Preparing for the MCCQE

Four things, all free on the MCC's own site: practice questions, a study guide, the lab reference values used on its exams, and a curated list of over 90 further resources.

Free practice questions

The MCC offers 55 free MCC-style practice questions, designed to reflect those on the MCCQE. They are for personal study and non-commercial use. The way the free questions are presented does not reflect the tools and layout you will see during the MCCQE itself.

A study guide for the MCCQE

The MCC publishes a study guide that offers a structured, evidence-informed approach to exam preparation. It includes a sample study plan, which the MCC encourages candidates to adapt to their own knowledge and the time they have to prepare.

The normal lab values used on MCC exams

The MCC publishes the table of reference values it provides for the interpretation of laboratory results in its exams. All the values apply to adults.

Over 90 further resources

The MCC also curates a list of more than 90 freely available resources on Canadian medical practice and culture, drawn from credible sources across Canada.

A 100-day study plan and the ethics book, together: the MCCQE Bundle

This answer is my reading of the official source, not official or legal advice. It may be incomplete, out of date or wrong, and I take no responsibility for decisions made on it: confirm on the official page before you act. Disclaimer

The Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) is a summative exam. It assesses the critical medical knowledge and clinical decision-making ability of a candidate at the level expected of a medical student who is completing their medical degree in Canada.

The exam is based on the MCC Examination Objectives, which are organized under the CanMEDS roles. The objectives describe the attributes expected of medical graduates entering residency in Canada, and the MCC uses them to develop questions for both the MCCQE and the NAC Examination.

The exam follows a blueprint that assesses your performance across two broad categories: "Dimensions of care, covering the spectrum of medical care" and "Physician activities, reflecting a physician's scope of practice and behaviours".

A 100-day study plan and the ethics book, together: the MCCQE Bundle

This answer is my reading of the official source, not official or legal advice. It may be incomplete, out of date or wrong, and I take no responsibility for decisions made on it: confirm on the official page before you act. Disclaimer

You can study with outside material, but the MCC does not endorse any of it, and no question bank legitimately holds real exam questions.

The MCC says external resources are not endorsed by it and are not created by the people who develop its examination content. It also says it is illegal for any test preparation service or program to use, disclose, distribute or solicit content from candidates, or to otherwise provide access to questions or answers from actual MCC examinations. If a course or a question bank claims to have real MCCQE questions, that claim describes something the MCC says is illegal.

What happens if you breach exam security

The MCC says that if something is deemed a violation of test security, the consequences can be significant:

• You may be denied a standing on your examination.
• You may be banned from taking future MCC examinations.
• Your physiciansapply.ca account may be suspended.
• A permanent annotation may be made on your physiciansapply.ca account.
• A report may be made to medical regulatory authorities and other organizations.
• Legal action may be taken against you.

A 100-day study plan and the ethics book, together: the MCCQE Bundle

This answer is my reading of the official source, not official or legal advice. It may be incomplete, out of date or wrong, and I take no responsibility for decisions made on it: confirm on the official page before you act. Disclaimer

The Preparatory Examination (PE) is the same length as the MCCQE. The Preparatory Exam-Lite (PE-Lite) is half the length, with a set of entirely new questions. Questions and answers are created by MCC subject matter experts, then refined and approved by physician test committees.

The MCC is also introducing a PE form for $1. It offers a unique set of 230 multiple-choice questions.

A 100-day study plan and the ethics book, together: the MCCQE Bundle

This answer is my reading of the official source, not official or legal advice. It may be incomplete, out of date or wrong, and I take no responsibility for decisions made on it: confirm on the official page before you act. Disclaimer

It gives you a raw score and the correct answers. The raw score does not predict your MCCQE score.

The MCC says the preparatory products give test-takers a raw score based on the total number of questions presented, which therefore has no correlation with the MCCQE score scale. It also advises that the preparatory products are a sampling of questions and cases like the ones on the examination, and that some quadrants of the MCCQE Blueprint may be underrepresented.

The answers and the feedback

The correct answers are provided for all of the preparatory products. Your results are presented in a grid format, according to the MCCQE Blueprint.

A 100-day study plan and the ethics book, together: the MCCQE Bundle

This answer is my reading of the official source, not official or legal advice. It may be incomplete, out of date or wrong, and I take no responsibility for decisions made on it: confirm on the official page before you act. Disclaimer

Across the different products, no. Across two lettered versions of the same form, mostly yes.

The MCC says there are no repeated questions across the preparatory products it currently offers. It also says there are no repeated questions across the four available forms (the new $1 PE form, the existing PE form and two PE-Lite forms) or its set of 55 free MCCQE questions, giving you access to up to 745 questions for practice. If you bought a preparatory product before December 2024, you may recognize some repeated content from that earlier product.

Reading the form names

The number identifies the question set. Two forms with different numbers, for example PE-Lite-424A and PE-Lite-425A, contain entirely different sets of questions. The letter identifies the version of that form. There are some minor differences between letter versions, but the large majority of the questions between letter versions remain the same. You can only purchase the most recent version of a form.

A 100-day study plan and the ethics book, together: the MCCQE Bundle

This answer is my reading of the official source, not official or legal advice. It may be incomplete, out of date or wrong, and I take no responsibility for decisions made on it: confirm on the official page before you act. Disclaimer

A test accommodation is a change to the standard administration of an exam to address a human rights-related functional limitation. Examples you may request include additional testing time, break time, and access to assistive equipment, assistive personnel, or personal items (for example, breast pumps).

Requesting one for an MCC exam

If you have a documented functional limitation and associated accommodation need, you request the accommodation when you apply for the exam. As well as indicating in your application that you need one, you must complete the Request for test accommodations form and gather the required supporting documentation. A granted accommodation is valid for one exam only, so you must submit a new request with each future exam application. If you did not indicate the need when you applied, your request is considered a late request: the MCC reviews requests received at any time, but late requests cannot be guaranteed.

The MCCQE

An MCCQE application with an accommodation request can take up to 9 weeks to process, once all the eligibility requirements have been fulfilled and all the required supporting documentation has been received.

The NAC Examination

You request the accommodation when you submit your NAC Examination application. An application that includes an accommodation request is processed only once all the eligibility requirements have been fulfilled and all the required supporting documentation has been received.

MCC preparatory products

Accommodations cannot be granted for the MCC preparatory products, because they are self-administered.

A 100-day study plan and the ethics book, together: the MCCQE Bundle

This answer is my reading of the official source, not official or legal advice. It may be incomplete, out of date or wrong, and I take no responsibility for decisions made on it: confirm on the official page before you act. Disclaimer