MLE Midwife Board Exam Guide: 5 Subjects, 75% Rule, 4-Month Plan

MLE: The Complete Guide for Filipino Midwifery Graduates

The Midwife Licensure Examination (MLE) is the PRC board exam you pass to practice as a registered midwife in the Philippines. 7,180 examinees took it in 2025 across two sittings, and the passing rate over the last three sittings ranged from 42% to 58%. That spread is why a planned review matters.

This guide covers the dates, the five PRC subjects, the passing rule, PRC's actual results and a 4-month review plan.

1. The 2026 sittings, and what's next

• April 14–15, 2026: 2,124 examinees, 901 passed (42.42%). Results came out April 20.
• November 7–8, 2026: PRC set the second 2026 MLE for these dates, in 18 testing centers. Filing through PRC LERIS runs from August 7 to October 8, 2026, and PRC targets releasing results on November 11, 2026.

The MLE runs twice a year (April and November in 2025 and 2026). After November, the next sitting is expected around April 2027, but PRC hasn't published its 2027 schedule yet. Check prc.gov.ph before you plan backwards from a date.

2. The format: five subjects over two days

The MLE is paper-based. Each subject gets two hours.

The PRC exam program also lists basic sciences that are integrated throughout the five subjects: sociology, bacteriology, anatomy and physiology, psychology, nutrition, parasitology, microbiology and pharmacology. So there's no separate anatomy paper, but anatomy questions can appear in any subject.

PRC doesn't publish subject weights or item counts in the exam program, so treat all five subjects as equally important in your review.

3. The passing rule

Under RA 7392 (the Philippine Midwifery Act), Sec. 16, you pass when both are true:

1. General rating of at least 75%, and
2. No subject below 50%.

For example, a general rating of 78% with one subject at 48% is still a fail. The floor is low, but it means you can't skip any subject.

4. Who can take it, and the fee

• Eligibility: a graduate of a midwifery program, or a registered nurse, with notarized case records done within the last 5 years: 5 perineal suturings, 5 IV insertions, 20 normal deliveries and 20 internal examinations.
• Exam fee: ₱600. You apply through PRC LERIS. The free PRC requirements checklist helps you gather documents before you book.

5. PRC pass rates

Source: PRC results releases. More detail in the MLE pass rate post.

6. The 4-month review plan

Built for a fresh midwifery graduate who can review most days.

Month 1: Diagnose

Take one full timed practice test covering all five subjects, two hours each, split over two days like the real exam. Sort every wrong answer by subject and topic. That map decides where months 2 and 3 go.

Month 2: Foundations

Rotate subjects so Obstetrics gets daily attention:

• Mornings (90 min): Obstetrics: stages of labor, partograph reading, fetal distress, obstetric emergencies
• Afternoons (90 min): rotate Fundamentals of Health Care and Infant Care and Feeding
• Saturdays (3 hrs): Primary Health Care and Professional Growth and Development
• Sundays: Off

Useful references: a maternal and child health textbook (for example, Pillitteri's Maternal and Child Health Nursing), your school notes, and the DOH's maternal, newborn and child health program guidelines (free online).

Month 3: Practice

Switch to question practice. Aim for 50+ items per session and log every miss by topic.

Month 4: Final review and taper

Stop new material. Drill flashcards (partograph patterns, the EPI schedule, laws and their numbers) and take full timed practice tests on weekends. In the last week, cut your hours and rest.

The 4-month plan post has the week-by-week version, and the mock test strategy post shows how to space your practice tests.

7. Two areas worth extra time

Labor management and emergency obstetric care (Obstetrics)

Partograph reading, recognizing abnormal labor progress, and knowing when to refer are core midwifery skills and easy to under-practice from notes alone.

Fix: work through 30+ partograph cases. Practice spotting labor progress patterns and the referral point. Review newborn resuscitation steps.

DOH programs and laws (Primary Health Care, Professional Growth and Development)

Program details (EPI, Garantisadong Pambata, maternal and newborn care programs) and laws such as RA 10028 (Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act), RA 10354 (Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act) and RA 9288 (Newborn Screening Act) are pure memorization.

Fix: build a one-page summary of the EPI schedule, the laws and the key program points, and drill it until it's automatic.

8. What it costs

• PRC exam fee: ₱600.
• Travel and lodging, if your testing center is outside your city.
• Review: a review center is optional. Centers charge a one-time fee for a fixed season, so check each center's current rates. Self-study works if you keep a fixed daily schedule and practice under time pressure.

9. After you pass

Licensed midwives work in rural health units and barangay health stations, lying-in and birthing clinics, hospital delivery rooms, and DOH and LGU posts. Government midwife pay depends on the salary grade of the specific post, which is printed on each job posting. Private pay varies by employer. More in the midwife career guide.

10. If you don't pass

• One subject below 50% but a good general rating: fix that subject first, then keep the others warm with weekly practice.
• General rating just under 75%: you need more timed practice, especially in your two weakest subjects.
• Well below: plan a longer rebuild and change how you study, not just how long.

With two sittings a year, your next attempt is usually about six months away.

Review with Super Tutor

Super Tutor's MLE reviewer covers reproductive anatomy and physiology, normal pregnancy, labor and postpartum care, high-risk pregnancy (recognize and refer), emergency obstetric care, fundamentals of care, health assessment, newborn care, infant and child health (IMCI), midwifery pharmacology, community and public health, family planning and nutrition, BEmONC/MNCHN and EPI, bioethics, leadership, research and RA 7392. Each chapter comes in 11 study formats with practice quizzes at three difficulty levels, an AI tutor that explains any question step by step, a study planner, and full mock exams from a bank of 700+ MLE-style questions.

Start free — 5-day trial, no card. The trial includes one full mock. After that, plans start at ₱249/month with auto-pay (cancel anytime) or ₱299 to pay once, or ₱1,999 for a full year, pay once.

What to read next

• MLE format and subjects
• Obstetrics and infant care review
• Primary Health Care and Professional Growth review
• Anatomy, physiology and microbiology review
• MLE vs NLE

Sources: PRC results releases (2025–26), PRC 2026 exam schedule, the November 2026 PRC Midwifery exam program, PRC list of requirements (Midwifery), RA 7392 Sec. 16.