CPTE exam dates and deadlines for 2026 and 2027

The Canadian Physiotherapy Examination (CPTE) runs on fixed dates, each with an overflow date beside it and an application deadline ten weeks before it. This guide sets out every sitting on the schedule of the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators (CAPR), the last of 2026 and all six of 2027, what the exam costs, and what it costs to move or cancel a booking, from CAPR's own pages, with its dates and fees as they stood on October 27, 2026. CAPR's Dates and Fees page is the authority, so check it before you apply.

Where things stand on October 27, 2026: CAPR's page no longer lists the October 24 sitting, and the deadline for the last 2026 sitting, December 9, passed on September 30. The next sitting with a deadline still ahead is Saturday, February 20, 2027, and its application deadline is December 12, 2026.

The CPTE dates for 2026 and 2027

CAPR's schedule lists the sittings still ahead: the last of 2026, and the six of 2027, which CAPR announced on June 18, 2026. The first year ran more often than the page now shows: announcing the change in December 2025, the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario said the CPTE "Is offered eight times in 2026." Each sitting has an exam date, an overflow date and an application deadline.

Applications close at 11:59 Eastern Time on the deadline, through CAPR's Client Portal. Two patterns in the table make planning simpler:

• Every deadline falls exactly ten weeks (70 days) before its exam date. Pick the sitting, count back ten weeks, and that is the date your application must be in.
• The overflow date sits next to the exam date. For the December 2026 sitting it is the day before; for every 2027 sitting it is the day after, so each 2027 sitting takes a Saturday and holds the Sunday.

What the overflow date means

CAPR explains the overflow date in one sentence: "Each exam date has an alternative 'overflow' date, in case candidate volumes exceed examiner or proctor availability." Its advice follows directly: "Keep both dates open for the month you apply."

Examiner availability matters because of how the Oral Section is marked. Two examiners evaluate each candidate, and the Candidate Guide says at least one of them evaluates "in real time" as you answer each case. A sitting can hold only as many candidates as there are examiners and proctors to see them, and the overflow date is CAPR's room to spare.

You find out which of the two days is yours from your Exam Appointment Confirmation email. In CAPR's words: "The date your exam is scheduled for will be outlined in your Exam Appointment Confirmation email (sent 3 weeks before the exam)." Until that email arrives, treat both days as booked: shifts, travel, childcare and anything else that cannot move.

How applying works

Applications go through CAPR's Client Portal by the deadline, and the deadline is firm in both directions: "You cannot apply for an exam or reschedule into an exam if its application deadline has passed." Who may apply depends on where you were educated.

Canadian-educated candidates must be enrolled in, or have graduated from, an entry-to-practice program accredited by Physiotherapy Education Accreditation Canada (PEAC). Under CAPR's Examination Eligibility Policy, you may attempt the CPTE once you have completed all the course requirements your program defines, and CAPR confirms this with your program. The final-term option has gone: CAPR's FAQ says "Candidates must finish their entire educational program before taking the exam."

Internationally educated candidates need written confirmation of eligibility from CAPR's Credentialling Program before they can apply. Once credentialling succeeds, the clock starts: the policy says eligible candidates "must attempt the CPTE within two years of receiving a successful credentialling assessment decision." The costs of credentialling are covered below.

Your appointment time is not yours to choose. CAPR does not take requests for specific times. If you will take the exam from outside Canada, CAPR assigns appointments at a reasonable local time where it can, within the limits of Canada's time zones. Keep the address on your Client Portal profile up to date no later than 30 days before the exam, because CAPR uses it to set your time, and once the Exam Appointment Confirmation email has arrived, the time cannot be changed.

What the CPTE costs

This guide writes CAPR's fees in Canadian dollars, as CA$; CAPR's own pages, quoted here, use a plain dollar sign. One fee covers the whole exam. The CPTE is a single five-hour exam: the Oral Section first, then the Written Section, each 2.5 hours long, and you take both on the same day.

• The standard fee is CA$2,500. "For all other candidates, the fee for this exam is $2500," CAPR's page says, after the one exception below.
• The 2026 transition discount is CA$1,800. CAPR's reason: "2026 is a transition year for candidates taking the new Canadian Physiotherapy Examination." From February through December 2026, candidates who passed the former Physiotherapy Competency Examination (PCE) Written Component in 2025, and now need to take the new exam, pay CA$1,800.
• Every 2027 sitting costs CA$2,500. In CAPR's words: "For all 2027 exam dates, the fee is $2500."

With the last 2026 deadlines passed, any application made now is for a 2027 sitting, at CA$2,500. Passing the PCE Written Component does not exempt you from any part of the CPTE either: CAPR's FAQ answers "Yes" to the question of whether a candidate who passed it must complete both sections. The CPTE vs PCE guide explains what else changed.

What rescheduling costs

Moving to a different sitting is charged by when you move, measured against the exam you are currently registered for.

The new sitting must still be open: you cannot reschedule into an exam whose deadline has passed. In practice, the cheap window closes ten weeks before your exam, at the same moment as that sitting's application deadline. After it, moving costs half the fee.

What withdrawing returns

Withdrawing is priced on the same three windows, as a share of the exam fee paid.

The dollar figures are CAPR's own, worked out on the CA$2,500 fee; the refunds themselves are stated as shares of the fee you paid. Read together, the two tables say the same thing: up to the deadline, changing your mind costs CA$250; after it, half the fee; in the last 48 hours, all of it.

When the whole fee is lost

CAPR's table lists four situations on exam day in which there is no refund and the candidate forfeits the whole exam fee:

• No-show: you do not attend the exam.
• Late: you arrive more than 15 minutes late.
• Cannot test: you cannot check in or complete the exam because of technical or testing-environment problems that were within your control.
• Abandonment: you complete the Oral Section but do not start the Written Section on time.

The last one is particular to the CPTE's shape. The Oral Section comes first, followed by an off-the-clock break of approximately 60 minutes; there are no breaks within either section. The Candidate Guide is plain about the second half: "You must ensure that you are ready to begin the Written Section by the login time outlined in your Exam Appointment Confirmation email." Treat the break as part of the exam day, not as time off from it. The third item is a reason to have your computer and your room ready well before the day: CAPR's CPTE Tutorial, which opens with the login CAPR publishes on its Practice Tools page, lets you try the exam platform's features for each section in advance.

After the exam: results and review fees

CAPR's FAQ gives the timing: "Results are sent approximately 4-5 weeks after the exam." Feedback comes either way: "Candidates receive feedback about their performance after attempting the CPTE, regardless of whether they pass or fail."

If you want a result looked at again, CAPR's post-exam services carry their own fees:

CAPR's exam policies and its post-exam services pages set out when each applies and how to request it.

Attempts: what a retake costs

The number of attempts depends on when you first took a CAPR exam. Under the Examination Eligibility Policy:

• Three attempts if your first attempt at the PCE Written Component was between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2025, or if the CPTE is your first CAPR exam. "There is no time limit within which the three attempts must be completed."
• Five attempts if your first attempt at the PCE Written Component was before 2013.

Earlier failed attempts at the PCE Clinical Component, or at a provincial clinical exam such as the Ontario Clinical Exam, the Alternate Clinical Evaluation in British Columbia or Alberta's Post-Graduate Clinical Examination, count towards the limit. Earlier attempts at the PCE Written Component do not, unless you failed all of them and are no longer eligible. CAPR's FAQ adds that the new exam "does not reset the attempt count," because its purpose has not changed.

A failed attempt means taking both sections again. CAPR's fee table lists no reduced fee for a retake, so at CA$2,500 an attempt, three attempts would cost CA$7,500 in exam fees alone. That is the strongest argument for preparing well for the first one, and the guide to how hard the CPTE is sets the attempts beside CAPR's pass rates.

For internationally educated physiotherapists: costs before the exam

Before the CPTE comes credentialling. CAPR's FAQ is clear that experience does not shorten the route: "regardless of their work experience, all IEPTs must complete the credentialling process through one of the established credentialling pathways, and, complete the CPTE."

Until October 15, 2026, CAPR's credentialling fee was CA$1,486, and its Estimated Costs and Timelines page still shows it. On that date CAPR launched a new route, the Comparability Pathway, which it describes as "part of CAPR's modernized credentialling program," and its Fees and Payment page now charges each stage separately:

CAPR publishes the pathway's policy and its FAQs on its website; check the fee page when you apply, since the structure changed in the middle of the year. The first PET sitting is December 16, 2026, and on the Comparability Pathway the documents, the Canadian course and the PET must all fall within a year of applying. Remember the two-year window: once your credentialling decision is successful, you have two years to make your first attempt at the CPTE. Our guide to the cost of becoming a physiotherapist in Canada adds up every fee, and our guide to becoming a physiotherapist in Canada walks through every stage of the new pathway, from the language test to the Physiotherapy Evaluation Tool.

Planning around the dates

Working back from a sitting gives you a timeline. Take Saturday, February 20, 2027:

• December 12, 2026: the application deadline, 11:59 Eastern Time. Up to here, rescheduling or withdrawing costs CA$250.
• Around January 30, 2027: three weeks before the exam, your Exam Appointment Confirmation email says whether you take it on February 20 or on the overflow date, February 21, and at what time.
• February 20 or 21, 2027: the exam, with the Oral Section first.
• Around March 20 to 27, 2027: four to five weeks later, your result.

Ten weeks between the deadline and the exam is useful study time, but it is not the whole of it. The CPTE's Oral Section is 60% of the result, and its Written Section asks 100 questions in 150 minutes. The CPTE exam guide sets out the format and the blueprint, and our CPTE practice questions, written in the style of CAPR's own, open in the app with a free account.