AVE 2027 Key Dates: Every Deadline for the 16 April MCQ Examination

AVE 2027 Key Dates: Every Deadline for the 16 April MCQ Examination

The next sitting of the AVE Preliminary (MCQ) Examination is Friday, 16 April 2027. It runs once a year, on a single day, and there is no late registration of any kind. (For what the paper is actually like on the day, see our guide to the MCQ format.)

That combination is what catches people out. Miss a deadline in January and you are not waiting a few weeks for another window — you are waiting until 2028.

This guide sets out every date AVBC has published for the 2027 cycle, the order they have to happen in, and — just as importantly — the dates AVBC has not published yet, so you know what you are still waiting on.

The 2027 dates at a glance

What	When	Notes
AVBC application portal opened	10.00am Monday 5 October 2026 (AEDT)	Covers both new eligibility applications and MCQ 2027 applications. AVBC says the portal is now open
New AVE eligibility applications close	Monday, 11 January 2027	May close earlier at short notice
MCQ (Preliminary) applications close	Monday, 25 January 2027 or Monday, 1 February 2027	AVBC's pages differ (see section 3); plan to the earlier date. May close earlier at short notice. No late applications
AVE Preliminary (MCQ) Examination	Friday, 16 April 2027	One day, once a year
2027 Final (Clinical) Examination	Not yet published	See below

All dates above are from the AVBC notice published 14 July 2026, which AVBC edited on 28 October 2026, except the 25 January MCQ closing date, which appears on two other AVBC pages (see section 3). We explain why that publication date matters in the source note at the end.

A note on names

Many preparation providers — us included, in casual conversation — call the MCQ "Part I" and the clinical exam "Part II". AVBC does not use those labels. The official names are the Preliminary (MCQ) Examination and the Final (Clinical) Examination.

When you are reading AVBC's own pages, forms and correspondence, look for the official terms. It matters when you are searching a portal or a handbook for the right form.

1. The portal opened: 10.00am Monday 5 October 2026 (AEDT)

AVBC states:

"The AVBC application portal will open for acceptance of new AVE eligibility applications and MCQ 2027 applications at 10.00am Monday 5 October 2026 AEDT."

Two things to notice.

First, it was a single portal opening for both application types. Whether you are applying for an eligibility assessment for the first time or you are already eligible and applying for the MCQ, the portal has been open to you since 5 October.

Second — and this is the step people miss — you must register as a Contact in the portal before you can submit an eligibility application. That is a separate administrative step. If you have not registered yet, do it now, so that creating an account does not hold up your application.

This was also the only AVE date AVBC published with a time of day and a timezone attached.

2. Eligibility applications close: Monday, 11 January 2027

AVBC states:

"The closing date for submission of new AVE eligibility applications will be Monday, 11 January 2027."

And attaches this warning:

"The AVE Eligibility Assessment application portal may close earlier, and at short notice, due to AVBC operational requirements."

That caveat is not boilerplate. In the 2026 cycle, AVBC paused new eligibility applications once MCQ places had been allocated. The published deadline is a ceiling, not a plan.

AVBC also advises that an eligibility assessment "may take up to six weeks to process", and that incomplete applications take longer.

3. MCQ applications close: Monday, 25 January or Monday, 1 February 2027

AVBC's own pages currently give two different dates for this deadline. Its 14 July notice, edited on 28 October 2026, says:

"Applications for the MCQ will close on Monday, 1 February 2027."

Its AVE Step 2 page, edited the same day, gives the same date. Its "Are you ready to apply for an AVE Eligibility Assessment?" page still says:

"Applications for the AVE Preliminary (MCQ) Examination open on Monday 5 October 2026 and will close on Monday, 25 January 2027 and the next sitting of the MCQ will take place on Friday, 16 April 2027."

Its General AVE Email Information page also gives 25 January.

AVBC has published no notice explaining the difference, and we are not going to guess which is right. Its handbook says the date that binds you is the one on your form: "The closing date for the acceptance of MCQ applications will be provided when the application form is sent." Until you have that form, plan to the earlier date, 25 January.

With two hard conditions:

"MCQ Applications may close earlier, and at short notice, due to AVBC operational requirements."

"No late applications or payments will be accepted. No payment terms can be offered."

Read that second one carefully. There is no late window, no grace period, and no payment plan — the examination fee falls due with the application. If you are budgeting, the money needs to be available in January 2027, not April.

The trap in the calendar: work out the order, not just the dates

Here is the part that a simple list of dates hides.

You cannot apply for the MCQ until AVBC has assessed you as eligible. The two deadlines are only 14 days apart on the AVBC pages that give 25 January, and 21 days apart on the two that give 1 February:

5 Oct 2026      11 Jan 2027     25 Jan 2027   1 Feb 2027      16 Apr 2027
     |               |               |             |               |
  portal        eligibility      MCQ applications close           MCQ
  opened       applications     (AVBC's pages show both)         exam
                   close
                     |<-- 14 days -->|
                     |<--------- 21 days --------->|

Now put the six-week processing time next to a gap of two or three weeks. An eligibility application lodged close to 11 January may not be assessed before MCQ applications close, on either date: AVBC says assessments can take up to six weeks, though it endeavours to complete them in a shorter time "whenever possible".

AVBC does not comment on how those two deadlines interact, and we are not going to tell you it will be fine. The safe reading is the conservative one: the 11 January date is the last date AVBC will accept an eligibility application, not the last date on which lodging one still gets you into the April exam.

If you intend to sit on 16 April 2027 and have not yet applied for eligibility, apply now. AVBC says an assessment can take up to six weeks, and longer if the application is incomplete. By our arithmetic (these are not AVBC dates), six weeks before 25 January is Monday 14 December 2026, and six weeks before 1 February is Monday 21 December 2026. Plan to the earlier one.

What AVBC has NOT published yet

This is where a lot of 2027 planning advice goes wrong, so we will be explicit about the gaps.

There are no 2027 Final (Clinical) Examination dates. None. The most recent AVBC statement goes only as far as:

"The next available Clinical Examination session will be held between November and December 2026. Exact dates will be provided to eligible candidates in due course."

That is the 2026 session — a candidate passing the MCQ on 16 April 2027 cannot sit it. AVBC's Step 3 page says the clinical exam is "usually in November" and that a mid-year session "may sometimes be offered mid-year at the discretion of AVEC and subject to demand." AVBC's General AVE Email Information page says sessions are "typically offered in June/July and November/December each year". Usually, typically and may sometimes are not commitments. If you see a confident "November 2027" clinical date anywhere, it has been extrapolated from the pattern, not published.

Also not yet published for 2027:

• The MCQ results release date. The handbook says results are sent by email "within six weeks." That is a service standard, not a calendar date — do not count backwards from a date you calculated yourself.
• The 2027 venue list. AVBC lists current MCQ venues (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth; Auckland, London, Dubai, New Delhi, Singapore) but does not attach a year to them or confirm them for the April 2027 sitting.
• Whether 2027 places are capped. Places for the 2026 MCQ were explicitly limited and were fully allocated. AVBC capped 2026 MCQ enrolments at 100 as an interim measure and has made no statement about 2027 itself; its 2025 Annual Report says only that, without changes to the clinical exam, "consideration may need to be given to continuing limited MCQ enrolments". Its standing "may close earlier" warnings, and the handbook's general note that "places in an MCQ Examination may be limited", are a reason to apply early rather than evidence of a specific cap.
• A settled 2027 fee. AVBC's fee schedule page carries no effective date or financial year, and its MCQ fee has changed since July 2026: it now shows $3,620, while AVBC's General AVE Email Information page gives the "fee (for 2027 MCQ)" as AUD $3,619. Because MCQ payment falls due with your application, confirm the fee at the time you apply rather than relying on any figure — including ours.

New for anyone heading to the clinical exam

If your plan runs past the MCQ, there is a change you need to start on now rather than later.

AVBC has moved the Practical Anaesthesia and Practical Surgery sections to an OSCE (model-based) format, and introduced a mandatory case log. AVBC states:

"The OSCE assessment format and case log requirement will first apply to all enrolments in the 2026 November and December clinical examination sessions."

Because it takes effect from those sessions onward, it will apply to 2027 clinical candidates — that is our reading of an effective-from statement, not something AVBC has said about 2027 specifically.

The case log requires three anaesthetic and three surgical cases, and the conditions attached to it matter as much as the number:

• Cases must be in cats and/or dogs only
• They must be supervised by an approved supervising veterinarian
• They must be submitted on the forms in Appendix 6 of the Candidates Handbook
• They must be "deemed satisfactory by the AVE Committee"

That last condition is the one to plan around: completing six cases does not guarantee they are accepted. Note also that AVBC's notice refers to submission "prior to enrolment," while Appendix 6 asks for the log with your formal expression of interest in a session — which comes earlier. Work to the earlier trigger.

This is a lead-time requirement. Supervised cases, correct paperwork and committee approval cannot be assembled in the weeks after an MCQ result.

The rules that have no date attached

These are not 2027 deadlines, but they shape when you should sit. We cover them in depth in the AVE timeline guide:

Rule	Requirement
3-year rule	You must attempt the Final (Clinical) Examination within 3 years of passing the MCQ
5-year rule	You must complete the entire AVE within 5 years of passing the MCQ
English test validity	Approved test results are valid for 3 years. They must be current when you lodge, and AVBC requires a current result at each stage, so the MCQ must fall within that validity
Repeated MCQ failure	Three MCQ failures require a 2-year wait before re-sitting

The English requirement is the one that most often derails a timeline. If English is not your first language, you need a current pass in an AVBC-approved English test (OET, IELTS Academic, TOEFL-iBT or PTE Academic), and the result must be submitted with your eligibility application — not sent on afterwards. Booking and sitting a test, then waiting on results, is frequently the longest lead-time item in the whole process. If you still need one, book it now. AVBC accepts results only from tests taken in person, and if you are considering TOEFL-iBT, AVBC's pages currently disagree on whether results on TOEFL's newer 1–6 score scale are accepted, so ask AVBC in writing (ave@avbc.asn.au) before you book.

The clinical exam itself is nine sections over five days, assessed as Oral (viva voce) and Practical components, held at an Australasian veterinary school — usually the University of Queensland Gatton campus. You must reach the required standard in all nine sections.

Working backwards from 16 April 2027

By when	Do this
Now (November 2026)	The portal has been open since 5 October 2026. If you have not applied for eligibility, do it now: sit your English test first if you need one (in person only), gather certified copies and translations of your qualifications, register as a Contact in the AVBC portal and submit
Monday 14 December 2026	Six weeks before 25 January (our arithmetic, not an AVBC date). A complete eligibility application lodged by then still leaves AVBC its full six weeks before the earlier MCQ closing date. Six weeks before 1 February is Monday 21 December 2026
November 2026 → January 2027	Allow up to six weeks for assessment; respond immediately to any request for further documents
11 January 2027	AVBC's last day for new eligibility applications. Lodging this late leaves two or three weeks before MCQ applications close, against AVBC's "up to six weeks" for assessment
As soon as eligible	Apply for the MCQ — do not wait for the closing date
25 January 2027 (or 1 February 2027)	Outer limit for MCQ applications, fee paid in full. AVBC's pages show both dates; plan to the earlier one. The binding date is the one on your MCQ application form
16 April 2027	Sit the Preliminary (MCQ) Examination
After results	If you pass, begin your anaesthesia and surgery case log immediately

Before you rely on any of this — check the current notice

One genuine hazard when you go looking for these dates yourself: AVBC has older notices still live on its site with nearly identical titles. One from July 2025 announces the MCQ sitting as 17 April 2026. Another news page still carries dates from 2022. Both are reachable from search, and neither is flagged as superseded.

The dates in this article come from the AVBC notice published 14 July 2026 (edited by AVBC on 28 October 2026), cross-checked against the AVE Step 2 page and the Information for AVE Candidates handbook (May 2026 edition), all first accessed 20 July 2026. On 1 November 2026 we re-checked them, together with AVBC's "Are you ready to apply for an AVE Eligibility Assessment?" and General AVE Email Information pages; those two pages still give the 25 January MCQ closing date, while the notice and the Step 2 page give 1 February. Note that the May 2026 handbook is still the current edition, and it contains no 2027 dates at all — it is authoritative on rules and exam structure, not on this cycle's calendar.

AVBC publishes these dates year by year and can change them. Two material AVE changes were announced in the three months before this article. Confirm every date against AVBC directly before you lock in a booking, a flight or a resignation:

AVBC — Australasian Veterinary Examination (Step 2)

Where we fit in

The dates above are AVBC's. What you do with the six months between them is the part you control.

Our AVE Part I course covers the full written syllabus for both MCQ papers — foundational veterinary science and case-based clinical reasoning — mapped to the subject categories and species groups in AVBC's published candidate information, and written to exam depth with Australian drug schedules, local toxicology and notifiable disease content.

If you are sitting on 16 April 2027, a 12-month enrolment now covers your entire run-up and the exam itself.

Explore AVE Part I preparation

---

This article summarises publicly available AVBC information as at 20 July 2026, with dates and fees re-checked on 1 November 2026, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council. Dates, fees and requirements are set by AVBC and are subject to change. Always confirm current details directly with AVBC before making decisions.