MCCQE Part I in 2026 and 2027: Sessions, the 439 Pass Score, Results and Pass Rates

MedUni Exam. Checked on October 26, 2026.

The MCCQE pass score is 439 on a scale of 300 to 600, set in July 2025 and used for every session from April 2025 on, from the Medical Council of Canada results page, checked on October 26, 2026. The exam was called the MCCQE Part I until April 1, 2026, when the MCC renamed it the MCCQE. The extended session of August 19 to October 21, 2026 has ended, its last batch of results due by November 18, 2026, and the next session runs January 19 to February 11, 2027, with results due within four weeks of its last day. In 2024, 94 percent of Canadian graduates taking it for the first time passed, against 53 percent of international graduates taking it for the first time.

MCCQE Part I is now the MCCQE: the same exam under a new name

On April 1, 2026 the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part I was renamed the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination, or MCCQE, per the 2025-2026 MCC Annual Report, checked on October 11, 2026. The MCC's own pages now say "MCCQE (formerly MCCQE Part I)". Searches, forums and older guides still say Part I or Part 1, and they mean this exam.

The MCCQE overview page, checked on October 11, 2026, describes a one-day, computer-based exam of 230 multiple-choice questions in two sections of 115, with up to two hours and forty minutes for each section and an optional break between them. It is given at Prometric test centers in Canada and in more than 70 countries, in four sessions a year, and appointments are first come, first served. Remotely proctored appointments are no longer offered, per the scheduling page.

Source: the MCC MCCQE overview, scheduling, results, eligibility and fees pages, checked on October 11, 2026, with the time per question computed here.

The format changed in April 2025. The MCC removed the short-menu and short-answer write-in questions, gave candidates more time for each question and shortened the appointment, and it says scores from before 2025 cannot be directly compared with scores from 2025 on. A pass is one of the eligibility criteria for the Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada, and international medical graduates need it to apply for a Canadian residency program.

MCCQE dates for 2026 and 2027, and when results come out

The combined August and October 2026 session ran August 19 to October 21, 2026, and the next session runs January 19 to February 11, 2027, from the MCC scheduling page, checked on October 26, 2026. Results are available four weeks after the last day of a January, August or October session and five weeks after the last day of an April session, per the MCC results page.

Source: the MCC scheduling and results pages, checked on October 26, 2026, with each "by" date computed here from the last day of the session or batch and the MCC's four or five weeks, and the batch 1 and batch 2 releases from the MCC news items of October 1 and October 15, 2026. The MCC says dates are subject to change.

The extended 2026 session releases results in three batches: exams from August 19 to September 11, from September 12 to 29, and from September 30 to October 21, 2026, each four weeks after the last exam date in its batch, per the results page. The first batch came sooner than that: the MCC announced on October 1, 2026 that its final results were available, 20 days after its last exam. So read the four weeks as the latest day to expect a result, a reading that fits the 2025-2026 MCC Annual Report, which says results came back in four weeks or less over that year. The second batch came out on October 15, 2026, per the MCC news page, and counting four weeks from its last exam, the last batch is due by November 18, 2026, this article's count, not an MCC date. The MCC says that whenever you test in this session, your result arrives in time for the 2027 CaRMS R-1 Main Residency Match.

You get an email and a message in your physiciansapply.ca account when the result is ready. The Statement of Results shows your result, your total score and the score needed to pass, and the Supplemental Information Report adds subscores and a comparison with other candidates. Appointments open about five months before a session starts, and an accepted application gives you a 12-month window to take the exam.

MCCQE passing score: 439 on a scale of 300 to 600

The MCCQE pass score is 439 on a reporting scale of 300 to 600, and a total score equal to or above it is a pass however other candidates perform, from the MCC results page, checked on October 26, 2026. The scale has a mean of 450 and a standard deviation of 30, set on the April 2025 session, and every session from April 2025 on is reported on it.

A panel of 23 physicians from across Canada set the 439 in a standard-setting exercise in July 2025, and the MCC Exam Oversight Committee approved it. The technical report on that exercise, checked on October 11, 2026, gives the method: a Bookmark procedure in two rounds, with a final cut of 0.74 on the ability scale, which is 439 on the reporting scale. The 439 is 11 points, or about 0.37 standard deviations, below the April 2025 mean of 450, computed here.

Source: the MCC results page, the 2025 standard-setting report and the MCCQE Part I Annual Technical Report 2024, checked on October 11, 2026.

A score on one scale does not translate to the other: the format changed with the scale, and the MCC says pre-2025 scores cannot be directly compared with later ones. The 439 stays in place until the next standard-setting exercise. Your subscores cover eight domains in two groups, dimensions of care (health promotion and illness prevention, acute care, chronic care, psychosocial aspects) and physician activities (assessment and diagnosis, management, communication, professional behaviors).

MCCQE pass rates for Canadian and international graduates

In 2024, 94 percent of Canadian medical graduates taking the MCCQE Part I for the first time passed, against 53 percent of international medical graduates taking it for the first time, from Table 10 of the MCCQE Part I Annual Technical Report 2024, checked on October 11, 2026. That is the newest annual technical report on the MCC publications page that day, and it covers the format and scale used before April 2025.

Source: MCCQE Part I Annual Technical Report 2024, Table 10, pass rates from April 2020 to October 2024, checked on October 11, 2026. The 2024 column covers the April, August and October 2024 sessions.

Inside 2024 the rate moved by session. International graduates taking it for the first time passed at 52.3 percent in April, 60.7 percent in August and 46.1 percent in October, and Canadian graduates taking it for the first time at 94.1, 92.9 and 87.6 percent, from Table 8 of the same report.

For the new scale, the 2025 standard-setting report gives the failure rate the 439 produced on the April 2025 session: 8.3 percent of 2,734 Canadian graduates taking it for the first time, and 30.7 percent of all test takers, from its Table 4. So 91.7 percent and 69.3 percent passed, computed here. The same table puts the first-time Canadian failure rate at 6.9, 5.7 and 5.9 percent in spring 2022, 2023 and 2024 under the old pass score of 226. The MCC publications page listed no pass rate for international graduates under the 439 on October 11, 2026.

The candidate pool is mostly international now. From April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, 10,311 candidates took the exam over four sessions, 3,622 Canadian graduates and 6,689 international graduates, and volume rose 30 percent while results came back in four weeks or less, down from six to eight weeks, per the 2025-2026 MCC Annual Report.

How many times can you take the MCCQE?

You can take the MCCQE a maximum of four times, per the MCC eligibility and application page, checked on October 11, 2026. Starting the exam counts as an attempt. Attempts before 2018 do not count toward the limit, a No Standing does not count, and a fail or a Denied Standing does. A candidate who passes cannot take it again.

After a third attempt you wait one year from the day you receive that result before applying for the fourth and final one, and the MCC says the wait cannot be shortened or waived. An accepted application gives you 12 months to take the exam. You can extend that window once by another 12 months, from 60 days before it expires and not before, per the MCC scheduling page, for CAD 120 plus any rise in the application fee since you applied, per the fees page.

Who can apply: graduates, or students expected to graduate, of a medical school accredited by CACMS, of a school listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools with a Canada Sponsor Note marking it acceptable, or of a United States school of osteopathic medicine accredited by the American Osteopathic Association. Students can apply up to 15 months before their expected graduation. The limits for Step 1, the NCLEX, the MCAT and PLAB 1 are in the attempt limits article.

What the MCCQE costs

The MCCQE application fee is CAD 1,500, from the MCC examination and service fees page, checked on October 11, 2026. The fee is non-refundable, though in some cases a refund is possible minus a CAD 750 withdrawal fee.

Source: the MCC fees page and the MCCQE scheduling page, checked on October 11, 2026. All MCC payments are in Canadian dollars.

The Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada is issued automatically, with no further fee, to candidates who applied for the MCCQE after January 26, 2026; those who applied before that day pay CAD 50 for it, per the same fees page.

After the MCCQE: the NAC Examination, CaRMS and practice-ready assessment

International medical graduates applying to the 2027 CaRMS R-1 Main Residency Match can take the NAC Examination and the MCCQE in the order they prefer, per the MCC eligibility page, checked on October 11, 2026. The NAC Examination is a half-day exam held twice a year, in the spring and the fall, typically in May and September, with results about eight weeks after the exam date, per the NAC Examination scheduling page. The September 19 and 20, 2026 session has results due in late November 2026, and the NAC application fee is CAD 3,320.

Some provincial practice-ready assessment programs use the MCCQE as an eligibility criterion when they select internationally trained physicians, per the MCCQE overview page. The MCC also runs the Therapeutics Decision-Making Examination for internationally trained physicians who want to enter one of those programs, per its 2025-2026 Annual Report, and its application fee is CAD 2,850 from the September 2026 exam, per the fees page.

MCCQE practice questions from your own notes

The MCC publishes free practice material of its own: its team developed 55 free practice questions, per the 2025-2026 MCC Annual Report. After those, this site writes single best answer questions from the material you upload, a guideline, a lecture or your own summary, and each question prints the sentence it came from and the page it sits on. It is not an MCCQE question bank and has no connection to the Medical Council of Canada.

A guest gets 200 verified questions and a confirmed account gets 500 a month free. A 90 day Exam Pass is £39.99, and it does not renew. The sample exam runs with no upload and no account, and the other exams' numbers are in the question count table for ten medical exams.

Questions people ask

What is the passing score for the MCCQE Part 1?

439 on a scale of 300 to 600, for every session from April 2025 on, from the MCC results page checked on October 26, 2026. A panel of 23 physicians set it in July 2025. Before 2025 the exam was reported on a 100 to 400 scale with a pass score of 226, and the MCC says the two cannot be directly compared. The exam has been called the MCCQE since April 1, 2026.

When are MCCQE Part 1 results released?

Four weeks after the last day of a January, August or October session and five weeks after the last day of an April session, per the MCC results page checked on October 26, 2026, and they can come sooner: the first batch of the extended August to October 2026 session came out on October 1, 2026, 20 days after its last exam. The last batch, for exams from September 30 to October 21, 2026, is due by November 18, 2026, by this article's count.

When is the next MCCQE Part 1 exam?

The next session runs January 19 to February 11, 2027, from the MCC scheduling page checked on October 26, 2026. After that come April 27 to June 1, August 10 to September 7, and October 5 to 26, 2027. You book a day inside a session at a Prometric test center, first come, first served.

What is the MCCQE Part 1 pass rate for IMGs?

53 percent for international medical graduates taking it for the first time in 2024, and 41 percent for those repeating it, from Table 10 of the MCCQE Part I Annual Technical Report 2024, checked on October 11, 2026. Canadian graduates taking it for the first time passed at 94 percent. The MCC publications page listed no pass rate for international graduates under the 2025 format and pass score that day.

How many times can you take the MCCQE Part 1?

Four times at most, per the MCC eligibility page checked on October 11, 2026. Attempts before 2018 do not count, a fail or a Denied Standing does, and after a third attempt you wait one year from that result before applying for the fourth. A candidate who passes cannot take it again.

How much does the MCCQE Part 1 cost?

CAD 1,500 for the application, from the MCC fees page checked on October 11, 2026. Rescheduling or canceling with Prometric costs CAD 35 plus HST up to 31 days before the appointment and CAD 75 plus HST less than 30 days before, and an absence or a cancellation less than 120 hours ahead forfeits the fee.

Is the MCCQE Part 1 still called Part 1?

No. On April 1, 2026 the MCC renamed the MCCQE Part I the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination, or MCCQE, per its 2025-2026 Annual Report, checked on October 11, 2026. The MCC pages say "MCCQE (formerly MCCQE Part I)". The pass score of 439, the four sessions a year and the four attempt limit carry on under the new name.

Published October 11, 2026, updated October 26, 2026.