SCFHS Exams

The Saudi licensing exams: SMLE and SNLE

What you need to know about the Saudi Medical Licensure Examination (SMLE) and the Saudi Nursing Licensure Examination (SNLE) before you apply: the format, the blueprint, the pass mark, who may sit, how many attempts you get, and what happens at the test centre. Every figure on these pages is transcribed from the Commission’s own applicant guide, and each page names its source at the bottom.

One line each

SMLE — the medical licensing exam. 200 questions, a pass mark of 560 on a 200–800 scale, across five content areas: medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, surgery, and patient safety, preventive medicine and ethics.
SNLE — the nursing licensing exam. 200 questions, a pass mark of 500 on the same scale, across four weighted sections: adult nursing 40%, maternal-child nursing 30%, nursing fundamentals 20%, and nursing management and leadership 10%.

560 and 500 are not interchangeable, and a good deal of second-hand advice online treats them as if they were. That alone is reason enough to read the guide for your own exam rather than your colleague’s.

What the two exams share

Both are built the same way and sat at the same centres under the same rules: 200 questions in two parts, 120 minutes per part, a scheduled break between them, four options per question. That is why the format page and the test-day page are one page each serving both exams rather than two identical pages.