A total of 2,697 candidates sat the registration assessment in four countries on 29 June, with 2,147 candidates passing the assessment: an overall pass rate of 80%.
The results of the common registration assessment for pharmacists, held jointly by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI), have been published.
This summer’s pass rate of 80% compares with the 82% pass rate for the summer 2021 registration assessment, and the 61% pass rate for the Autumn 2021 registration assessment.
GPhC Chief Executive Duncan Rudkin said:
“We would like to congratulate the successful candidates and we look forward to them joining our register and continuing to the next stage of their career.
“However, we appreciate that the June registration assessment was a difficult and stressful experience for many – and we are extremely sorry about the problems faced by a number of candidates on the day.
“For those who did not pass, there is a guide on our website [PDF 255 KB] outlining all the options that may be available, such as provisional registration and the right to appeal. There are also links to organisations and resources that can provide support with mental health and wellbeing.
“We wish the successful candidates all the best in their future careers and encourage those who were unsuccessful to make full use of our guide to help them with their next steps towards future registration and success in the profession.”
Pharmaceutical Society NI Chief Executive, Trevor Patterson said:
“We congratulate all those candidates who have been successful and wish them every success in their future careers as much needed additions to the healthcare workforce.
“We would like to apologise to those candidates that experienced disruption to their sitting of the Common Registration Assessment on 29 June 2022 and to reassure them that steps are being taken to ensure learnings from the assessment are applied.
“Those candidates in Northern Ireland who have been unsuccessful should refer to guidance on the Pharmaceutical Society NI website which includes advice on next steps and signposting to help and support in Northern Ireland.”
Further information and statistics
Table 1: Performace breakdown for all candidates
| Candidates | Number | % of total |
| Total number of candidates | 2697 | 100% |
| GPhC candidates | 2570 | 95% |
| PSNI candidates | 127 | 5% |
| Number of first time sitters | 2389 | 89% |
| Number of second time sitters | 189 | 7% |
| Number of third time sitters | 119 | 4% |
| Candidate performance- pass rates | ||
| First sitting candidates - pass | 1968 | 82% |
| Second time sitters - pass | 102 | 54% |
| Third time sitters - pass | 77 | 65% |
| Overall pass | 2147 | 80% |
| Overall fail | 550 | 20% |
Table 2: 2021 sittings
| Registration year | Total sitting | Total passing | Pass rate |
| March 2021 | 2666 | 2353 | 88% |
| July 2021 | 2907 | 2371 | 82% |
| November 2021 | 959 | 584 | 61% |
Table 3: Registration assessment results for previous years (Summer sittings)
| Registration year | Total sitting | Total passing | Pass rate |
| 2019 | 2942 | 2128 | 72% |
| 2018 | 2942 | 2318 | 79% |
| 2017 | 2823 | 2208 | 78% |
| 2016 | 2804 | 2672 | 95% |
| 2015 | 2811 | 2077 | 74% |
Quality assuring the registration assessment
The registration assessment papers are developed by experienced pharmacists and assessment experts. Questions are written by practising pharmacists, then the standard of each question is set by standards setters, all of whom are practising pharmacists with current knowledge of pre-registration trainees and/or recently registered pharmacists.
Papers are then set by an appointed body of pharmacists and assessment experts, the Board of Assessors. All questions and papers are mapped on to the GPhC’s registration assessment framework to ensure they reflect the practice of a day one pharmacist.
After a sitting, the performance of all questions and papers as a whole in that particular sitting are analysed and, using statistical methods applied across health professional examinations, the pass mark for each paper is confirmed and candidates are awarded passes or fails. Candidates who pass both papers pass overall.
The Board of Assessors set the passing standard, not the percentage of candidates who pass the assessment. This means that candidates are not being measured against each other or selected to pass or fail according to where they sit in the cohort of all candidates.
All marking is anonymous and the Board of Assessors does not know where any candidate sat or what attempt they were undertaking during the mark awarding process.
Further information on how papers are created and marked can be found on the registration assessment pages of our website.
For more detailed statistics on the result, see our statistical breakdown [PDF 180 KB]