Described herein are embodiments related to first-pass dynamic program targeting (DPT) operations on memory cells of memory systems. A method includes determining that a first programming pass of a programming operation has been performed on a memory cell of the memory component, and performing a dynamic program targeting (DPT) operation on the memory cell to calibrate a first program-verify (PV) target value that results in an adjustment to a placement of a first first-pass programming distribution and a second PV target value that results in an adjustment to a placement of a second first-pass programming distribution before a second programming pass of the programming operation is performed on the memory cell.