Preparing for the GPhC registration exams: six steps to help you effectively plan your revision

Introduction

In the run up to the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) registration assessment, it is common for foundation trainees to feel overwhelmed by the scale of content that must be covered, but with good preparation, you can effectively take control and improve your chances of success. This article outlines six steps that can break the task down into manageable stages, using the various components of the GPhC registration assessment framework as your guide. It will also walk you through example questions, showing how the assessment framework can be applied to pharmacy practice, and provide tips and advice on the ‘single best answer’ question format used in the exam.

This article is the first of a three-part series for foundation trainees preparing for GPhC registration assessment. In parts two and three, we will look at specific sections of the framework in closer detail and work through more example exam questions.

Step 1: Download, read and understand the GPhC assessment framework

If you have not done so already, your first step should be to download a copy of the GPhC assessment framework and work through the online sample questions​[1]​. It will also be helpful to have it to hand as you read through this article.

The GPhC exam consists of two papers: part 1, which focuses on calculations, and part 2, which covers everything else. The GPhC registration assessment framework contains all of the learning outcomes tested by the registration assessment. It is organised into two knowledge themes:

• Expectations of pharmacy professionals: This focuses on principles of clinical governance, a duty of care about a colleague’s health, performance or conduct that may be detrimental to the public, responding to medical emergencies, and how pharmaceutical sciences are used to develop medicines and medical devices.
• The skills required in practice: This theme represents the bulk of the assessment framework and focuses on practical knowledge, theory and skills. It is further divided into five subtopics:
  • 10.2.1 Implementing health policy;
  • 10.2.2 Validating therapeutic approaches and supplying prescribed and over-the-counter medicines;
  • 10.2.3 Ensuring that safe and effective systems are in place to manage the risk inherent in the practice of pharmacy and the delivery of pharmaceutical services;
  • 10.2.4 Working with patients and the public;
  • 10.2.5 Maintaining and improving professional performance.

Step 2: Use the outcome weightings and indicative assessment topics when planning your revision

Individual outcomes have different relative importance and are weighted as low (up to 10% of questions), medium (25–35% of questions) or high (60–70% of questions). Use the weightings to allocate your time wisely but don’t neglect the low and medium weighted outcomes. Marks gained in the low weighted topics could make a significant difference to the final score and it is vital that future pharmacists have a broad knowledge base to draw from when entering practice.

Each outcome is then supported by indicative assessment topics, which illustrate how examiners may apply the outcome to pharmacy practice. They are intended to help you better understand the learning outcome but it is important to note the word indicative here — don’t be thrown off if the question set in the exam is different to what you were expecting.

Step 3: Prepare adequately for calculations questions

It is important to highlight the third outcome in section 10.2.3 ‘Use pharmaceutical calculations to verify the safety of doses and administration rates’. Pharmaceutical calculations form part 1 of the GPhC exam paper and the topics are highlighted in the box below.

It is vital to practice samples of these questions from the GPhC website so that you are familiar with the format and the online platform you will be using on the day. The calculations paper is not the focus of this series, but a range of useful resources from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, The Pharmaceutical Journal and other organisations and training providers are listed at the end of this article.

Step 4: Create a plan for covering all therapeutic areas

In addition to the 2 knowledge themes, there are 15 therapeutic areas specified in the framework, again with weightings of high, medium or low, indicating the proportion of questions that they will account for in the exam. All questions that relate to clinical care are mapped to these therapeutic areas. An individual question may map to multiple therapeutic areas; for example, a patient may be described as having both hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

While some knowledge can be applied in a generic way to all therapeutic areas, others will require specific study. For example, when applying pharmaceutical knowledge to medicine formulations, you will need to understand how this differs between medicines used for cardiovascular disease compared with gastrointestinal problems. This requires you to process and absorb a large amount of information, but with adequate planning, it is possible to cover a lot of ground in the time available to you. Part 3 in this series looks at how to revise the therapeutic areas in more detail.

Step 5: Create a revision timetable

You should now create a weekly revision schedule (and stick to it!) to help you maximise the time available. The Figure provides an example of what this might look like.

Step 6: Think about the question formats used in the exam

It is also important to consider the format of questions that you will face in part 2 of the registration exam, which are single best answer (SBA) and extended matching questions (EMQs)​[1]​. 

SBA questions test the candidates’ ability to apply knowledge and come up with a single answer that stands out above the other answer options. This is very differnet to questions designed to test knowledge recall of isolated facts​[2]​. All five answer options given for a scenario are likely to be correct in some way; however, one of the answers will stand out above the rest as the ‘best’ answer.

Another feature of SBA questions is that they should obey the ‘cover options’ rule, meaning that it should be possible for the candidate to be able to answer the question correctly even if the answer options were ‘covered’​[2]​. If you find yourself struggling to figure out the SBA from the five answer options, it may be that you have not understood the nuance within the scenario well enough, or you have not sufficiently prepared for the topic. To illustrate this, two worked examples are provided below showing a representative SBA question and how you might work through the options to identify the best answer.

Next, let us focus on extended matching questions (EMQs). According to Swanson and Case [4], when creating EMQs, the examiner will decide a theme, the answer options, and the lead in, and then the items are constructed, which you are required to match with one of the answer options (these can be used for several items)​[2]​. Examples of EMQs are shown below — both questions are based on the same list of options, but different scenarios.

Summary

This first article in the series has explored the GPhC framework and highlighted how to use the learning outcomes and indicative assessment topics to guide revision. It has also highlighted how weightings can be used to help allocate time strategically, but remember that you will gain a higher chance of success if you begin your revision early enough to allow all sections of the framework to be covered adequately. We have also highlighted the need to cover all 15 therapeutic areas and provided some advice on how to approach single best answer questions in the exam itself.

Acknowledgements: 

All practice questions were reproduced with kind permission provided by Focus Pre-Reg Revision