Canadian Medical Licensing Examinations

In order to be licensed in Canada, qualified international physicians must take a series of three examinations in order to be awarded the licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada:

1. MCCEE—Evaluating Examination
2. MCCQE-1— Qualifying Exam Part 1
3. MCCQE-2—Qualifying Exam Part 2

The MCCEE examination must be written by all internationally trained physicians who wish to practice in Canada (graduates from non Canadian/US medical schools).

This examination is a general assessment of medical knowledge and is a prerequisite for admission to Canada on the basis of the qualification in Medicine. The day-long pencil & paper examination tests your knowledge in the principal fields of clinical medicine and operates on a pass/fail system. Effective November 2005, the policy that limited the validity period of the MCCEE pass standing to 5 years is abolished. There are no longer any restrictions on a candidate’s pass standing on the MCCEE.

The MCCEE is written three times per year—January, May, and September. There are 5 centers in Canada: Vancouver, Saskatoon, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax; and 6 testing centres overseas: London, Paris, Riyadh, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Muscat.

This is a one day, 7.5 hour test administered on computer. The examination is offered twice a year (May and November). The MCCQE-1 is a computer-adaptive test, meaning the difficulty of a section of questions is adjusted according to how well an examinee performs on the previous section of questions. More difficult items are weighted higher than easier items.

The MCCQE-Part 1 is administered in two parts: the first part consists of a 3.5 hour, 196 item multiple choice examination, with all questions asked in single best answer format. Question stems are worded either positively (e.g., "Which of the following is...") or negatively (e.g., "Which of the following is NOT..."). The second part of the MCCQE-Part 1 is a 4 hour test of clinical reasoning skills consisting of 30-33 cases, each followed by 1-4 questions, for a total of 78-88 questions. These items require examinees to select several actions from short menus of options or to enter short fill-in (written) responses.

This exam is an objective-structured clinical examination in which candidates rotate through a series of stations. In each station, a brief written statement introduces a clinical problem and directs the candidate to appropriately examine a Standardized Patient (i.e., obtain a focused history or conduct a focused physical examination) and, in some cases, to respond to a series of written questions relating to the patient examination. In the patient examination stations, candidates are observed and evaluated by Physician Examiners using predetermined checklists. There are two types of stations: Couplet Stations and Ten-Minute Stations.

For more information about Canadian Medical Licensing Examinations, visit the Medical Council of Canada's website.