senior high student deciding on a strand, a pre-med student prepping for the NMAT or picking a school, or a graduate weighing your board exam prep, SchoolFinderPH can help you compare options. Related reads: choosing the STEM strand for a medicine track, what's next after a Philippine medical degree if you're considering the FMGE route, and renewing your PRC license after you pass.
Ready to find the right school for your journey to medicine? Search and compare schools on SchoolFinderPH, or browse programs by city such as /schools/manila or /schools/cebu-city.
