November 2023 Results Day
Find out more about what your next steps are following the November assessment results.
If you’ve passed the assessment
Congratulations to those who passed the November assessment. If you will be joining the register for the first time, take a look at our Registering as a pharmacist webpage. This contains information about registration and looking for work.
We have plenty of available resources to help you look for work as a pharmacist, including our Looking for work: job vacancy sites webpage. This provides information on where you can find advertised jobs online. A lot of newly registered pharmacists will take on the role of a locum. Take a look at our Locum webpage for further information about locum work.
Find out more about being a newly qualified pharmacist
If you’ve failed the assessment
If you fail the assessment, it is only natural that you will feel disappointed. Feelings of anger and disappointment are common. Take some time out to relax with friends and family, and don’t be embarrassed about feeling upset. If you would like some peer support to help with how you’re feeling, get in touch and we can arrange for you to speak to one of our Listening Friends.
Find out more about our Listening Friends service
Using CBT to help you to cope with failing the assessment
For many trainees, not passing the assessment can be emotionally tough. However, in many stressful situations we have the power to take control of how we emotionally respond by reframing our thoughts. Using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) techniques can be very useful in helping to change irrational, negative, or faulty thoughts and thinking patterns around assessment results.
Find out more about how CBT can help you
Preparing for a re-sit
You may have felt that your pre-registration training left you with little time to study. If this is the case then once your placement is complete, you will have more time to organise a sensible revision timetable.
Our assessment webpage has more information about preparing for the exam
Revision sites
There are a number of revision sites that can help trainees to prepare. Many of these sites offer free trials which can help you to decide which best fits your revision needs. Here are some suggestions to get you started:-
Exam nerves
Exam stress can affect trainees in varying ways. If you think that exam stress may negatively impact your performance, you could consider learning a coping technique, for example, mindfulness.
According to the NHS, studies have found that mindfulness programmes, can bring about reductions in stress and improvements in mood.
For further information on mindfulness, see our Mindfulness webpage.
To learn more about coping with stress, see our Help with Stress webpage.
Learn how to cope with anxiety, at our Help with Anxiety webpage.
Appeals
You can submit an appeal if you believe that you have sufficient grounds to do so. The GPhC stresses that an appeal can only be made on the basis of new information/circumstances coming to light that you could not have been aware of on the day, or on the grounds that the correct procedure has not been applied/followed.
The deadline for submitting an appeal is the 2 January 2024. Even if you are waiting for the outcome of an appeal, it is advisable that you begin to prepare for the Summer 2024 assessment in case your appeal is not successful.
For further information, see section 6 of the GPhC trainee manual.
Help with appeals
PDA membership is FREE to students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified and they can help with submitting an appeal to the GPhC. Further details can be found on the PDA website.
You could also take a look at the PDA advice and guidance about appeals.
Requesting adjustments for a re-sit
If you have failed your first or second attempt at the assessment and are planning to register to sit the Summer 2024 assessment and you need adjustments, such as extra time, you may have to put in a fresh application to the GPhC. If you applied for an adjustment for the November 2023 exam you will have been granted one of the following adjustment types:
- An adjustment for one sit only – this is for people who have a temporary impairment that they are likely to make a full recovery from, for example, a broken bone
- An adjustment that can be used for all attempts at the exam in 2023 – this is for people who have an ongoing medical condition that is unlikely to improve
- An adjustment that can be used for all attempts at the exam regardless of when the exam is sat – this is also for people who have an ongoing medical condition that is unlikely to improve
If you did not submit a request for an adjustment for the November 2023 exam, you will need to submit a request for an adjustment if you plan to take the Summer Assessment 2024. If you did apply for an adjustment for the November exam and only received an adjustment for one sit, you will need to submit a new request. The deadline for requesting adjustments is 28 February 2024.
For further information about sitting the assessment see the GPhC website.
If you have failed three times
If you have failed your assessment three times, rest assured that there are a number of alternative career options available to you. Remember that you do have a good science degree as well as your own skills, knowledge and experience and many graduate vacancies do not specify particular degree disciplines.
Pharmacist Support’s Careers advice and options for pharmacy graduates webpage has information on getting careers advice and on career options. This includes alternative career suggestions such as teaching, further research and medical/scientific proof-reading.
You can also still submit an appeal. See above under appeals for further information.
Exam feedback
If you have any feedback about the exam, in the first instance you should contact the GPhC at regexam@pharmacyregulation.org