The Medical Council of Canada

Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) Part I

has changed. As a Canadian medical student
or graduate, here’s what you can expect if you
are taking the exam in 2019. MCCQE PART I –
Information Sheet

What’s changed? How does this impact you?

MCCQE Part I availability
yy The MCCQE Part I In addition to being offered internationally, the exam is
is available more administered in Canada in:
frequently in over 80 St. John’s, N.L. Ottawa, Ont. Winnipeg, Man.
countries, in multi-week Dartmouth, N.S. Kingston, Ont. Saskatoon, Sask.
windows, through our Halifax, N.S. Toronto, Ont. Regina, Sask.
vendor Prometric Moncton, N.B. Mississauga, Ont. Calgary, Alta.
yy Application to the exam Québec, Que. Hamilton, Ont. Edmonton, Alta.
is open year-round Trois-Rivières, Que. London, Ont. Prince George, B.C.
Chicoutimi, Que. Windsor, Ont. Kelowna, B.C.
Sherbrooke, Que. Sudbury, Ont. Vancouver, B.C.
Montreal, Que. Thunder Bay, Ont. Victoria, B.C.

Exam session dates

yy In 2019, the exam will yy The exam sessions will run on the following dates in 2019:
be available in four ◦ April/May: April 12 to May 15, 2019
multi-week sessions:
9 ◦ July: July 8 to 26, 2019
201 April/May,
July, ◦ September: Sept. 3 to 20, 2019 (*revised dates)
Sept. and ◦ October/November: Oct. 28 to Nov. 15, 2019
0
202 Oct./Nov.
yy The exam may not be offered at a given centre every session,
yy In 2020, in addition to or on all dates
the above, we will also yy You will see the dates available at a given centre when you
offer a Jan. session schedule your examination date with Prometric - starting in
mid-Jan. 2019 (*revised date)

Student eligibility and application

yy You are eligible to apply 15 months from the date you are
expected to fully complete all requirements for the medical
degree (graduation date)
◦ For example: If your expected graduation date is June
2020, you can apply to the MCCQE Part I as of March
yy You are eligible to apply 2019
15 months before your
yy You will be required to submit a certified identity
expected graduation
confirmation form and a certified copy of a valid/non-expired
date
passport
yy If you are eligible, you can apply at any time. There will be no
“closing” of the application window.
yy Note that we need approximately three weeks to review
your application once all required documentation has been
received, and that extra processing time will be required if
you request test accommodations
What’s changing? How will this impact you?
Scheduling an exam appointment
yy You can choose your preferred yy When scheduling opens in mid-January 2019, you
centre and exam day from the will receive an Authorization to Test (ATT) number
published locations and dates in your physiciansapply.ca account, which will allow
available for testing you to schedule your exam appointment directly with
Prometric
yy You will have a 12-month window
to write your exam yy Once you have scheduled your exam appointment,
you will receive scheduling information such as:
yy For 2019 only, scheduling,
previously expected to start in ◦◦ scheduled exam appointment date
early Dec., will instead start in ◦◦ exam appointment status
mid-Jan. 2019. After that point, ◦◦ location
it will be continuously available.
yy Please review the confirmation email from Prometric
yy Although you can apply at any to confirm your exam appointment details
time, please note that spaces are
yy We cannot guarantee that you will be able to schedule
allocated on a first-come, first-
your examination on a specific date and/or at a
served basis
specific centre

Test accommodations
yy Advance planning and yy You are asked to identify if you will be requesting test
coordination are required for test accommodations during the online exam application
accommodations process
yy Once we accept your exam yy Examples of test accommodations include access to
application and review and assistive equipment, assistive personnel, additional
approve the test accommodations, testing time, break time, and personal items
the standard 12-month window to (medication, breast pumps, hearing aids, food, etc.).
write the exam applies Please visit our test accommodations page for more
information.
yy Exam centres and dates cannot
be guaranteed; Prometric yy We recommend that you apply and identify test
will assist in setting an exam accommodations several months in advance of when
appointment once we have you wish to take your exam
approved your exam application
yy Test accommodations cannot be delivered on all
and test accommodations
exam dates and at all centres
yy If you scheduled your appointment with Prometric
before requesting accommodations, you may be
required to cancel that appointment. Most test
accommodations cannot be provided in standard
examination appointments.

New preparatory resources available

yy The new Clinical Decision-Making yy Practice tests enable you to test your preparedness
(CDM) Practice tests are available for the MCCQE Part I and allow you to experience a
for purchase sampling of questions and cases like the ones on
the exam
yy Three CDM, as well as three
Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ) yy Practice test content is created by physicians
Practice test forms are available and experts who have experience with the MCC’s
to students preparing for the content development process
MCCQE Part I
yy You will have the opportunity to provide feedback on
yy A full-length Preparatory Exam your Practice test experience via an online survey.
will be ready in early 2019 Our aim is to enhance the Practice test experience
based on this valuable input.
yy Additional resources including
demos, videos, FAQs and
reference material are available
on our Preparation Resources
page
What’s changing? How will this impact you?
Results
yy Exam results will be available yy You will receive a notification by email and a
approximately seven weeks after message through your physiciansapply.ca account
the last day of the examination stating that you can verify your final result through
A+ session your account
yy Shortly after you receive this message, two
documents will be uploaded to your account:
◦◦ Your Statement of Results, which includes
your final result and total score, as well as the
pass score
◦◦ Your Supplemental Information Report,
which provides additional feedback on your
performance, including your subscores and a
comparison to other candidates

Number of attempts
yy The MCCQE Part I has a limit on yy You may take the MCCQE Part I up to a maximum
the number of attempts of four times
yy After the third attempt, you must wait one year
before reapplying
yy After four attempts, in exceptional personal
4 circumstances, you can request special permission
to make a fifth attempt
yy Exam attempts before 2018 do not count towards
the total limit

physiciansapply.ca account fee

The fee to set up a physiciansapply.ca yy Only those applying for the MCCQE Part I for the
account for Canadian medical first time as of October 2018 will follow this new
students/graduates (CMGs) is model of account fee payment
applied in two instalments:
yy The old model will remain in place for those who
yy First instalment: have already started the exam process at the MCC,
at the time of your MCCQE Part I including those who first applied for the MCCQE
application – $85 Part I before October 2018
yy The second instalment:
at the time of your MCCQE Part II
application – (for 2019: $205)

WHY? In the past, you paid your

physiciansapply.ca account fee in full
when submitting an Application for Medical
Registration (AMR) to a Canadian medical
regulatory authority. The change in timing of
payment of the account fee has been introduced
because not all candidates used the AMR in
their physiciansapply.ca account. When this
occurred, they would forego the payment of their
physiciansapply.ca account fee.