Information

The NCA holds its exams in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg and Toronto.

Alternate Locations

Sometimes, applicants can arrange to write exams in other approved locations at their own expense. We will assist you, if you wish to write at one of these locations:

CANADA

Atlantic
Charlottetown, PE – Law Society of Prince Edward Island
Fredericton, NB – Faculty of Law University of New Brunswick
Halifax, NS – Faculty of Law, Dalhousie University
St. John’s, NL – Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador

East
Montreal, QC – Faculty of Law, McGill University
Ottawa, ON – St. Paul University

North
Iqaluit, NU – Law Society of Nunavut
Whitehorse, YT – Law Society of Yukon
Yellowknife, NT – Law Society of the Northwest Territories

UNITED STATES

Northeast
New York City, NY – New York Law School

Southwest
Los Angeles, CA – Loyola Law School

Southeast

Fort Lauderdale, FL – NOVA Southeastern University
Houston, TX – University of Huston

EUROPE

Dublin, Ireland – (for members of the Law Society of Ireland only)
London, England – University of London

AUSTRALIA

Adelaide – University of Adelaide
Gold Coast – Bond University
Sydney – College of Law

INDIA
New Delhi – NCA staff will make arrangements on your behalf

JAMAICA
Kingston – General Legal Council

 SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg – Bar Council

Please note:  The NCA does not approve sites in civil law jurisdictions.

Registering for exams at alternate locations

If you need to write an exam at one of the alternate locations, go to the NCA portal and start your registration by choosing one of the available Canadian sites. Once registration closes, the NCA will work with you so you can write the exam at your chosen alternate approved location. We must confirm availability and make sure there is space for you to write the exam there.

In all cases, you must tell the NCA by the exam registration deadline that you wish to write exams in an alternate location.

If you have a recognized and medically diagnosed condition or disability, you can apply for accommodations that address any special needs you have (e.g. if you are visually impaired, you can write exams with larger print; if you are unable to write with a pen, you can use a computer to write your exam). To do so, please ask the Examinations Department for an Accommodation Request Form. Send us your request, with up-to-date supporting documents by the registration deadline for the exam session in question.

We review accommodation requests case by case. If you need an accommodation, we reserve the right to tell you the location and time of the exam. This is because not all sites can accommodate special requirements. For example, if you need a computer, this might mean you have to take the exam in a particular city.

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada offers services in both of Canada’s official languages, so you may ask to write your exams in French. To do so, send a written request to our Examinations Department by the exam registration deadline.

Examinations are graded on a pass/fail basis (i.e. 50 percent is considered a pass). Results are released about 10 to 12 weeks from the date of the last exam in each session. We will not rush the grading of individual exams. To protect the integrity of the grading process, our examiners grade the exams all together so that they can re-read and re-evaluate the exams as they go along. This helps ensure consistent and fair results for all applicants writing the same exam.

Exam review

If you fail an exam, the NCA will send you a memo from the examiner that provides reasons for the failure. The NCA will then allow you to review your exam.