dMAT Exam Dates 2026–2027: 16 January and 13 March 2027 Test Dates

The dMAT is not offered on demand. Each sitting has a fixed test date with its own registration deadline, so missing a date affects your whole timeline, not just the test itself. After the first India sitting on 26 September 2026, APS India has now confirmed the next two.

Confirmed dates

APS India's dMAT page, updated on 29 October 2026, lists these as confirmed and says online registration is now open. You pick your preferred date and test centre during registration on the g.a.s.t. portal. The page does not give the registration deadline or results date for each cycle; it points applicants to the portal for those, so check them there before you plan around a date. The g.a.s.t. pages on d-mat.de still showed only the September schedule when we last read them, so the APS India page is the source for the 2027 dates for now.

The first sitting, for reference

That cycle ran about two weeks from test to certificate. Whether the 2027 cycles follow the same gap is not stated, so don't assume it; the portal shows the score-release date for each one.

Which date should you aim for?

Work backward from your target intake rather than forward from the test.

• Winter Semester 2027/28. Both sittings fall months before the typical Winter application window, but confirm your universities' own deadlines. APS India itself framed the mid-January and mid-March windows around the Winter 2027/28 intake.
• Summer Semester 2027. Many German universities close Summer applications in December or January, so a January 2027 test is likely to produce a certificate too late for those, and March 2027 is later still. Check your specific universities' deadlines first. The dMAT certificate is the one item APS India lets you add after submitting your other documents, so you can start the rest of your APS file while you wait. See how the dMAT fits into your APS application.
• Seats are limited. Test centre booking is first come, first served, so book early in the window rather than near its deadline. See registration.

How long your result stays usable

Two separate questions get confused here: how long the certificate is valid, and whether it covers the intake you're applying for.

On validity, g.a.s.t. is unambiguous — the dMAT certificate carries no expiry date. It does add one caveat worth knowing: if you submit the certificate directly to a university rather than through APS, that university may apply its own rule about how recent a result it will accept. So the certificate never expires on g.a.s.t.'s side, but a university can still decide a result is too old for its own purposes.

On intake coverage, g.a.s.t. confirms that a result from the September 2026 sitting remains valid for the Winter Semester 2027 intake, not just Summer Semester 2027. This is the answer to a genuinely common worry: sitting the exam in September 2026 does not lock you into the very next intake. If your plans slip by a semester, the certificate travels with you.

Can you retake the dMAT?

Yes, and without limit — g.a.s.t. states there's no cap on how many times you may sit the dMAT. You can also take it voluntarily, even if the APS requirement doesn't apply to you.

The constraint isn't permission, it's the calendar. Each attempt needs its own registration, its own fee, and its own test date, and sittings are months apart: 16 January and 13 March 2027 are the only dates confirmed so far. So the unlimited-retakes rule is genuine reassurance about the rules and weaker reassurance about your timeline — it doesn't make a missed or abandoned sitting cheap. That's also why walking out of an exam partway through is such an expensive decision: see exam day rules for why an aborted sitting produces no certificate at all.

What happens if you miss the registration deadline

Each sitting has its own registration deadline, shown on the g.a.s.t. portal. No late registration or exception process is described in the official material, so missing a deadline means moving to the next published date. Because APS processing and German university application deadlines (often December or January for a Summer intake) don't move to accommodate this, a missed window can push your APS certificate, and with it your university application, into a later intake than you planned for.

Work through the consequence concretely. If you miss the January 2027 deadline and are left with the 13 March sitting, you get a certificate after the December/January deadlines many German universities set for a Summer 2027 intake, so that application is probably out of reach. Both 2027 dates fit a Winter Semester 2027/28 application much better, but check your universities' own deadlines. See how the dMAT fits into your APS application for how to plan backward from your target intake instead of forward from the dMAT date.

Deadlines that affect your registration status

Two other date-sensitive rules to know before you register:

• If you have a documented disability or condition requiring special exam arrangements, g.a.s.t. requires registering at least ten weeks before the exam date — considerably earlier than the general deadline.
• Applicants who completed APS online registration or shipped their complete physical application documents before 29 June 2026 are exempt from the dMAT requirement entirely under APS India's transitional rules. See eligibility for the full exemption criteria.

Once your dates are locked in, registration covers how to actually book your seat and test center, and the exam fee page covers what happens if your plans change and you need to deregister.

When is the next dMAT exam date?

APS India has confirmed two 2027 sittings in India: 16 January 2027 (cycle 1) and 13 March 2027 (cycle 2). Registration is open on the g.a.s.t. portal, where you choose your date and test centre while registering.

Is there a dMAT exam date for 2027?

Yes. APS India's dMAT page (updated 29 October 2026) lists 16 January 2027 and 13 March 2027. Each date has its own registration deadline and results date, which the g.a.s.t. portal shows during registration.

Can I take the dMAT more than once?

Yes. g.a.s.t. places no limit on how many times you can sit the dMAT. Each attempt is a separate registration with its own fee and its own certificate, so a retake is a real option, but only on one of the published test dates.

Will a September 2026 dMAT result still count for Winter Semester 2027?

Yes. g.a.s.t. confirms a result from the September 2026 sitting remains valid for the Winter Semester 2027 intake, and the certificate itself carries no expiry date. Individual universities may still set their own rules on how old a result they'll accept.

What happens if I miss the dMAT registration deadline?

You cannot register after the deadline for that cycle, and no late-registration route is described. You would move to the next published date, which can push your APS certificate past the application deadlines many German universities set for their Summer intake, so it's worth planning backward from your target university's deadline rather than treating the dMAT date as the anchor.