The student, Sophie C. Currier, of Brookline, Mass., sued the National Board of Medical Examiners after it denied her request for more than the standard 45 minutes of allotted breaks during the nine-hour exam.
The school gives students 9 hours to complete the exam, but will now give Currier an additional 60 minute break.
The 33-year-old mother said she would put her 4-month-old daughter, Lea's health to risk if she failed to nurse or pump breast milk every two or three hours.
"I now feel that I am able to take this test without putting my health or my child's health at risk," said Currier adding, "I hope this decision encourages moms to breast-feed and employers of moms to accommodate their needs."
Currier must pass the exam, which tests clinical knowledge, to receive her medical degree. Without it, she cannot start her residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.
A superior court judge denied Currier's claim last week, saying she could still find a way to express her milk during the test or allotted break time.
In the 26-page ruling, Appeals Court Judge Gary Katzmann said refusing to allow additional time meant that Currier must choose to either "use her break time to incompletely express breast milk and ignore her bodily functions, or abdicate her decision to express breast milk, resulting in significant pain."
Breast-feeding specialists believe that lactating women can experience pain and risk developing infection of their breasts if they don't express milk at least once every three hours.
The National Board of Medical Examiners however plans to appeal the ruling to a three-judge panel to protect the "integrity of the exam."
Dr. Ruth Hoppe, chairwoman of the board's governing body told the New York Times, "We have to maintain rigorous and consistent standards that are fair to everyone taking the test. The stakes for assessing competence of physicians are high."
Currier has already received permission from the board to take the test over two days instead of the usual one, because she has dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
She originally planned to take the exam this week, but postponed it until Oct. 4 in hope of winning her appeal.
