In September 2026, the ICF Credentialing Exam for PCC and MCC candidates has 78 situational judgment items and tests the 2019 Core Competencies and 2020 Code of Ethics. Learn the distinctions between agreements, listening, awareness and client-owned action. A replacement exam begins November 10, 2026, with a different format and updated standards; choose the readings for the version you will take.
Which exam version applies to your test date
The current exam remains available through March 31, 2027. The redesigned PCC-MCC Exam opens November 10, 2026; both are accepted toward the same credentials.
ICF is replacing the written exam for PCC and MCC candidates. The current ICF Credentialing Exam remains available through March 31, 2027. The redesigned PCC-MCC Exam opens on November 10, 2026, and becomes the only option from April 1, 2027.
Candidates can choose between the two exams during the transition. Match your preparation to the version you book: the readings, item mix and available time differ.
The formats differ in ways that affect preparation pacing. The current exam is entirely scenario-based, while the new exam adds direct knowledge-based multiple-choice questions. The new exam also reflects the 2025 updates to the Core Competencies and Code of Ethics, which the current exam does not yet cover.
| Feature | Current ICF Credentialing Exam | PCC-MCC Exam (from November 10, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Question mix | 78 situational judgment items | 80 items: 44 situational judgment plus 36 knowledge-based multiple choice |
| Total time | 180 minutes, including an optional 10-minute break | 150 minutes, including an optional 10-minute break |
| Sections | Two 39-question sections around the break | 18 multiple choice, 22 scenarios, break, 18 multiple choice, 22 scenarios |
| Tested standards | 2019 Core Competencies; 2020 Code of Ethics | 2025 updates to the Core Competencies and Code of Ethics |
| Last or first sitting | Final date March 31, 2027 | First test dates November 10, 2026 |
| Credential earned | PCC or MCC | PCC or MCC |
Sources: A Candidate's Guide to the Updated Credentialing Exam (July 27, 2026) — ICF blog, retrieved September 15, 2026; Understanding the Latest Credentialing Exam Changes for Educators (July 17, 2026) — ICF blog, retrieved September 15, 2026
How the current exam is structured and scored
Each of the 78 items asks for the best and worst of four coach actions; you get 180 minutes, and a scaled score of 460 passes.
Every item presents a realistic coaching scenario with four possible coach actions. You select the most effective and the least effective response for each one. Only one best and one worst action exist per item, and your score reflects how many you identify correctly.
There is no penalty for wrong answers, so it pays to answer every question. Scores are reported as scaled scores from 200 to 600, and 460 is required to pass. The passing standard was set by experienced ICF coaches based on what a proficient practitioner should know. A scaled score is not a raw percentage: 460 does not mean 460 correct answers or 76.7% correct.
You get 180 minutes in total: four minutes of instructions, 39 questions in 83 minutes, an optional 10-minute break, then 39 more questions in 83 minutes. The exam is proctored on computer, either at a Pearson VUE test center or online through Pearson's OnVUE platform.
What the exam measures, domain by domain
The current exam tests the 2019 Core Competencies and 2020 Code of Ethics across four domains; the new exam keeps the domains but uses the 2025 editions.
The current exam assesses your command of the 2019 ICF Core Competencies, the 2020 ICF Code of Ethics, and ICF's definition of coaching. ICF states the exam does not yet reflect the 2025 revisions of these documents. Study the editions your exam version actually tests.
The four domains organize the eight competencies, with the weights below applying to the current exam. The new PCC-MCC Exam retains the same four-domain structure, but ICF's announcements do not list per-competency weights for it. Until ICF publishes details, plan your study around the domains and the 2025 competency and ethics documents.
| Domain | Competency | Weight (current exam) |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Demonstrates Ethical Practice | 13% |
| Foundation | Embodies a Coaching Mindset | 12% |
| Co-Creating the Relationship | Establishes and Maintains Agreements | 12% |
| Co-Creating the Relationship | Cultivates Trust and Safety | 13% |
| Co-Creating the Relationship | Maintains Presence | 13% |
| Communicating Effectively | Listens Actively | 12% |
| Communicating Effectively | Evokes Awareness | 13% |
| Cultivating Learning and Growth | Facilitates Client Growth | 12% |
Sources: ICF PCC and MCC Credentialing Exam – Earning PCC and MCC Credential — coachingfederation.org, retrieved September 15, 2026; A Candidate's Guide to the Updated Credentialing Exam (July 27, 2026) — ICF blog, retrieved September 15, 2026; Understanding the Latest Credentialing Exam Changes for Educators (July 17, 2026) — ICF blog, retrieved September 15, 2026; 2025 ICF Core Competencies (rev. 09.08.25) — Official ICF PDF; 2025 ICF Code of Ethics (Board approved October 2024, revised May 2026) — Official ICF PDF
Judging best and worst responses
Compare what each response does with the client's stated aim and the relevant competency. The exercise below practices that comparison.
In the current exam you identify the most and least effective actions from four options. For revision, explain the reasoning behind a response before attaching a ranking to it.
Client ownership matters, but it is not a shortcut that makes every question good or every observation bad. The competencies allow sharing observations without attachment and in service of the client's thinking.
Practice exercise
Original learning exercise: a client is choosing between two job offers and says, "I want to clarify what matters to me before I decide." There is no deadline pressure or safety concern, and the engagement is coaching rather than career consulting. Compare these responses. A: "What would make either role a good fit for the life and work you want?" B: "I have decided the second offer is better; that is the one you should take." Which better supports the stated coaching aim, and why?
Show answer
A better supports the aim: it invites the client to identify their own criteria. B substitutes the coach's decision for the client's thinking.
The 2019 competencies call for partnership around the client's intended outcome, exploration of values and needs, and client responsibility for choices. A invites that exploration. B supplies a decision before the client has clarified their criteria. This two-response exercise teaches a competency distinction; it is not an official exam item or a reproduction of the four-option scoring format.
Sources: ICF PCC and MCC Credentialing Exam – Earning PCC and MCC Credential — coachingfederation.org, retrieved September 15, 2026; 2019 ICF Core Competencies (rev. 07.30.21) — Official ICF PDF
Four competency distinctions worth drilling
Practice distinguishing session agreements, listening, awareness and growth using the behaviors in the 2019 competencies.
Agreement: partner with the client to identify what they want from the session and how they will recognize useful progress. An engagement-wide goal does not automatically settle the aim of every session.
Listening: attend to the client's words, emotions and context, and reflect or summarize to confirm understanding.
Awareness: invite the client to explore beyond their current thinking. A coach can offer an observation without attachment; the client determines its meaning.
Growth: partner with the client to turn insight into actions and accountability that the client owns. The coach can support the planning without taking over the choices.
- Coaching versus consulting: the coach maintains the line between coaching, consulting, and therapy, and treats the client as responsible for their own choices. An option that supplies the answer drifts out of coaching.
- Engagement agreement versus session agreement: the coach holds an overall agreement and, in each session, reconfirms what the client wants to accomplish and what success looks like. When a scenario's client shifts focus mid-stream, the strong option re-contracts in the moment.
- Listening versus evoking awareness: reflecting and summarizing confirm shared understanding; evoking awareness invites the client to generate insight. Sharing an observation without attachment is still coaching — the trap is doing the noticing for the client.
- Client-designed growth: the client authors goals, actions, and accountability, with the coach as partner. An option in which the coach designs the plan or polices the commitments signals a weaker response.
Sources: 2019 ICF Core Competencies (rev. 07.30.21) — Official ICF PDF
Ethics judgment from the 2020 Code
Start with the actual agreement and confidentiality terms, then check the ethical obligations relevant to the situation.
The 2020 Code requires a clear up-front understanding of coaching's nature and potential value, the nature and limits of confidentiality, financial arrangements, and a written agreement on roles and responsibilities before services begin. It also requires clarity about how information is exchanged among all parties.
The 2020 Code addresses agreements, information exchange, conflicts of interest and professional boundaries. Read those provisions together with the facts of the case; a request from a sponsor does not itself authorize disclosure. The current professional Code has since been updated, while the current PCC/MCC exam explicitly retains the 2020 edition.
Practice exercise
Original exercise: a coach, client and sponsoring manager have agreed in writing that the sponsor receives attendance confirmation only, with no session content. The sponsor now asks for a summary of the client's discussions. The client has not consented, and no legal reporting or safety exception applies. What should the coach do?
Show answer
Keep the agreed boundary: confirm attendance if requested, without sharing session content. Discuss the sponsor's information need and involve the client and sponsor in any proposed change to future reporting.
The 2020 Code requires clarity about confidentiality and information exchange among parties. Here, the reporting permission is explicit and excludes session content. Sending a discussion summary would exceed it. Revisiting an agreement is possible through the parties' consent; the sponsor's unilateral request does not change it.
Sources: ICF Code of Ethics 2020 (rev. 25 June 2021) — Official ICF PDF; 2019 ICF Core Competencies (rev. 07.30.21) — Official ICF PDF; ICF PCC and MCC Credentialing Exam – Earning PCC and MCC Credential — coachingfederation.org, retrieved September 15, 2026; 2025 ICF Code of Ethics (Board approved October 2024, revised May 2026) — Official ICF PDF
Your preparation sequence and next steps
Follow ICF's own preparation guidance for your exam version, then move through application, eligibility, and scheduling in that order.
ICF recommends building your preparation on the documents the exam tests and practicing their application in real coaching situations.
Submit the credential application and follow the eligibility and scheduling instructions issued after review. Check the current credential page for your application requirements and fees.
- Study the 2019 Core Competencies and 2020 Code of Ethics regularly if you sit the current exam; use the 2025 editions if you sit the PCC-MCC Exam.
- Use peer coaching and feedback, and reflect on how your session decisions align with ICF standards.
- Revisit your coaching education materials, such as the PCC Markers or MCC Minimum Skills Requirements, to sharpen your understanding.
- Complete the free exam tutorial for your version: the Pearson VUE tutorial for the current exam, and the new-format tutorial ICF will release before the PCC-MCC Exam launches.
Sources: ICF PCC and MCC Credentialing Exam – Earning PCC and MCC Credential — coachingfederation.org, retrieved September 15, 2026; A Candidate's Guide to the Updated Credentialing Exam (July 27, 2026) — ICF blog, retrieved September 15, 2026
Sources
Facts checked September 15, 2026:
- ICF PCC and MCC Credentialing Exam – Earning PCC and MCC Credential
- A Candidate's Guide to the Updated Credentialing Exam (July 27, 2026)
- Understanding the Latest Credentialing Exam Changes for Educators (July 17, 2026)
- 2019 ICF Core Competencies (rev. 07.30.21)
- ICF Code of Ethics 2020 (rev. 25 June 2021)
- 2025 ICF Core Competencies (rev. 09.08.25)
- 2025 ICF Code of Ethics (Board approved October 2024, revised May 2026)