The pass rate announced by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) this morning (September 9) is 9.3 percentage points up on the June 2019 pass rate of 72.3%, which was the lowest since the GPhC took over responsibility for the assessment in 2011.
However, the pass rate is 6.6 percentage points lower than the pass rate for the first-ever online assessment in March.
No registration exams were held in 2020, as the regulator postponed them due to COVID-19.
A total of 2,907 candidates sat the second online registration assessment – after a record pass rate of 88.2% was achieved for the first-ever online exam in March.
Of these, 856 candidates passed the assessment on July 27, 883 sat and passed on July 28 while the remaining 632 who passed sat the assessment on July 29.
A total of 2,371 candidates successfully passed the July registration assessment.
Of these, 172 provisionally registered pharmacists successfully passed the registration exam and will be allowed to remain on the provisional register until they complete the application to join the register as a pharmacist.
The 87 prov-regs who were unsuccessful will not be able to continue to work in this capacity, according to the GPhC.
Of the candidates who sat the exam, 2,625 did so for the first time, 224 for the second time and 58 for the third time.
The GPhC admitted in July that up to four candidates could not sit the second paper “due to a system failure in one test centre”.
GPhC: Guidance available to support those who failed
GPhC CEO Duncan Rudkin congratulated all successful candidates on today's results.
“This is a significant achievement, particularly given the challenges with completing their training during the pandemic. We look forward to these candidates joining the register at the earliest possible opportunity," Mr Rudkin said.
“We also want to thank the tutors, education and training providers and employers who supported candidates throughout their training.
“We know that candidates who haven’t passed this sitting will be very disappointed. We hope the guidance we have developed will help them understand their options for next steps and are grateful to all of the organisations and individuals across pharmacy who will also provide them with support and advice.”
Listen to C+D's latest podcast below for advice on what to do upon receiving your registration exam results. Alternatively, follow C+D's podcasts by searching “Chemist+Druggist podcast” on your preferred app or on Soundcloud.
