An RC-based sensing method and computer program product to effectively sense the cell resistance of a programmed Phase Change Material (PCM) memory cell. The sensing method ensures the same physical configuration of each cell (after programming): same amorphous volume, same trap density/distribution, etc. The sensing method is based on a metric: the RC based sense amplifier implements two trigger points. The measured time interval between these two points is used as the metric to determine whether the programmed cell state, e.g., resistance, is programmed into desired value. The RC-based sensing method is embedded into an iterative PCM cell programming technique to ensure a tight distribution of resistance at each level after programming; and ensure the probability of level aliasing is very small, leading to less problematic drift.