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The GPhC has indicated it is considering separating the calculations paper from the registration exam – and potentially scrapping it altogether, citing “a shift in societal thinking” away from putting students through “high-stakes assessments” at the end of their training. 

Papers published this week ahead of a council meeting on Thursday February 20 reveal the views expressed at a meeting of senior GPhC officials last November, including a request to carry out “more work to explore” the idea of assessing students’ calculations competence as part of their degrees rather than setting a national exam.  

According to the regulator’s account of the meeting, it was suggested that the GPhC should consider looking at how calculations are assessed “over the course of a student’s learning, rather than assuming the continuation of a calculations paper”.

“A shift in societal thinking had moved towards consideration of whether it was acceptable or necessary to put people through these type of processes,” states the GPhC’s summary of the views expressed at the meeting. 

The report adds: “A long-term objective could be set to ensure that the quality assurance of training was at a standard that negated the need for the assessment in the future.”

‘On-demand’ option

Serious consideration was given at the meeting to keeping the calculations paper but moving it to an earlier point in candidates’ education and training, with the GPhC noting that some candidates have “stated that they had not understood the significance of the calculations until they reached their foundation year”.

One option considered at the meeting involved offering the calculations paper as an “on-demand” exam “to be taken at a time selected by the candidate,” something that would require a significant expansion of the regulator’s question bank – which “could be achieved using artificial intelligence to clone questions,” according to the report of the meeting.  

Moving the calculations to earlier in a candidate’s training would have numerous implications, the meeting heard: “Practically speaking, the earlier the calculations assessment was held, the lower the knowledge base of those sitting the paper would be, requiring greater changes to these questions.

“Thought would be needed around whether candidates would still have three chances to pass and whether they should have the opportunity to apply their knowledge in practice before taking the exam.”

“However, moving this element of assessment earlier would allow for a greater focus on applying knowledge in a competency-based setting later.”

The GPhC said it plans to produce a range of options for modernising the registration assessment by April with a view to holding a public consultation in the autumn and confirmed that no changes will be made before 2026.