Each MIR call is fixed in law before anything else happens: an order of the Ministry of Health, published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), convenes the selection process and sets the application window, the exam date and time, the number of places, the fee and the rules for the lists. This page explains what that order settles and how to read the one governing your call, alongside the Myndaq MIR course.
How the MIR calendar is set
Every call is convened by an order published in the BOE. That order fixes two calendar dates outright and then sets the rest of the sequence in working days, which is why the shape of a MIR year is predictable even though the dates move:
- The application window - a short period, described in recent orders as ten working days, both days inclusive, on Spanish peninsular time. There is no late or extraordinary window.
- Provisional lists - after the window closes, the Ministry publishes provisional lists of admitted and non-admitted applicants on its website, and a period of ten working days opens to correct problems and send missing documents.
- Definitive lists - published once the correction period ends, showing each candidate's exam location, examination table (mesa) and centre. The Ministry then issues a resolution confirming, or if needed changing, the planned arrangements.
- Exam day - a Saturday fixed by the order. Candidate call-in and identity checks begin an hour before the paper, and the exam itself starts at 14:00 peninsular time (13:00 in the Canary Islands).
- Answer key - published within five working days of the exam, followed by three working days for claims against it.
- Results - provisional results, then seven working days for objections to them and to the academic-record score, followed by the definitive results.
- Allocation - candidates are called by numero de orden to choose a specialty and training unit.
The order does not give calendar dates for the lists, the results or the allocation sessions. The Ministry announces each step on its website as it arrives, so treat any date you see elsewhere for those stages as unofficial until the Ministry publishes it.
To plan a particular cycle, read that cycle's order for the two fixed dates and count the working-day periods forward from them.
How many places the order offers
The order fixes the number of places for each call. Recent calls have offered a little over nine thousand medicine places, and the figure has risen from one call to the next. The order covers seven degrees (medicine, pharmacy, nursing, psychology, chemistry, biology and physics) and sets a figure for each rather than publishing a combined total; in the current call those per-degree figures add up to 12,850 places, with 2,341 for nursing and 377 for pharmacy.
Within the medicine figure, the order states that:
- a share of the medicine places may be filled through the disability quota;
- a further share may be filled by people who do not hold a Spanish residence authorisation, under the rules for non-EU applicants described below.
In recent calls each of those shares has been about a tenth of the medicine total. The order states the exact figures for the call it governs.
Places are chosen strictly in rank order. The candidate with the highest total score gets número de orden 1 and chooses first; candidates in the disability quota start choosing alongside everyone else. After the ordinary round, any places left vacant go to an extraordinary call. The specialty-by-specialty breakdown sits in Annex I of the order; because corrections can change it, read it on the BOE rather than in a copied spreadsheet.
Exam format and how the score is built
The exercise itself has not changed. It is one paper of 200 questions plus 10 reserve questions, each with four options and only one correct answer, answered in four and a half hours. Reserve questions only come into play when the committees annul an original question after the claims period, replacing the annulled items.
The order then builds the ranking in three steps:
- Raw exam score - three points for each correct answer, minus one point for each wrong answer, nothing for a blank. With 200 valid questions the raw maximum is 600.
- Scaled exam score - the Ministry takes the average of the top 10 per cent of raw scores and makes that average worth 90 points; every candidate's raw score is multiplied by the same factor, so a raw score above that average scales to more than 90.
- Academic score - among candidates above the minimum, the average of the top 10 per cent of academic records is made worth 10 points, and each record is scaled by that factor. A candidate who sends no academic documentation is given a default average of 5.00.
The total is the scaled exam score plus the academic score. To take part in allocation you need an exam score above zero; anyone at zero or below appears as "Eliminado" in the results. Ties are broken by more correct answers, then by fewer wrong answers. The MIR net score calculator does the raw arithmetic for you.
On exam day, bring the original identity document you used to apply and a transparent blue or black pen. Calculators are not allowed for medicine candidates, earplugs are banned, and the only watch permitted is a plain analogue wristwatch. The desk may hold only your ID, your pens, a small clear unlabelled water bottle and, as the 21 August correction added, whatever the exam instructions indicate. Nobody may leave the room during the first hour except for an exceptional, urgent reason.
The fee and who is exempt
The exam fee is €31.10 for medicine (nursing applicants pay €23.33). It had to be paid, and the payment shown, within the application window; paying less than the set amount leads to non-admission. The order says the fee is not refunded when an applicant is left out for a reason that is their own fault.
The order exempts four groups from the fee:
- victims of terrorism;
- members of large families (familia numerosa);
- people with a recognised disability of 33 per cent or more;
- people who are unemployed, which the Ministry can check automatically or which you prove with a certificate from the public employment service.
Applying from outside Spain
Most English-speaking readers of this page trained outside Spain, so three rules matter most.
Degree recognition. You need a Spanish medical degree or a foreign degree that has been recognised, homologated or declared equivalent, and that recognition had to be in hand before the application window closed. Non-EU nationals without Spanish residence can apply for medicine when their country has a cooperation agreement with Spain in force during the application period and they hold the recognised degree; the same applies to nationals of those countries who are in Spain on a short-stay, study or other lawful stay authorisation. A foreign academic record also needs the equivalence declaration issued by Spain's Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, submitted with the certificate from the original university.
Spanish at C1. Nationals of countries where Spanish is not an official language must prove at least C1 with an official certificate, such as a DELE C1 diploma, an official C1 certificate from Spain's language schools, a SICELE-recognised diploma at C1, or a SIELE certificate at C1 level in each of its four tests. You are exempt if your degree was taught in Spanish at a university in Spain or in a Spanish-speaking country, or if you have completed at least two full years of specialist training in Spain.
Registration and exam city. Electronic registration is compulsory for anyone with a Spanish DNI or NIE. Applicants without one could register in person, including at Spanish embassies and consulates, after paying the fee, which could be sent by bank transfer from a bank outside Spain. The exam is held only in Spain, at the 26 locations listed in the order, and the location chosen on the application cannot be changed after the window except in exceptional, documented cases.
What changes between calls, and what does not
The parts of the MIR that candidates prepare against have been stable across recent calls: the paper length, the duration, the marking rule, the reporting scale and the way the academic record is combined with the exam score. What moves from one call to the next is the number of places, the application window, the exam date and the fee.
That is the practical division. Build your preparation on the format, which holds; check the current order for the numbers, which do not.
Quick answers
When is the MIR exam held?
On a Saturday in January fixed by the BOE order for that call. The paper starts at 14:00 peninsular time (13:00 in the Canary Islands), with call-in and identity checks an hour before.
How long is the application window?
Recent orders give ten working days, both days inclusive, and there is no extraordinary window afterwards. Applicants who registered can still correct defects during the ten working days that follow the provisional lists.
How many MIR places are there?
The order fixes it for each call; recent calls have offered a little over nine thousand medicine places, with about a tenth reserved for the disability quota and about a tenth for applicants without a Spanish residence authorisation.
How much does the MIR exam cost?
The order sets the fee for each call; it has been a little over thirty euros for medicine in recent calls. Victims of terrorism, members of large families, people with a disability of 33 per cent or more and unemployed applicants are exempt.
Can I sit the MIR outside Spain?
No. The exam takes place only at the Spanish locations listed in the order, although applicants without a DNI or NIE can register through a Spanish consulate.
