The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, is a 10-minute test of memory and thinking. It scores 0 to 30, with 1 point added for 12 or fewer years of education, and a final total of 26 or more is the published normal range. See how the total and the education point work, what each range means, and how to record the result with the free template. The official form comes from mocacognition.com.
MoCA result template
FreeMoCA RESULT Date: [Date] Patient: [Name or ID, age] Reason for testing: [Memory concern, follow-up after a stroke or other event, baseline before treatment, or repeat of an earlier MoCA] TEST DETAILS Version and language: [Full 8.1, 8.2, or 8.3, or an adapted version; language of the form] How it was given: [In person on paper, by video with the official materials, or another approved route] Rater: [Name and role; MoCA certification if domain points are interpreted] On the day: [Hearing aids, glasses, interpreter, fatigue, pain, low mood, or anything else that may have lowered the score] SCORING Raw total: [0 to 30, as scored on the official sheet] Years of formal education: [Years of schooling counted from grade 1] Education point: [Added for 12 years or fewer, or not added] Final total: [Score out of 30, education point included] Range and cutoff: [Normal 26 or more, mild 18 to 25, moderate 10 to 17, severe under 10; or the cutoff your service uses] DOMAIN POINTS Points by domain: [Visuospatial and executive, naming, attention, language, abstraction, delayed recall, orientation] Memory Index Score: [Out of 15 if recorded, or not used] Pattern: [Where most points were lost, read by a certified rater] CONTEXT Concerns and timeline: [What the patient and people close to them have noticed, and since when] Daily function: [Tasks managed alone and tasks that now need help] Other causes reviewed: [Mood, sleep, alcohol, medicines, hearing, vision, recent illness or stroke] DECISION Impression: [What the result suggests, read with the history and daily function] Next steps: [Bloodwork, imaging, therapy assessment, referral, or no further testing] Repeat MoCA: [Date, and which alternate version] Explained to: [Patient, family member, or both, and how] Clinician: [Name, credentials]
Use it for
Choose the version that fits the person and the visit, and download it with its instructions from the official site. Check what your use needs: certification is required if you will read the domain points, not only the total.
Avoid: Using a copy found online or translating the form on the spot. Only the official versions match the published scoring.
Follow the official instructions word for word, in the order printed, with the timing they give.
Avoid: Coaching, hinting, or giving extra tries to be kind. Help the instructions don’t allow raises the score and hides real impairment.
Add the task points for a raw total out of 30, then add 1 point for 12 or fewer years of education on the full MoCA.
Avoid: Adding the point a second time. When a final total is copied into another record or a referral, label it as final so nobody adds it again.
The final total sits in a range. Daily function and the history decide what it means for this person.
Avoid: Reading 18 to 25 as mild dementia. The bands describe the score, not a diagnosis or a stage.
The domain points show where the total was lost. Under the current terms, interpreting them needs a certified rater.
Avoid: Writing out the tasks or the person’s answers in the note. Record points by domain; the scored sheet stays with the record.
A repeat MoCA shows change only when it’s given the same way each time.
Each one follows the recording template. Use them to judge how much to write.
Family practice, a longer visit booked for memory concerns, given by the practice’s nurse practitioner
Full version 8.1 in English, on paper, in person. Given by the nurse practitioner, MoCA certified. Reading glasses on. Mild hearing loss in both ears, no hearing aids yet; she sat facing the rater in a quiet room and repeated each instruction back without trouble. Alert, calm, and keen to do well.
Raw total 22. Schooling: 10 years; she left after grade 10 to work in her family’s bakery. Education point added. Final total 23 of 30: mild range on the commonly used bands, below the 26 cutoff.
Visuospatial and executive 4 of 5, naming 3 of 3, attention 5 of 6, language 2 of 3, abstraction 2 of 2, delayed recall 1 of 5, orientation 5 of 6. Most points lost on delayed recall; the other domains lost 1 point or none. A memory-led pattern.
72-year-old woman, widowed, lives with her younger sister, who came with her consent. Over about a year she has lost the thread of conversations, mislaid her keys most weeks, and twice left the oven on. Still runs her own bank account, shopping, and medicines, and drives locally in daylight. GDS 3 of 15. Takes levothyroxine and amlodipine; TSH normal in June. Two glasses of wine most evenings. No falls and no new medicines.
Impression: memory-led impairment with daily tasks still managed alone, which fits mild cognitive impairment; cause not yet known. Next steps: vitamin B12, folate, TSH, complete blood count, and a metabolic panel with calcium; CT head; audiology for hearing aids. Advised cutting wine to one glass on a few evenings a week. Oven timer and auto shut-off agreed with her sister. Results visit in 3 weeks, and memory clinic referral if no reversible cause turns up. Repeat MoCA in 6 months on version 8.2. Explained to her and her sister as a memory change worth looking into, not a diagnosis.
Outpatient stroke rehab, occupational therapy assessment 8 weeks after a right parietal stroke
Full version 8.1 in English, on paper, in person. Given by the occupational therapist, MoCA certified, at the start of the session before he tired. Glasses on. Full visual fields on the stroke team’s exam and no left-sided neglect on line bisection. Right-handed, drawing with his usual hand.
Raw total 25. Schooling: 16 years, with a degree in civil engineering. No education point. Final total 25 of 30: mild range on the commonly used bands, one point under the 26 cutoff.
Visuospatial and executive 2 of 5, naming 3 of 3, attention 5 of 6, language 3 of 3, abstraction 2 of 2, delayed recall 4 of 5, orientation 6 of 6. Three of the five lost points were visuospatial and executive; memory largely spared. The pattern fits the site of the stroke.
66-year-old man, civil engineer, hoping to return to work part-time. Right parietal ischemic stroke 8 weeks ago; mild left arm weakness has recovered. His wife says he struggles to follow a new recipe and has lost his place twice while paying bills online. He found reading site plans slow when he tried some work from home. Independent in self-care. Hasn’t driven since the stroke. PHQ-9 5. Takes aspirin, atorvastatin, and ramipril; sleeping well.
Impression: mild post-stroke cognitive impairment, mainly visuospatial and executive, with self-care intact. Next steps: occupational therapy twice a week for 6 weeks on planning and visual scanning strategies; neuropsychology referral before any return to work; a formal driving assessment before he drives again. Return-to-work plan with his employer after the neuropsychology report. Repeat MoCA in 3 months on version 8.2. Explained to him and his wife, with written strategies for bills and recipes.
The point is added once, to the raw total. A final total adjusted again when it’s copied into a referral can lift it over the 26 cutoff on a point nobody earned.
Mild, moderate, and severe describe the score. Whether it’s mild cognitive impairment or dementia depends on daily function and a full assessment.
Many healthy older adults with fewer years of schooling score 23 to 25. Read the score with the history, and record the cutoff you used.
MoCA-Blind and the telephone forms have lower maximums and their own cutoffs. Record them as they are, out of their own total.
Within about 3 months, people can remember the tasks. Switch to version 8.2 or 8.3 and note which you used.
The MoCA is copyrighted. Record points by domain and keep the scored official sheet with the record.
Vero Scribe records the MoCA result in your template from the visit, with the patient’s consent, or from your dictation: the version, the raw and final totals, the education point, the domain points, and the plan. You review and edit every line, then copy it into your record. Vero works in 60+ languages.
Each task is scored as the official instructions direct, and the points add up to a raw total out of 30. Then 1 point is added if the person has 12 or fewer years of formal education, unless they already scored 30. Record the raw total, whether the point was added, and the final total. Using only the total needs no certification; interpreting the domain points does.
A final total of 26 to 30, after any education point, is the published normal range. Below that, the commonly used bands are 18 to 25 for mild, 10 to 17 for moderate, and under 10 for severe impairment. MoCA Cognition calls the moderate and severe cut points arbitrary, and none of the bands is a diagnosis.
On the full MoCA, add 1 point when the person has 12 or fewer years of formal education, counting years from grade 1. The total can’t go above 30. Other versions may use a different correction or none, so follow the instructions for the form you gave. Add the point only once, and label the final total as final when you pass it on.
It’s one point under the 26 cutoff, at the top of the mild range. In someone whose memory or daily tasks are slipping, it supports a fuller assessment. In an older person with few years of schooling and no concerns, it may be their normal: the 26 cutoff flags many healthy older adults, and a 2018 meta-analysis found a cutoff of 23 more accurate overall. Read it with the history, daily function, and where the points were lost.
Both score out of 30, but the MoCA leans more on executive function, attention, and delayed recall, so it picks up milder impairment. In the 2005 validation study, at the same cutoff of 26, the MoCA picked up 90% of people with mild cognitive impairment and the MMSE 18%. The two scores aren’t interchangeable, so keep the same test for a patient over time. The Mini-Cog is a 3-minute first screen, and the SLUMS is another free 30-point option.
Any clinician or care provider can give it by following the official instructions, and a health professional reads the result. MoCA Cognition made certification mandatory in 2019. Since December 2025 it’s optional for health professionals who use only the total score to screen, triage, or refer, and still required to interpret individual tasks, subscores, or domains. The training is a one-hour online module, free for students, faculty, academic researchers, and full-time staff of publicly run institutions.
The full version can be given by video with the official audiovisual materials. For voice-only calls there are separate telephone forms, including MoCA-Blind, with lower maximum scores and their own cutoffs. Record the form and its own maximum. MoCA Cognition says converting a MoCA-Blind score to a 30-point figure hasn’t been validated.
The test is copyrighted by MoCA Test Inc. Routine clinical use needs no separate licence as long as patients aren’t charged for the test, and the official forms and instructions are downloaded from mocacognition.com after signing in. Training has a fee unless you qualify for the free program. Copying, changing, or translating the test needs written permission. The recording template on this page is free to copy or download.
Six self-report questions on the past six months: a positive adult ADHD screen at 4 or more of 6 shaded answers.
Eleven items on memory, attention, and executive function: a cognitive screen scored 0 to 30, with cutoffs set by schooling.
Three-word recall and a clock drawing in about 3 minutes: a dementia screen scored 0 to 5, positive at 0 to 2.
Getting the official form, the form families and their maximum scores, and fixing a score copied wrong between records.
Where a MoCA sits alongside medicines, function, mood, falls, and frailty.
The plan after a diagnosis: scores, stage, safety, medicines, and caregiver support.
Stroke follow-ups, memory clinic visits, and referral letters, recorded for your review.
Every tool, by area, with what its scores mean.
Vero records scores, findings, and plans in the templates you choose, so you review instead of type.
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