The OIIQ has suspended its new admission exam: what changes, and what does not

If you've seen headlines about the OIIQ and a suspended exam, you've likely also seen them next to news about an exam you yourself are preparing for — which is a reasonable thing to find confusing. Here is the distinction, as plainly as it can be stated.

Two different exams

The professional exam is the one every candidate for the nursing roll takes, on a fixed calendar (next sitting: March 31, 2027). It has existed for years, it is not what was suspended, and nothing below changes it. **The *new* admission exam** was a planned adaptation of the North American NCLEX-RN model, meant to eventually replace or sit alongside the professional exam. It was originally expected to start being administered in spring 2024. It is this second, not-yet-implemented exam whose rollout the OIIQ has suspended.

Why it was suspended

The decision follows a public inquiry led by commissioner André Gariépy into how the Order's current exam process has been run. The inquiry's report found that over 12% of exam questions had construction or clarity problems, and identified a "measurement error" factor whose removal would have meant roughly 500 additional candidates passing a past sitting. Rather than layer a new exam format on top of a process already under scrutiny, the OIIQ chose to wait for the modernization of the collegial nursing program — announced by the Ministry of Higher Education, with the Order participating — before resuming work on the NCLEX-RN-style exam.

What this means if you're preparing right now

Nothing changes for your own exam date. If you're sitting the professional exam on March 31, 2027 (or any sitting before a new admission exam, if one is ever introduced), you are preparing for the exam that already exists, under the blueprint that already governs it — see our breakdown of what that blueprint actually measures. What's genuinely still open: a timeline for when, or in what form, an NCLEX-RN-style exam eventually returns. The OIIQ has tied it to the CEGEP program's own modernization, which does not have a published completion date as of this writing. We'll update this piece if that changes.

The honest caveat

We built part of our own content library around NCLEX-RN-style practice, anticipating closer alignment between the two systems over time. That plan isn't wrong, but its timing now depends on a process with no fixed end date, rather than one with a known start date. We'd rather say that plainly than imply more certainty than exists. What hasn't moved: the professional exam you're actually registered for, its blueprint, and the date on your own OIIQ account.