EXCLUSIVE

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) will investigate whether the low pass rate for June's registration exam is linked to rising students numbers, it has told C+D.

The 74% pass rate – the lowest for six years – could have been related to "probably twice as many students" taking the exam in recent years, GPhC head of education Damian Day told a C+D webinar on Tuesday (December 8).

It was "not inevitable" that increasing student numbers would lower the pass rate, and the regulator plans to look into the "nuts and bolts" of why so many students failed, Mr Day said.

“You’ve got to consider the effect of doubling the number of students... on examination pass rate[s]. It's a work in progress,” he said.

The pass rate could have been affected by other factors, and the GPhC is examining "the profiles of some of the students in much more depth...to gain an understanding of what might have gone on," he said.

Exam no harder than usual

Mr Day did not think June’s exam had been too difficult for students, because its “relative hardness” had been assessed afterwards, he said.

Some students might have felt “unprepared” for the assessment, he suggested. “Of course, we can’t say without actually asking them,” he stressed.

Mr Day recommended that pre-registration students and tutors access information on next year’s revamped registration exam on the GPhC website so they are not “caught unawares”. “Going on the website will be time well spent: looking at the manual, making sure you’re very clear about what will be expected of you,” he added.

Listen back to the webinar

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