Exams in Romania: no compensation between subjects, and €10,000 if you repeat

⏱️ Reading time: 9 minutes · Verified 31 July 2026

You have an overall average of 8/10 and 4/10 in histology. In many systems, you pass. In Romania, you’re stuck.

There is no compensation between subjects. Each is validated separately, at a minimum of 5.00/10, and a single module failed across all three attempts means repeating the entire year — tuition fees included, up to €10,000.

It’s the difference with the heaviest consequences between the two systems, and the one international students generally discover too late. Here’s how assessment in Romania actually works.

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🔢 Marking out of 10

The threshold is 5.00/10. Below that, the exam has to be retaken.

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📝 The exam formats

Each subject generally combines three components:

The MCQ (grilă)

Thirty to a hundred questions, five options, one to two hours. No negative marking at most UMFs.

The Romanian peculiarity that catches people out: several answers can be correct, and you have to tick exactly the right combination — “A + C + E” — to score the point. One correct answer out of three earns nothing. That’s considerably more demanding than a single-answer MCQ, and it severely penalises the “tick what I’m fairly sure of” strategy.

A real marking scheme, at UMF Cluj:

30 MCQs, 30 points maximum. If score ≥ 12 → mark = 1 + (score × 9 ÷ 30) + any participation bonus. If score < 12 → mark = 4, automatic fail, before any bonus is even applied.

Note the hard cut-off at 12/30: below it, no bonus will save you.

The practical

It assesses technique and reasoning: identifying structures on anatomical specimens in first year, recognising sections under the microscope in histology, manipulations in biochemistry, clinical examination in semiology, case presentation on placement.

At many UMFs you need a pass in the theory and in the practical. A 9 in the written paper doesn’t rescue a 4 in the dissection room.

That’s the second big difference, and it explains why skipping practicals is so dangerous: you aren’t preparing a secondary component, you’re preparing an eliminating exam in its own right.

The oral

Less common, but present in clinical subjects: a conversation with the teacher, based on a case or a question drawn at random. A format that throws students used to multiple-choice papers — and one you can only get comfortable with by practising out loud.

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📆 The session calendar

A concrete example at UMF Iuliu Hațieganu in Cluj (2025): session A from 12 January to 14 February, session B from 1 to 30 June, re-examinations from 14 to 18 July and then 15 to 19 September.

Each UMF publishes its own academic calendar. Get hold of it at the start of term and put every date in your diary — including the resit dates, even if you’re counting on not needing them.

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🔁 Resits

Three attempts per subject: the initial exam, the July resit, the September resit.

The rules to know:

If you fail the practical, you retake both papers — including the theory you’d already passed. If you fail only the theory, you retake only that.

Resits are sometimes chargeable: €50 to €100 per exam depending on the university.

And failing all three attempts means repeating the entire year, with the full tuition fees to pay again.

This system is strict, but it’s more forgiving than several Western European countries, where a single failure loses you the year. You have a safety net — provided you never build your organisation around it.

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⬆️ Progressing to the next year

Three cumulative conditions: all subjects validated at 5.00 minimum, attendance requirements for practicals and placements met, and tuition fees up to date.

Some UMFs allow conditional progression with one or two debts (restanțe) to clear the following year. It’s increasingly rare, never guaranteed, and it isn’t something you request — it’s something that’s granted.

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🎯 Five strategies that work

1. Attend the first lecture of every module. The teacher sets out the assessment arrangements there: format, theory/practical weighting, pass threshold, resit conditions. That information appears nowhere else reliably, and it shapes your entire preparation.

2. Build a bank of past papers. The MCQs closely resemble each other from year to year. Cohort groups, students in the years above, the university library: it’s the best preparation tool available, and it’s free.

3. Prepare the practical as seriously as the theory. Dissection hours for anatomy, microscope hours for histology, active presence on placement. Since the practical is eliminating, time spent on it returns more than time spent revising theory that’s already solid.

4. Work in groups. Everyone brings their summaries and past papers, and explaining a concept remains the best test of your own understanding.

5. Favour regularity. The modular rhythm doesn’t forgive cramming: the volume is too large to catch up in a week. Our first-year guide sets out a plan designed for exactly that.

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🎓 The exit examination

At the end of year six, the licență examination validates the whole degree and confers the title of Doctor-Medic. It comprises a written paper, a practical clinical examination, and sometimes a supplementary oral.

The examination takes place in your stream’s language. But the clinical component involves a Romanian patient. That’s why medical Romanian isn’t optional, as our article on the language explains.

The essentials in six lines

What to do with this

One operational conclusion, but it reorients your whole method: secure the floor everywhere before aiming for excellence anywhere.

In an intensive pre-med year, you optimise your average. In Romania, you secure each subject independently. A student who spends six weeks on anatomy and neglects biophysics is in danger, even with an excellent overall average.

Concretely: from the start of term, get hold of the academic calendar, the assessment arrangements for each module, and past papers from students in the years above. Those three documents are worth more than any textbook in your first two weeks.

For what comes next: the first-year organisation guide, the academic year and its two sessions, and — if the pressure of the system is starting to tell — our article on mental health in medical training, which explains why this absence of a safety net weighs so heavily on students.

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🛡️ If you’d rather not do it alone

Our support covers the application: checking every document before it goes out, sworn translations and the apostille, filing at the registry and follow-up through to confirmation of admission.

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