Five pharmacy schools had pass rates of 95 per cent or above in last June's registration exam, according to figures released by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

The University of Bath was top of the class with a pass rate of 100 per cent, while 98 per cent of University of Strathclyde students passed the sitting, the GPhC revealed in a breakdown of results by pharmacy school yesterday (May 18).

The University of Manchester, Cardiff University and the University of Nottingham pharmacy schools also achieved pass rates of 95 per cent or higher. The average across the UK was 85 per cent.

The University of Bradford’s five-year “practice-integrated” course, during which students carry out two six-month pre-registration placements, produced an 83 per cent pass rate. By comparison, the same university’s four-year course only achieved an average pass rate of 78 per cent, the GPhC figures showed.

The University of Portsmouth had the lowest pass rate of 70 per cent. The lowest pass rate the previous year - 55 per cent - was jointly held by Medway School of Pharmacy and the University of Hertfordshire.

Pass rates through the years

The average pass rate dropped from 95 per cent in 2012 to 78 per cent in 2013, which the GPhC attributed to the introduction of a new registration exam. This involved the use of new questions that "relied less on factual recall and more on decision making in patient-centred scenarios", the regulator said.

None of the 25 UK pharmacy schools included in the GPhC’s data reached the 95 per cent pass rate in 2013, although 14 did the year before.

In December, the GPhC announced it would revamp its registration exam once again in 2016 to allow candidates to better demonstrate their clinical abilities. All open book sources for the exam, including the BNF, would be replaced with materials pharmacists would come into contact with during clinical practice, such as patient information leaflets, the GPhC said at the time.

How could universities improve their pass rates?

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