Intern Oral Exam Simulation

The real exam in 2027

Ahpra conducts the oral examination on behalf of the Pharmacy Board of Australia. Two examiners assess you, face to face except in the exceptional circumstances the Board lists, in each state and territory capital. The Board’s fee is $510.

• Part A, Primary health care (10 min, role play, no references): A primary health care scenario (for example pain, a rash or an eye problem). You interview the patient, take a medication history and suggest management.
• Part B, Legal and professional practice (5 min, discussion, not role play, no references): A scenario such as a suspected forged prescription, oral instructions from a prescriber or a dispensing error. You discuss the legal requirements and professional obligations, and what you would do.
• Part C, Problem solving and communication (20 min, role play, references permitted): You receive a prescription and the patient’s dispensing history, identify any problem, work with the prescriber where relevant and counsel the patient.

References are allowed only in Part C. You can bring your own hard-copy, electronic and online references, but internet search engines and AI-based search functions are prohibited, so save the web addresses you need as bookmarks. The Board provides no references or devices.

The first 2027 closing date is 4 December 2026. Interns must have completed 75% of the 1,575 hours (1,181 hours) by the first scheduled day of the exam period. You apply with the paper form APOE-60, which Ahpra must receive, with the fee, between the open and close dates, and you apply to sit in the state or territory where you did your supervised practice. Ahpra accepts no late applications and recommends its file upload portal. It allocates your date and time and emails them two weeks before the period starts. Results are ratified by the Board or its delegate, which may take several weeks after your exam. You are told the date at your exam, and results come by email. If you are unsuccessful, the letter lists the competencies you did not demonstrate; the Board no longer offers post-exam feedback meetings.

You can sit the registration examination after completing 75% of the hours (1,181 hours). Interns can count only hours done during provisional registration granted by the Board, on or after the date the Board approved those hours. You must pass both the written and the oral (practice) examinations within 18 months of each other. If you are unsuccessful in one, you must resit and pass it within 18 months of passing the other. You can sit them in either order.

From the Pharmacy oral examination (practice) candidate guide, April 2025 and the Board’s registration examination page. GdayPharmacist is an independent preparation provider. We are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Australian Pharmacy Council, the Pharmacy Board of Australia or Ahpra.