What does it take to get into PMA Long Course?
The short answer
PMA Long Course is the main route to a regular commission in the Pakistan Army, and the selection runs in five stages: registration for an advertised course, initial tests at an Army Selection and Recruitment Centre (verbal and non-verbal intelligence, then an academic test in English, Mathematics, Pakistan Studies, Islamic Studies and general knowledge), a preliminary medical at the centre, ISSB, and then a final medical and GHQ merit before a call-up to two years of training at PMA Kakul. Eligibility is set by the advertisement for each course: an intermediate qualification with the stated minimum marks, an age band starting at seventeen, a minimum height, unmarried status and Pakistani nationality. Most candidates are eliminated at the initial tests, and the initial tests are the part that responds directly to practice.
Who is eligible?
Eligibility is stated in the advertisement for each course, published by the Army on its official induction site, and the figures below describe the usual pattern rather than a guarantee. The advertisement in force is the only authority.
| Requirement | Usual pattern |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Citizen of Pakistan; specific provisions for Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. |
| Education | Intermediate (FA or FSc) or equivalent with the advertised minimum percentage. Graduates and serving soldiers have their own entries with adjusted age bands. |
| Age | A band beginning at seventeen for intermediate candidates, with relaxations for graduates and for serving personnel, as advertised. |
| Marital status | Unmarried at entry and through training. |
| Physical | A minimum height, around five feet four inches, and weight in proportion; the full standard is applied at the medicals. |
| Attempts | A limit on ISSB appearances, published by the board. |
Do not rely on last year's figures
Minimum marks and the age band have changed between courses. Read the advertisement for the course you are registering for, not a forum post or a coaching flyer.
What are the selection stages?
Registration
Online, against the advertised course, or at an Army Selection and Recruitment Centre. You receive a registration slip and a date to report for tests.
Initial tests at the selection centre
Intelligence tests first: verbal and non-verbal, timed, on computer. Candidates who clear them sit the academic test the same day. Results are announced at the centre, and this is where most of the field is eliminated.
Preliminary medical and physical
Height, weight, vision, a general examination and a basic physical test at the centre. Candidates with a disqualifying condition are told here rather than after ISSB.
ISSB
The four-day board at Kohat, Gujranwala, Karachi or Quetta, common to all three services. Day by day, it is described in what happens at ISSB.
Final medical and GHQ selection
Candidates recommended by ISSB have a full medical at a military hospital. General Headquarters then prepares the merit list from the ISSB result, the medical and the academic record, and issues call-ups against vacancies for the course.
Training at PMA Kakul
Two years at the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad, combining military training with a degree programme, before commissioning as a second lieutenant.
What is in the initial test?
- Verbal intelligence. Series, analogies, odd one out, coding and decoding, relationships, simple arithmetic reasoning. Practise on Analytical Reasoning.
- Non-verbal intelligence. Figure series, pattern completion, mirror images, embedded and rotated figures.
- Academic test. Multiple choice at intermediate level in English, Mathematics, Pakistan Studies, Islamic Studies and General Knowledge.
The syllabus is what you studied for intermediate. The difficulty is the clock and the volume of the intelligence section. Timed practice on the PMA Long Course page uses the same subject split, drawn from one bank, free, with every answer explained.
How should you prepare, and in what order?
Timed intelligence practice, daily, from the day you register
Twenty to thirty minutes against the clock. This one habit decides more first attempts than everything else together, because the intelligence tests are the gate to the academic test and later to the board.
Revise the academic subjects by topic, then timed
English grammar and vocabulary, intermediate mathematics, the recurring Pakistan Studies and Islamic Studies facts, and current general knowledge. Untimed until correct, then timed sets.
Start fitness now, not after the centre
Running, push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups. The preliminary physical is basic; the ISSB ground and PMA itself are not, and fitness takes weeks to build.
Prepare ISSB in parallel once you clear the centre
The gap before your board date can be short. The six-week plan covering the screening, the psychological tests, the GTO ground and the interview is in how to prepare for ISSB.
Other Army officer entries
Technical cadet courses, graduate and short service commissions, and entries for doctors, engineers and other professionals have their own advertisements, eligibility and academic tests, but they share the intelligence tests, the medical standards and ISSB. Practice for the shared parts is on Army commissioned officer test.