It’s never too early to start planning for your GPhC assessment. 

We’ve put together some advice to help you prepare for your assessment and plan your revision accordingly.

Get familiar with the assessment format

Ensure you understand what the assessment is likely to cover but also what each question type looks like. 

The GPhC website is updated regularly, so check there for any changes – and follow the @TheGPhC on Twitter, too – they often share information there.

The GPhC Foundation page contains everything you need to know about the training year and the assessment. It’s a good place for information about the assessment format, assessment resources, and details of calculators you can use on your assessment day.

Read the GPhC registration assessment framework

The registration framework covers what the GPhC are testing in the assessment. Set aside time to read through the GPhC registration assessment framework thoroughly. Ensure you understand what each assessment topic means, and what you are expected to know. 

Work through the framework and make a list of all the topics you need to learn about for your assessment, highlighting any gaps in your knowledge and skills. 

Develop a list of SMART (Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) actions of your next steps. 

Devise a learning and revision plan of how you will address these gaps and increase your knowledge base in key areas.

Wellbeing Tips:

• Develop a technique of how to manage anxiety and stress. A Coping with Stress and Looking after your Wellbeing video is available from Pharmacist Support and Health Education England. It includes a range of tips and techniques to help manage feelings of unease and guiding you through a mindfulness technique
• Remember to look after your health too. Ensure you eat well, stay hydrated and exercise frequently during as you are revising
• Avoid last minute revision, leave the last few days prior to your assessment to relax and go over your revision material
• Ensure you get a good night’s sleep the night before the assessment so you’re fresh for the big day.

Familiarise yourself with the assessment resources

You cannot take paper copies of reference sources to the assessment, therefore it is important to ensure you know what some of these resources look like so you can find the required information quickly.

Extracts from a range of reference sources will be provided within the Pearson VUE online platform. GPhC examples are provided below, but this is not an exhaustive list.

Extracts from a British National Formulary (BNF)

The BNF website provides information on how to use BNF publications online.

A Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPCs)

You can access SmPCs from the Electronic Medicines Compendium (eMC). perhaps pick a selection that you are not familiar with, for example a medicine that you have not come across in practice. Go through the layout and contents to familiarise yourself with what type of information is contained in each section. 

Develop a technique for locating key information quickly within, e.g. side effects, contra-indications, and storage instructions. 

It might be useful to print out or save some electronic versions of SmPCs (as a pdf), highlight key pieces of information, and use paper or electronic sticky notes attached to the SmPCs to summarise your learning points. 

Our overview of SPCs provides further hints and tips on how to use SmPCs effectively.

Photographs

Find, print or save some photographs of common conditions and minor ailments, such as skin disorders, and eye conditions. Annotate and label these photographs noting key clinical manifestations and features. This will help you diagnose the suspected condition. 

NHS choices have photographs which might be helpful, and you can freely access Mind the Gap: A handbook of clinical signs in Black and Brown skin.

A medication chart

If you are unfamiliar with medication charts, link up with a colleague who has experience of using them and ask them to show you the format and how they are used for prescribing, dispensing, administration of medicines and making records. 

Make a list of all the resources you need to be familiar with for the assessment and ensure your revision plan includes sufficient time for these resources.

Practice, practice, practice

There is value in practicing your approach to answering questions to ensure you are fully prepared for your assessment. Good technique is key to ensure that you answer questions correctly but efficiently. 

Try to complete a set number of sample questions every week, perhaps every day as the assessment draws closer, under timed conditions. 

For part 1, you have 120 minutes to answer 40 calculation questions which gives you roughly three minutes per calculation. Practise going through a calculation twice in three minutes to ensure you get the correct answer.

For part 2, you have 150 minutes to answer 120 questions (90 single best answer questions and 30 extended matching questions), giving you just over a minute per question. Practise attempting questions within this time, including time to read, absorb, and understand what is being asked of you.

It’s also a good idea to complete at least two complete online mock assessments under timed conditions as you would in the assessment, this will help you learn techniques to manage your time effectively. 

A note of caution that you should not simply rely on practice questions as your main form of revision. Performance in a mock assessment might not reflect your performance on the day.

Our Revision Course and mock assessment are a way of practising and preparing for the registration assessment.