NCA Exam Results: When They Come Out, How Exams Are Marked, and How to Appeal

After three hours of writing, the wait begins. NCA results take longer than most candidates expect, and what you do while you wait, and after you get your result, affects how quickly you finish the process. This guide covers the results timeline, how marking works, what you get if you fail, and how appeals and rewrites work.

Checked against nca.legal on October 25, 2026.

When NCA exam results come out

The NCA releases results about 10 to 12 weeks after the last exam in each session, not after your individual exam. If you write early in a session, your wait is a little longer. If results are ready sooner, the NCA releases them early.

• Results are posted in the NCA Portal.
• The NCA emails applicants once all results for the session are available.
• The NCA will not rush the marking of individual exams, even on request.

The reason for the wait: examiners mark all the exams for a sitting together, so they can re-read and re-evaluate papers as they go. The NCA says this keeps results consistent and fair for everyone who wrote the same exam.

What the wait means for planning

You can't register to rewrite an exam until you have your most recent result. Registration for the next sitting of the same subject usually closes before results come out, so a failed exam often means skipping a session.

For example, using the 2027 schedule: if you write Constitutional Law in January 2027, April registration closes on March 4, 2027, before January results are likely to be out. The realistic rewrite is July. See the 2027 schedule.

How NCA exams are marked

• Pass or fail. The pass mark is 50%. Passed exams show only "pass."
• Marked by examiners who mark the whole sitting together.
• Failed papers are re-read. The NCA says examiners re-read failed exams at least twice before giving a failing grade.

The NCA doesn't publish its marking schemes. Its guide, How to Answer Fact-based Law Exam Questions, and the sample exam for each subject are the best official signals of what examiners reward: identifying the issues raised by the facts, stating the correct rules, applying them to the facts, and reaching reasoned conclusions.

If you fail: the exam review

If you fail an exam, you can review it free of charge through the NCA Results Portal, generally 3 to 4 weeks after results are released. You get access to:

• Your written exam
• The exam questions
• A feedback memo from the examiner explaining the reasons for your mark

You can download the feedback memo as soon as it is available. To view the questions and your answers, you join a proctored online session, so you'll need a second device, such as a phone, to communicate with the proctor, just as on exam day. You agree not to copy, download or share the exam materials.

The memo is the most useful document you'll get from the NCA. Read it alongside your own answers and note exactly which issues the examiner says you missed or handled weakly.

Appealing an NCA exam result

You can appeal only if there are convincing reasons to believe your failing grade was the result of a major error or injustice.

How to appeal

1. In the NCA Portal, open My Course Info, then Exam History.
2. Click the green Appeal button next to the exam.
3. Upload a separate letter, PDF only, setting out specific facts and evidence that the examiner made a major error. Attach supporting documents if you have them. Use only your NCA file number, not your name.

What counts, and what doesn't

The NCA gives an example of a valid ground: the feedback memo acknowledges you made a correct point, but you didn't get credit for it.

These are not grounds for appeal:

• Saying a significant error occurred without identifying it
• Saying the grade isn't fully justified, or that you don't understand it
• Being close to a pass
• Personal or financial hardship
• Explaining what you know, or adding to what you wrote on the day

If the NCA accepts your appeal, it sends your exam and the original examiner's comments to another examiner for re-evaluation, and may also consult the original examiner.

Is it worth appealing?

Appeals are rarely successful. The Federation's 2017 program review reported that in the year to May 2015, 43 of 716 failed exams were appealed and 6 were changed to a pass. Appeal when the memo shows a specific, demonstrable error. Otherwise, your time is usually better spent preparing the rewrite.

Planning a rewrite

• Attempts: you can write each exam three times (a first attempt and two rewrites), and may ask for a fourth under section 17.2 of the NCA Policies.
• Fees: each rewrite costs the full $500 exam fee plus taxes.
• Check the syllabus again. The NCA may update exam content and study materials, and says to consult the exam outline each time you prepare for a rewrite.
• Work from the memo. Turn each point in the examiner's memo into something specific to practise: a missed issue, a rule you stated loosely, an application that stayed abstract.
• Practise the format, not just the law. Most failed papers show the candidate knew more law than they wrote down in time.

Sources

• NCA: Exam information
• NCA: Exam review and appeals
• NCA: Online exam rules
• NCA: Costs and timelines
• NCA: FAQs
• Federation of Law Societies of Canada: NCA Program Review Report (May 31, 2017), section 3.4

Lexn is an independent study platform and is not affiliated with the NCA or the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.

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