The NAC OSCE passing score, explained
You’re staring at a Statement of Results with a number on a scale you’ve never seen. One part of this exam can’t be rehearsed with software, and we say so later.
Your total sits on a 500 to 700 scale, and the NAC OSCE passing score is 577. There are 12 stations, 2 are pilot stations that don’t count.
This page explains what that number is, how it’s built, and which stations fed it.
What is the NAC OSCE passing score?
The NAC OSCE passing score is 577 on a 500 to 700 scale. This is a scaled score, not a percentage and not a raw station total. A total score equal to or greater than 577 is a pass, and a total score less than 577 is a fail.
MCC states your total score is reported on a 500 to 700 scale.
The exam is a half day OSCE held in person at MCC test sites, twice a year, in the spring and fall.
The next sitting is the September 2026 sitting on September 19 and 20, 2026, roughly five weeks from now.
That notice adds that exam results will be available in time to meet the CaRMS R-1 Main Residency Match deadline. Check the CaRMS eligibility rules for requirements and deadlines.
Why the scale is not a percentage
In the NAC OSCE, your score report sits on a 500 to 700 scale, not a percent. Per the 2024 technical report, the total score is reported on a standard-score scale ranging from 500 to 700, as opposed to a candidate's total raw score that is on a percentage metric.
Because station sets vary in difficulty across dates, the total score is adjusted by a process the MCC calls linking to reflect the stations you faced on your exam date.
You can't convert 577 into a percent, and comparing your number with another sitting is already comparing adjusted scores. Per the 2024 technical report, the pass score of 577 was produced using the borderline regression method and approved by the Examination Oversight Committee in June 2023.
For what examiners tick inside a station, read how stations are scored generally.
Only 10 of your 12 stations count
Only ten of the twelve stations on the NAC Examination are scored. Two are pilot stations used to test future content and they do not affect your result. You are not told which stations are pilots before, during, or after test day. Treat every station as if it counts.
The MCC's exam page lists 12 stations, 2 of them pilots, each 11 minutes long with 2 minutes between.
The NAC Annual Technical Report 2024 confirms 10 operational stations, with two additional pilot stations that do not count toward the final score, which is why a station that felt disastrous might never have entered your calculation at all. You can't spot them. The only sane move is to run the same setup each time, take the two minutes to reset, and dump the last station from your head, because ruminating when you're outside station five costs you one that definitely counts.
What each station is marked on
In the NAC OSCE, per the 2024 domain weightings, each station is scored across three domains.
- Assessment and Diagnosis Weighting on the exam: 70% ± 5
- Management Weighting on the exam: 15% ± 5
- Communication Skills Weighting on the exam: 15% ± 5
The MCC lists the seven competencies, which include physical examination, history taking, diagnosis, management, investigations, data interpretation, and communication skills.
According to the NAC Annual Technical Report 2024, history taking is judged on a chronologic, medically logical description gathered with sufficient breadth and depth to define the patient's problems, and communication includes confirming the patient's understanding by inviting questions and using repetition and summarizing.
Many candidates treat that confirmation step as a nicety, but it is scored in the same 2024 report.
Physical examination sits inside the heaviest domain and needs a real person in the room.
What the score does and does not tell you
On the NAC OSCE you pass or fail against a fixed standard, not a rank list.
In 2024, the standard error of measurement on the scale score was 14.31 to 15.04 across the three test forms, so any single number is a band, not a point.
According to the 2024 score statistics, across 1,739 candidates in 2024 the mean was 598.8 with a standard deviation of 25.3. The overall pass rate was 81.8 percent in 2024, which describes that cohort and is not a forecast about you.
Your score does not predict a match outcome.
The MCC is explicit: "Subscores are provided to individual candidates for feedback only and are not meant to be used by organizations for selection." Also, "Your total score and subscores cannot be compared as they are calculated differently."
If you want a worked example of scaled scoring, another exam's scoring method walks through a different test's approach.
Where candidates actually lose marks
In the NAC OSCE, the most common losses sit inside data gathering and communication. Eleven minutes rewards the person who asks, not the person who listens politely.
First failure, missing what the patient never volunteers. With AI patient Martin Rowe, 55, sudden breathlessness comes unprompted, but the swollen left calf and that he has never had a clot before only surface on specific probes. He flew home from Australia about five days ago and had keyhole knee surgery three weeks ago, both only on direct questions.
Same pattern with AI patient Cameron Hayes, 24. Migrating belly pain is volunteered, the lost appetite comes only when asked, and his worry that the pain briefly felt like it spread across the whole abdomen appears on a specific probe. You only get the raw material for building a differential when you earn it with targeted questions.
Second failure, never checking the patient understood. The NAC Annual Technical Report 2024 marks confirming understanding, encouraging questions, and using repetition and summarizing to reinforce understanding. Martin says he is worried about a heart attack and that coughing blood means something serious, and Cameron wants to know whether he needs an operation, both sitting there waiting to be checked back. You can rehearse those teach-back lines with station practice at home, using AI patients by voice or text.
Rehearse the asking part One free case a week. Talk to an AI patient, then look at what you never asked. No physical examination content. Start free
What you cannot rehearse without a person
The NAC OSCE is in person, with a standardized patient and an examiner watching you examine. The 2024 technical report scores sequence, comfort, modesty, and explanations when you examine.
Diagnosica has no examination content, not one case, so it cannot rehearse a physical examination station. Any page that implies otherwise is selling you something. For physical examination stations you need a partner and a tutor.
It rehearses the talking half, the questions you ask and the order you ask them in, anytime without booking a partner. It doesn't give advice about real patients, and it's not a diagnostic system. Treat every output as educational.
This exam is not on Diagnosica's rubric list. Calibrations to published mark sheets cover PACES, MRCEM, RCGP SCA, USMLE Step 3, PLAB-2, MCCQE, RACGP AKT and NEET-PG. The library is UK and general-medicine shaped, not mapped to Canadian training.
For self-study without a paid course, read preparing without a course for solo practice structure.
If you want to rehearse the talking half
Diagnosica lets you use voice or text with an AI patient, order investigations, commit to a diagnosis, defend to an AI senior, and, on the paid tier, get scored against a rubric calibrated to the published mark sheet.
For NAC OSCE prep, this rehearses data gathering and reasoning, not physical examination.
Free tier is one case a week. Your first case is free. Standard is $29 a month or $249 a year. 50+ cases across roughly 16 specialties.
It doesn't give advice about real patients, and it's not a diagnostic system. Treat every output as educational.
Open the app to take a history from an AI patient and start your first free case.
Last reviewed August 13, 2026. Pass scores, station counts and sitting dates change between cycles, so check the MCC's own pages before you rely on any number here.
Educational use only. Not medical advice. AI-generated; verify clinically against primary sources.
Clinical review pending.
See what you missed Speak or type to an AI patient and get scored after the case. One free case a week. Start free
