Thursday, February 4, 2010

some important queries about Medical Council of CANADA exams...

1. Does the score of mccee mccqe1 n 2 matter in getting selected for interview and later on selection as a resident in canada?

2. Is it more challenging to get residency in Ontario as compared to other provinces?

3. Can i go through Toronto Notes and prepare well for MCCEE within 2 months; considering that i am a recent graduate but i have not been through toronto notes before???

4. Do i need to get Toronto Notes 2010 edition??? i have the one printed in 2009.... would it make huge difference?

5. After passing MCCQE1 can i do the required 1 year postgraduate training in Canada?? and would it be paid?

6. What exactly is the chance of being accepted as an IMG resident in canada in internal medicine after one has passed all the required exams??

7. I have recent IELTS scores.. Do I have to give TOEFL or IELTS would suffice??

8. How long do we have to wait after MCCQE2 for interview?

9. My biggest problem.... I DONT HAVE A PR CARD!!!! cant i get it while working as a resident there?


Reply to the queries by Dr. Waseem

9- First of all I should answer your last question. if ur not a candian PR, u cannot apply for residency training here in Canada. You cannot get a PR card while working as a resident. theres no question about it. You need to immigrate to canada to get a PR card

1. your scores count a lot. they look at your overall application as well, but that helps u in interview. to get an interview, u have to have high scores in all exams, especially MCCQE1 and for ontario their clinical exam thats is CE1.

2. ontario has most of the postions but its more challenging too. if one lands a position anywhere in canada, that should be fine.

3. well if u r fresh, u can give MCCEE in two months. but for older graduates, 4 months are needed. but remember, u need to score, so give only when ur confident over ur preparation

4.  i dont know about the difference between 2009 and 2010. i had 2006 so:)

5.  there is no one year postgraduate training in canada. the only way is to get a residency, the
best u can do is attachments which are not counted as clinical and will not meet the QE2 requirements. also they are not paid. post graduate triaing in ur home country counts towards the QE2 requirement.

6. getting into internal medicine is very very tough. people here are happy even if they get into family medicine. getting into any field in canada is really really hard.

7. depends on the program. u have to ask them

8. mccqe2 is not mandatory. u can apply with EE only. but to get real chances people apply after passing EE, QE1 and if in ontario, the ontario CE1. QE2 is not mandatory but a plus point for application. applications start in september, deadline for submission is novemebr, interviews in february and result in march.

Mccqe And Mccee Exams, A Brief Summary Of My Understanding Of The Canadian Exams

All the exams are admininstered by the medical council of canada
www.mcc.ca

1) MCCEE: This is the basic and 1st step. It covers Medicine, surgery, gynae/obs, paeds, psychiatry, pharmacology (don't worry about it, only major drug uses adverse effects are asked n there r hardly one or two quests), ethics, public health and a few questions from basic sciences. MCCEE is administered six times a year through prometric and in pakistan centres are in karachi, lahore and Islamabad. This exam is quite different from USMLE step 2 in terms of question format, though you can do UW MCQs to polish your concepts.
The book recommended for it is TORONTO NOTES. Yo have to do it cover to cover. Personally, I don't like it coz it's a shamim style book except that it has almost everything.
It took me 40 days to prepare for exam or you can say I had to give it in 40days after final year exam coz of my planned schedule. But usual recommended preparation time is 3months. My case was different in a sense that I had to give it earlier plus I had bought Toronto Notes when I was in 4th Year MBBS, also I was fresh from final year.
I gave two reads to Toronto Notes before the exam and did UW MCQs just to understand. Remember they are not that helpful for MCCEE, they are rather helpful for MCCQE1. You can also do past questions available on www.rxpgonline.com and Canada Qbank.
Some people don't use toronto notes and prepare from Kaplan plus UW.You can pass with it but to get a good score Toronto Notes is a must.

After passing MCCEE, you can apply for residency through CARMS(www.carms.ca

As the competition is much more tougher in canada, so it's recommended to pass MCCQE1 and also a step 2CS type exam from your provincial body.

2) MCCQE1 is taken after passing MCCEE, it also covers almost the same subjects as MCCEE but the exam is like USMLE step2 plus a portion of clinical reasoning (considered to be tougher than USMLE step2). Again you can choose to study Toronto Notes or opt for the kaplan plus UW pathway which is very useful for this exam rather than the MCCEE. Many people give MCCQe1 and USMLE step 2 together, keeing a gap of not more than 1week in between them.

Getting residency in canada is harder than in the US, but if you have done your electives and have good LORs, your chances are brighter.

This is a brief summary of the canadian exams. If I could be of any further help please do ask, this will help me improving this post...


                                                                                    Dr. Waseem