The undergraduate medical education system of pakistan is struggling with the deadline set by the world federation of medical education (wfme) which requires the system to get accreditation with the body by 2024. consequently, the highest accreditation and regulation body of medical education; the pakistan medical commission (pmc), is undertaking reforms in this regard. a new form of exit exam for medical and dental graduates is being devised and conducted across pakistan with an aim to place a quality-check on the teaching standards of medical schools and universities across the country. pakistan is the third largest provider of clinicians to the united states of america from around the world. these healthcare professionals not only bring good name and repute to the homeland but are also a vital source of foreign remittances which supports the national economy. failure to acquire wfme accreditation by the deadline will have serious consequences as the medical educational programs might not be recognized internationally anymore. on the other hand, our local education and healthcare system is struggling with the issues pertaining to the quality of medical education and disparities in the induction system for postgraduate training and residency. counting these factors together justify the need for a comprehensive educational reform in the medical education sector. however, the question is whether this new form of national licensing exam (nle) as set by the pmc, has the capacity to make the system work more efficiently? one would argue whether it was necessary to place another exam on the face of an already overwhelmed, somewhat outdated and far from perfect examination and assessment system. is there really a need to add redundancy into the system in the form of another exam while all other factors remain unchanged? currently, a high school pre-medical student has to undergo a formidable mdcat exam to get into a medical college of either public or private sector. once getting into a medical school, there are a numerous forms of formative and summative exams which place a tremendous burden on the shoulders of medical students. afterwards, a graduate has yet to take another exam (fcps-i) of the college of physician and surgeons pakistan (cpsp) which is the regularizing body for postgraduate training and fellowship. others opt for the similar type of exam (part-i) for md and ms programs which is taken by the individual