Prevalence of test accommodations for the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Exam Part I, 2013-2021

• Published in: Canadian medical education journal Vol. 14; no. 5; pp. 56 - 58
• Main Authors: Clarke, Quinten K, Hanes, Julia E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada Canadian Medical Education Journal 01.11.2023
• Subjects: Canada - epidemiology; Disabled Persons; Education, Medical; Humans; Prevalence; Students; Canada
• ISSN: 1923-1202; 1923-1202
• DOI: 10.36834/cmej.76934

Introduction: Previous articles have highlighted the laborious process of acquiring disability accommodations in medical education. We endeavoured to characterize the trends of test accommodations on the MCCQE Part I. Methods: Data was obtained from the Medical Council of Canada on the number of applicants who attained test accommodations on the MCCQE Part I between 2013 and 2021. The number of test takers for the same period was obtained from the Medical Council of Canada’s Annual Technical Reports; this data was not publicly available for 2013, 2014, or 2021. Prevalence rates and graphs were produced. Results: The number of test takers who attained test accommodations ranged from 35 to 126 between 2013 and 2021. The percentage of test takers who attained test accommodations ranged from 0.89% to 2.01% between 2015 and 2020. Per correspondence with the Medical Council of Canada, no applicant who provided all required documentation was denied test accommodations during this period. Discussion: The number and rate of test takers attaining test accommodations on the MCCQE Part I have increased substantially during this period. It is unclear whether this increase is due to greater rates of students with disabilities, or a reduction in stigma around using test accommodations.