MCCQE Part I tutorial
Familiarize yourself with the functionality of the MCCQE Part I platform and review samples of exam questions. The tutorial will also be presented on your exam day.
Note: You may view the tutorial at any point during an active exam by clicking on the question mark icon. This icon can be found in the bottom-left corner of the screen once you have started the test.
Navigating through the exam
The following table describes functionality that will help you navigate through the exam.
Functionality
Description
Click Next to move to the next question or page
Click Back to move to the previous question or page
Click the flag icon to flag the question
A plain rectangular button indicates you have not yet completed this question; click the button to go to that question
A rectangular button with a flag icon means you have flagged this question because you want to return to it
An arrow-shaped button indicates you are currently on this question
A dark button indicates you have completed this question
Clinical Decision Making (CDM) case with questions (collapsed)
Clinical Decision-Making (CDM) case with questions (expanded)
To view all of the content on the page, use the scroll bar on the window or the scroll wheel on the mouse
A double arrow pointing upwards indicates you can collapse the case stem for easier view of case questions
A double arrow pointing downwards indicates you can expand the case stem
Section Review panel
Using the grid icon in the bottom-left corner of the exam screen, you may review the status of all questions in a current exam section. To navigate directly to a question, select the corresponding numbered icon. You may also filter your view by unattempted, attempted, and flagged questions.
You can keep the Section Review window open and visible by clicking the padlock icon. The Section Review window can be closed by unclicking the padlock icon and clicking the X icon.
Interacting with items
The following table describes functionalities that will help you interact with items.
Functionality
Description
- Use the highlight tool to highlight text in questions you may want to refer to.
- Select the text by dragging the cursor over it to highlight it. To remove the highlight, click on any area of the highlighted text.
- This tool works only on question text; it does not work on answer text.
- Use the strikeout tool to visually eliminate answers from consideration.
- Right click on an answer to strike it out. Right click again to remove the strikeout.
- This tool works only on answer text; it does not work on question text.
- Certain questions or cases may have photographs, radiographs, echocardiograms, or charts. To view, click on the image button, which will open the image in a pop-up box.
- Depending on the size of the image, you may be able to zoom in and zoom out using the buttons with the magnifying-glass icons below the image.
- Calculator appears below every question in the exam.
- When the calculator icon is clicked, a calculator that can be used for basic calculations will pop up.
Time remaining and progress bar
The time remaining and the progress bar are both displayed at the top of the screen.
Time remaining
Each exam section is allocated a specific amount of time, including the tutorial and survey sections. There is also an overall amount of time provided for your full exam appointment. Clicking the clock icon will display the time remaining; it will alternate between the time left for the current section and the time left for the overall exam appointment.
The most important time display is the Section Time Remaining.
An alert box will pop up to signal when 30 minutes, 15 minutes, and 5 minutes remain in the current section.
Progress bar
The progress bar tracks answered questions throughout the entire exam. It does not reset after each section. If all the questions are answered, your progress should near 74% when finishing the MCQ section and 100% after finishing the CDM section.
Ending exam sections
After reviewing and finishing all questions within a section, navigate to the next section by clicking Next on the final question of the section or Finish Section in the top-right corner of the screen.
A pop-up window will appear confirming you want to finish the section. Select “Yes I would like to finish this section” to submit your answers and continue to the next section.
Please note that once you leave a section, you may not return. Any questions that are left incomplete will be marked as incorrect.
