Registration Examination

This information about the Board’s registration examination is for individuals who are:

• graduates of programs of study approved by the Board for general registration
• graduates of programs of study approved by the Board for provisional registration
• graduates of substantially equivalent programs which are accepted by the Board as being suitable for provisional registration
• overseas qualified pharmacists who have successfully completed the Australian Pharmacy Council’s Overseas Pharmacist Readiness Assessment (OPRA) exam or Knowledge Assessment of Pharmaceutical Sciences (KAPS) exam and are eligible for provisional registration.

(Note: overseas qualified pharmacists who have successfully completed the Australian Pharmacy Council’s Competency Assessment of Overseas Pharmacist (CAOP) exam, refer to the information on Overseas Practitioner Registration.)

The registration examination for general registration comprises a written examination and an oral examination.

On 1 January 2021, changes to the registration examination took effect. Further information on these changes is available in the FAQ below.

Eligibility to sit the Board’s registration examination

The following eligibility requirements apply to sit the Board’s registration exam:

Undertaking the registration examination in more than one examination period

Successful completion of the registration examination requires you to pass both the written and the oral (practice) examinations within 18-months.

For example:

• An individual who is unsuccessful in the oral examination (practice) is required to resit and pass that examination within 18 months of having passed the written examination.
• An individual who is unsuccessful in the written examination is required to resit and pass that examination within 18 months of having passed the oral examination (practice).

Written examination

The written examination is conducted by the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC).

Further information including eligibility criteria and how to apply can be found on the APC website.

Oral examination

The oral examination is held in each jurisdiction according to the Schedule of Oral Examinations set out below. An Application for a pharmacy intern to be a candidate for an oral examination (practice) - APOE-60 must be lodged by the published closing date for that examination period.

Further information about the oral examination is detailed in the Pharmacy oral examination (practice) candidate guide.

Schedule of Oral Examinations

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) conducts oral examinations on behalf of the Pharmacy Board of Australia in the following locations.

Mode of delivery of the oral examination (practice)

The oral examination (practice) is delivered face-to-face except in exceptional circumstances such as:

• face-to-face examinations are not permitted (e.g. due to restrictions during a pandemic)
• examiners are unavailable to attend an examination centre in a jurisdiction (e.g. unable to travel due to a pandemic)
• where the schedule of examinations can only accommodate an online exam due to examiner availability
• out of sessions exams (held outside the three main exam periods) for return to practice, limited registrants, or candidates who unable to attend exams due to illness or adverse event
• candidates in a remote or rural location who are offered the choice to sit an online exam (to mitigate inconvenience and cost of travel and accommodation)
• in jurisdictions where the candidate numbers are less than 10
• other unforeseen circumstances where the requirement to deliver a face-to-face examination would adversely impact the candidate’s opportunity to undertake the examination.

If it is necessary to deliver the examinations online, candidates will be informed of these arrangements in an email confirming the date and time of their examination (unless an immediate change to the examination schedule is required during the examinations).

If a candidate believes their circumstances warrant the offer of an online examination, they must detail their request in an email to the examinations team at the time of submitting their application.

An Application for a pharmacy intern to be a candidate for the oral examination (practice) - APOE-60 can be downloaded on the Forms page. This is a paper application and must be received by Ahpra between the application open and close dates stated in the table below.

If sending an application via post, candidates are advised to mail applications early to avoid missing the closing date. Late applications will not be accepted. It is recommended to use the file upload portal to avoid delays.

2025

The schedule of oral examinations in 2025 is set out below and may vary from the schedules of previous oral examinations.

**Examinations will not be conducted on each date of the published examination schedule or on the same dates at each location. The number of days that examinations will be conducted in each location will vary depending on candidate numbers and examiner/venue availability. Candidates should make themselves readily available during the published examination period.

After the examination application closing dates, candidates are randomly allocated a date and time to present to the examination location. Candidates will receive this information by email two weeks before the commencement of the examination period. Candidates are reminded that Ahpra must have correct contact details at all times

Contact us

For all enquiries regarding the Pharmacy oral examination, please send us an email.