NCA Remedies

People who obtained their legal education outside Canada, Canadian citizens who studied law abroad, newcomers with an overseas legal education, and graduates of a Quebec or University of Ottawa civil law program who are not licensed lawyers in Canada and want to practise in a common law jurisdiction. The NCA assesses their education and experience before they can apply to law societies outside Quebec.

Exams are written online. The NCA states that you can write from any location with internet service, including your home. Before exam day, review the online exam rules, the technical requirements and testing information, and the NCA candidate agreement, since these govern what equipment and conduct are permitted during a sitting.

The NCA says candidates can write exams twelve times a year, which gives substantial flexibility to set a schedule that suits you. In practice, that means you can space subjects out or attempt several in a short period. Check the published exam schedules for the specific dates available for each subject you have been assigned.

They are demanding: each subject is assessed at the level expected of a law graduate entering a Canadian common law bar admission program, and internationally trained candidates must adapt to Canadian doctrine, statutes, and case law. Difficulty varies by subject and by how familiar the underlying law is to you. Treat them as serious law exams, not open-book reading exercises.

There is no single required order, so build one around your strengths and overlaps. Many candidates start with foundational private law subjects, then move to public law and procedural subjects, and leave the subject they find hardest for a period when they can devote more time. Confirm your assigned subjects first, then match them to available sittings.

Begin with the official NCA exam outlines and sample exams, which define the scope of each subject and show the style of questions. Supplement them with a current Canadian textbook or casebook for each area and your own condensed notes. Practise writing full answers under time pressure, because issue spotting and structured legal analysis are what the exams reward.

Common problems include studying broadly instead of to the outline, memorizing rules without practising application to facts, poor time management in the exam, and missing a subject's Canadian statutory framework. Another frequent issue is ignoring the online exam rules and technical requirements. Reviewing sample exams and writing timed practice answers addresses most of these weaknesses.

The NCA website lists an exam review page among its exam resources, so candidates should consult it for the current process and any conditions that apply. Do not assume a review will be available on demand. Read the posted information before you sit, and follow the stated procedure if you want to review a result.

The NCA has posted an advisory dated 2026.10.08 titled NCA Announces Modernized Assessment Framework. The source does not state the effective date of the change or which values it will alter. Candidates should read the advisory and check the NCA site for updates rather than relying on older descriptions of the process.

The NCA site directs candidates to information on how long the process takes and how much it costs, but the retrieved source does not state specific figures. Fees and timelines can change, so check the official NCA pages and the refund policy before completing any transaction. This page does not quote amounts because they are not confirmed here.