MCCQE Pass Rate: What the Real Numbers Show (2026)

The Medical Council of Canada set a new MCCQE Part I passing score of 439 (on a 300–600 scale, mean 450, SD 30) starting with the April 2025 sitting. As of April 2025, the exam is 100% multiple-choice — the Clinical Decision-Making (CDM) case format was permanently removed, leaving roughly 230 single-best-answer MCQs split into two 115-question sections.

The pass rate gap between candidate groups is significant and worth knowing going in: Canadian/US medical graduates (CMGs) pass at 87.9%–96.2% on their first attempt, while international medical graduates (IMGs) pass at 47.7%–64.5% first-time, with the August sitting historically the strongest for IMGs.

Study takeaway: since the exam is now fully MCQ-based (no more CDM cases), practice should be entirely single-best-answer format — timed, topic-broad, and focused on clinical decision-making rather than isolated recall.