PD3 as a Self-Studier: Registration, the 1,646 kr Fee and Pass Rates

A self-studier (selvstuderende) is either someone who registers for a test without having been enrolled on the module that leads to it, or a student taught by a provider that is not designated to hold that test, who then registers as a self-studier at one that is (BEK 1687/2025 §2 stk.1 nr.2–3) [official]. For PD3 that module is Danish Education 3, module 5. Enrolled students on that module take PD3 as part of the course and do not pay the fee [official: SIRI PD3 page]; everyone else registers as a self-studier and a fee is charged — paid by you, by your municipality if it so decides, or, in the non-designated-provider case, by that provider (§12 stk.4 and stk.6) [official].

Official: SIRI dates page; UIM activity report 2025, tables 16–17; STPS language-test pages.

The summer 2027 row is empty on purpose. SIRI’s page says the 2027 dates will be published “senest 1. oktober 2026” — no later than 1 October 2026 [official], and BEK 1687 §7 requires it each year. Terms always fall in May–June and November–December (§14). Summer 2026 gives the pattern — a deadline in early March, the written day in May, the orals in June — but that is orientation, not a forecast.

The self-studier fee is not set by each provider. SIRI publishes one figure: “som selvstuderende er gebyret 1.646 kr. (2026)” for PD1, PD2 or PD3 [official: SIRI dates page]. The regulation fixes the amount at 1,575 kr at 2025 level and indexes it every 1 January from 2026 by the rate adjustment percentage (BEK 1687 §12 stk.2 and stk.7) [official].

We found no refund rule in the regulation, so refunds are the provider’s own terms. Studieskolen’s are listed above as an example [reported]. Studieskolen also notes that passing the test ends your right to free Danish education on that course [reported] — worth knowing if you are still enrolled somewhere and sitting PD3 privately.

Four things to read carefully in those numbers. First, the pass rate is among those who completed the test, not everyone who registered. Our arithmetic for 2025 self-studiers: 2,615 of 3,064 registered completed (85%), and 1,682 passed — 55% of those who registered. Second, the gap is large and steady: 30.7 points in 2023, 28.4 in 2024 and 27.5 in 2025 (our arithmetic). Third, the 2025 report says Campus Bornholm’s test data for 2025 were reported with errors that could not be corrected in time, so the 2025 national figures carry that flaw [official: UIM 2025]. Fourth, the average grade of all self-studiers is 3.8 against 6.0 for enrolled students, while self-studiers who passed averaged 5.9 [official: UIM 2025].

The reports also note that the written and oral parts are not necessarily taken in the same term, which fits the illness exception in the regulation. Self-studier registrations grew from 2,149 in 2023 to 3,064 in 2025 — up 43% (our arithmetic). For comparison, in 2025 self-studiers passed PD2 at 61.6% and Studieprøven at 56.6% [official: UIM 2025]. No breakdown by nationality or by term was published.

The reports do not explain the gap, and the self-studier group includes people taught at non-designated providers, so we cannot say what causes it. Possible factors, which the data do not test, are less teaching on the oral topic, less feedback on writing and less practice with the format. The free official samples help with the last — see the written exam guide and the oral exam guide.

For authorisation in Denmark, the Danish Patient Safety Authority (Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed, STPS) asks doctors, nurses and dentists who are nationals of, or trained in, countries outside the EU/EEA, as a rule, to pass PD3 with oral communication 10, reading comprehension 7 and written production 7 [official: STPS]. That is far above the 2.0 average — oral 10 is the second-highest grade.

Check first whether STPS is taking applications at all. On 29 September 2026 STPS’s pages for doctors and for nurses from outside the EU/EEA said “Vi modtager i øjeblikket ikke ansøgninger om autorisation” — it is currently not receiving applications — because a quota for applications has been introduced, with its own FAQ on the quota [official: STPS]. The dentists’ page carried no such notice. The grades below still matter once applications are accepted.

STPS is generous on attempts: “Du har flere forsøg” — you have several attempts — and the three grades do not all have to come from the same sitting [official: STPS]. That is STPS’s own rule for authorisation; it does not change how SIRI grades or passes the test, where every sitting is graded on all three parts. The tracker below combines your best grades across sittings.

Nurses had a break: from 1 July 2023 nurses from third countries were exempt, but the requirement returned from 1 July 2025. It does not apply to nurses who had already started, or been offered, a specific evaluation post by 1 July 2025, or whose three-year deadline for the authorisation process expires before 1 July 2026; if that deadline is extended to 1 July 2026 or later, the requirement applies [official: STPS]. STPS expects to process the language documentation in 14 working days once the conditions are met [official: STPS]. We did not check the rules for other health professions.

Studieskolen gives 14 September as its special-conditions deadline for the winter 2026 term [reported], which is the regulation’s 8 weeks before the term; check your own provider’s published date. Which route actually needs PD3 is in PD2 or PD3 for permanent residence and citizenship, and how the three grades combine in the pass rule and calculator. If you are also booking the civic test, its own fee and deadline are in the Indfødsretsprøven registration guide and the Medborgerskabsprøven registration guide.