If you are more than 15 minutes late for registration, you may be denied entry to the examination.
To ensure the integrity and security of the exam, on exam day when you arrive at the registration desk, you must disclose all items that you are taking into the exam. These items must be presented for an unobtrusive visual inspection. This inspection can be done at the registration desk, or it can be done in a more private location.
You will be permitted to bring a small nut-free, low to no smell and noise-free snack in a zip lock bag and a clear plastic bottle of water to be carried in your lab coat pocket. Eating the snack you brought is permitted before or after the examination.
Other items are also pre-approved to bring into the exam area.
Some items require a test accommodation to be brought into the secure exam area.
Certain items are not allowed in the exam area. You must hand in these items to exam staff at registration. Staff will store these items until after the exam. As storage space is limited, bring as few of these items as possible.
Please expect to be at the exam centre for about four hours. Your time at the centre includes candidate registration and orientation, candidate exam which is comprised of 12 stations (approximately three hours), and deregistration where candidate will return exam material prior to leaving. There are no scheduled breaks during the 12 stations.
Speaking to anyone other than the exam staff during your exam is prohibited.
The exam is delivered in facilities such as universities, simulation centres, hospitals, and medical clinics. You may be asked to take the stairs or walk certain distances while at the exam centre.
If you are unable to take the stairs or walk certain distances, please let us know by sending a message through your physiciansapply.ca account.
As part of the exam process, you agree not to disseminate or reveal to others the examination materials and content. This means that you cannot discuss or disclose exam content (including patient portrayals and findings, oral questions, cases) at any time in any way before, during or after the examination ends.
Examples of breaches in confidentiality include, but are not limited to:
All NAC Examination materials, including the content and questions comprising the NAC Examination, are protected by copyright and are to be kept confidential. You must not disseminate, reproduce, share or reveal to others the exam materials and content, in whole or in part, at any time in any way, even after the exam ends. Comparing exam content and question themes with your colleagues, sharing content with future exam candidates and posting content online are considered breaches of confidentiality.
Any breach of the NAC Terms and Conditions will be considered irregular behaviour for which MCC may take appropriate action, in accordance with the NAC Examination Terms and Conditions you accepted at the time of application.
The MCC actively monitors breaches of confidentiality and will seek disciplinary and legal measures against candidates who disclose examination content. Agreeing to maintain confidentiality and then breaking that confidentiality by disseminating exam content is considered a highly unprofessional act. Breaking confidentiality and disseminating exam content can lead to being denied a final result on the examination and being reported to regulatory authorities and other medical organizations as well as being barred from taking MCC exams in the future.
If you have concerns about a conflict of interest involving your upcoming exam, you must contact the MCC before exam day by sending a message through your physiciansapply.ca account. If an actual, perceived, or potential conflict of interest with an exam staff, physician examiner (PE) or standardized participant (SP) comes to light during the exam, you must:
Exam staff, PEs and SPs are subject to similar obligations. Unreported conflicts of interest, either actual or perceived, will be resolved at the discretion of the director of assessment with the assistance of impartial MCC staff.
Without limiting the circumstances in which a conflict of interest may arise, the MCC takes the view that a conflict of interest exists:
Simply knowing or being known to a PE or SP is not generally deemed a conflict of interest.
The MCC recognizes that, in some instances, candidates may experience exam day incidents (procedural irregularities or extenuating circumstances, such as illness) that may negatively impact their performance on exam day.
If you choose to start the exam, it will count as an attempt, even if you cannot finish it.
It is important to notify site staff immediately of all exam day incidents.
In addition to notifying staff on exam day, all exam day incidents (procedural irregularities and extenuating circumstances) must be reported to the MCC through your physiciansapply.ca account within 7 days of your exam.
The MCC will not investigate exam day incidents reported more than seven days after your scheduled exam. Candidates who do not report incidents within the seven-day timeframe will not be eligible to request a reconsideration after results have been released.
One small notebook that you may use for writing notes while taking the examination will be provided. Use the space wisely in this notebook. No additional notebooks will be provided, and no pages can be added. The notes in the notebook will not be scored. Your barcode label sheet is attached to the notebook. This notebook must be returned intact at sign-out. No pages or parts can be torn or ripped out. The unused barcode labels and the backing sheet must be returned at sign-out.
The instructions for each station are posted next to the door and are available inside each room. The instructions provide the patient’s name and age, the setting (family practice clinic or emergency department), and the type of station. The presenting problem, vital signs, test results and/or elements of the family history may be provided. You can take notes while waiting to enter a station.
In a combined history/physical examination station or a management station (i.e., completing tasks that are necessary to manage the patient’s problem at that moment), it is up to you to prioritize the tasks.
When conducting a physical examination, you will also be asked to say to the PE what physical examination manoeuvres you are doing, what findings you are looking for, and to describe any relevant findings.
Signs will be posted to help you navigate the exam, and staff will always be nearby to provide directions.
Clocks will be provided in every station on exam day for pacing purposes. It is not intended to time the patient encounter.
A set amount of time (2 minutes) is allowed for moving to the next station and for reading the instructions. At the sound of the signal, enter the room, and proceed with the required task. You may choose to take extra time outside the room, for example in a station with longer instructions or a prop to review; however, the time allowed for the station is still 11 minutes from when the signal sounds, regardless of when you enter.
In all stations, an examiner will be marking while you are interacting with the SP. In most cases, the examiner will be a physician. However, in some cases the examiner may also be another medical professional. All examiners are trained to use standardized scoring tools to observe and assess your performance.
In an exam station, you may be required to perform one or more of the following:
If you finish the patient encounter early, you must wait quietly. If you remember something more that you would like to do, you may re-engage the patient at any time until the 8-minute warning signal (for stations with oral questions) or at any time until the final 11-minute signal (for stations without oral questions).
In stations with oral questions, after the examiners begins to ask the questions at the 8-minute mark, you may not return to the patient encounter, even if there is time remaining before the end of the station. After the final signal sounds, you must leave the station and move to the next one. You may not leave early.
1021 Thomas Spratt Place
Ottawa, ON Canada, K1G 5L5
T : 1-613-521-6012
F : 1-613-248-5234
E : [email protected]
