Results
When you can expect your TDM Examination results and how to understand them.
The Medical Council of Canada (MCC) has a highly rigorous scoring system and a robust quality-assurance process in place to ensure that each candidate’s performance is properly assessed. Before final results are released, multiple levels of verification are conducted to ensure they are accurately reported.
Results will be available 5 weeks after the examination date.
You will receive a notification by email and a message in your physiciansapply.ca account to inform you that a TDM Examination Result Letter has been added to your account and you can view your final TDM Examination result (for example, pass, fail). The Result Letter consists of a Statement of Results (SOR) and a Supplemental Information Report (SIR).
The SOR includes your final result and total TDM Examination score, as well as the score that was required to pass the examination. The SIR provides additional feedback on your exam performance, including your subscores and a comparison to other candidates.
→ View a sample of the TDM Examination Result Letter
To prevent fraud and to protect confidentiality, your TDM Examination results are only available in physiciansapply.ca and never given over the phone or by email.
Note: The MCC conducts a post exam quality-assessment review and adjusts the scoring framework for an exam if and where the MCC determines, in its sole and absolute discretion, it is necessary and/or appropriate to ensure the validity or integrity of the examination. The MCC’s decisions in this regard are final and are not subject to appeal.
Only your most recent result will be valid regardless of previous pass/fail results.
Results are valid across jurisdictional PRA programs that require the TDM Examination, no matter which province you took the TDM Examination.
As of September 2026, the MCC-applied validity period for a TDM Examination pass result has been eliminated. This change applies to all pass results, regardless of when they were obtained. PRA programs may choose to include recency requirements based on their own assessment criteria; this is no longer determined by the MCC.
Your total TDM Examination score is reported on a scale from 400 to 600 with a pass score of 484.
Your final TDM Examination result (e.g., pass, fail) is based solely on where your total score falls in relation to the pass score. A total score equal to or greater than the pass score is a pass, and a total score less than the pass score is a fail. This means that you will pass if you meet or exceed the pass score regardless of how well other candidates perform.
The Exam Oversight Committee (EOC), composed of physicians and medical educators from across the country, is responsible for approving pass/fail results for TDM Examination candidates.
The TDM Examination is scored automatically based on an answer key for each question. A candidate’s total score is the sum of their performance across all questions. To ensure fairness over time, scores are placed on a common scale using a statistical process called equating, which links each new exam form to the reference scale that was established with the January 2026 session.
The scoring is done through two independent but parallel processes using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS®) and Python. The results from the two processes are compared and must match before being released to the candidates.
The TDM examination assesses your performance with exam questions classified across two broad categories:
Your TDM Examination subscores are presented graphically to indicate your relative strengths and weaknesses in each of the domains. Subscores are calculated by converting the items associated with each domain to a percentage score.
The TDM Examination is a criterion-referenced exam. This means that your pass/fail result is determined by comparing your performance with an established performance standard, rather than with the performance of other candidates. A candidate who achieves a higher score than another passing candidate has not met a different standard of acceptable competence; both candidates have met or exceeded the established pass score. Passing represents the level of performance considered “acceptably competent” for a family physician practising independently and safely in Canada.
Beginning with the September 2026 examination session, the total score and additional performance information provide candidates with more details about their examination result and performance, without changing how the pass/fail result is determined.
Your total score is reported as a scaled score ranging from 400 to 600 with a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 25. The mean and standard deviation were set using the results from the January 2026 TDM Examination session.
On this new scale, the pass score that was recommended and approved is 484. This pass score will remain in place until the next standard-setting exercise.
In January 2026, the MCC introduced a new assessment model for the TDM Examination to enhance the candidate experience and increase the exam process efficiency. The assessment model changed from a write-in question format to a selected-response question format, consisting of multiple-choice questions and short-menu questions.
Every few years, the MCC brings together a panel of Canadian physicians to define an acceptable level of performance and establish the pass score for the TDM Examination through a standard-setting exercise.
In February 2026, the MCC conducted a rigorous standard-setting exercise with a panel of 20 family medicine physicians from across the country. During this exercise, the panel was guided through best practice methods to recommend a pass score that was presented to the EOC for review and approval. The new pass score approved by the EOC is applied to the January 2026 and subsequent exam sessions.