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The KAPS (Knowledge Assessment of Pharmaceutical Sciences) exam tests your knowledge and understanding of pharmaceutical sciences. Passing it confirms that you know enough to practise safely and effectively in an Australian setting.
This guide to the KAPS exam outlines the subject areas we assess, and will help you to prepare for the exam. You'll need to assess your own knowledge level, then evaluate that knowledge as much you can against the exam material.
On this page:
The KAPS exam consists of 200 questions delivered over two 2-hour sessions (a total of 4 hours of assessment) with a 60-minute scheduled break between papers.
Before starting the exam, you are given 15 minutes to complete a tutorial designed to familiarise yourself with the exam software. You're given 5 minutes at the end of the exam to complete a survey.
All questions are multiple-choice questions with one correct answer out of four options.
KAPS is a closed-book exam. This means you cannot bring any printed or handwritten reference materials into the exam with you.
We base our exams on the latest information, which you can find in relevant:
It's up to you to find this information. We do not endorse any external reference sources.
Medicine and ingredient names will be presented as per the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) list of approved names.
Values will be presented will be in SI (metric) units.
Units for quantities of drugs and directions for medications follow the approved abbreviations from the Recommendations for terminology, abbreviations and symbols used in medicines documentation.
Determiners are bold and capitalised to draw your attention to the kind of response expected. e.g. CORRECT, MOST, LEAST, NOT.
|
Content area |
Approximate distribution per content area |
|
Paper 1 |
|
|
Pharmaceutical Chemistry |
30% |
|
Physiology and Pharmacology |
70% |
|
Paper 2 |
|
|
Pharmaceutic |
30% |
|
Therapeutics |
70% |
You must complete all questions in the paper or papers you sit.
To pass the exam, you need a mark of at least 50% in all subsections of the exam.
|
Paper 1 |
Pharmaceutical chemistry 50% Pharmacology and physiology 50% |
|
Paper 2 |
Pharmaceutics 50% Therapeutics 50% |
You need an overall mark of at least 50%.
You will receive a results certificate indicating your outcome. We'll email you or your agent when your results are available. Expect this to be around 2 weeks after you sit the exam.
The KAPS exam consists of 2 papers:
You'll need to show you understand and have suitable knowledge in the following content areas:
|
Paper 1 |
Content assessed |
Indicative elements |
|
1 |
Organic chemistry |
|
|
2 |
Stereochemistry |
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3 |
Physical and inorganic chemistry |
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|
4 |
Analytical chemistry |
|
|
5 |
Biochemistry |
|
|
6 |
Structure-activity relationships |
|
|
7 |
Medicinal chemistry |
|
|
8 |
Drug metabolism |
|
You'll need to show you understand and have suitable knowledge in the following content areas:
|
Paper 1 |
Content assessed |
Indicative elements |
|
1 |
Biochemical pharmacology |
|
|
2 |
Systemic pharmacology |
|
|
3 |
Chemotherapy |
|
|
4 |
Toxicology |
|
|
5 |
Pathophysiology |
|
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6 |
General physiology |
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You'll need to show you understand and have suitable knowledge in the following content areas:
|
Paper 2 |
Content assessed |
Indicative elements |
|
1 |
Physical pharmacy |
|
|
2 |
Biopharmaceutics |
|
|
3 |
Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics |
|
|
4 |
Pharmaceutical microbiology |
|
|
5 |
Formulation |
|
|
6 |
Dose forms, including extemporaneous preparation |
|
You'll need to show you understand and have suitable knowledge in the following content areas:
|
Paper 2 |
Content assessed |
Indicative elements |
|
1 |
Calculations |
|
|
2 |
Posology and dose determinations |
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3 |
Medicine choice |
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4 |
Surgical dressings, applications and associated drug delivery systems |
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5 |
Adverse reactions to drugs |
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6 |
Drug interactions |
|
|
7 |
Drug information |
|
|
8 |
Managing minor ailments |
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To help you sit the KAPS exam, we provide 2 official sample papers:
These each contain questions to help you practise. These questions are no longer used, but they'll help you understand:
If you want to practise the sample papers under exam conditions, you'll need to answer all 100 questions in each paper in 2 hours.
The real KAPS exam is delivered online at an approved test centre. Our exam provider, Pearson Vue, provides an online sample test to experience the exam software before your exam day.
We are happy to assist you further with any questions you may have. Email us at exams@pharmacycouncil.org.au