ABPI Exam – Myths and facts
Myth 1 – The ABPI exam is not difficult.
What is behind this myth? Possibly the fact that the exam pass mark is ‘only’ 60% whereas in house tests often require a mark of at least 80/90% to pass.
However this does not take into account the substantial amount of content that needs to be studied for the exam. Each exam unit is associated with a number of credits (from 5 to 10) and each credit indicates approximately 10 hours of learning for someone with no prior knowledge of the topic.
The full Diploma is 46 credits – so potentially requiring up to 460 hours of study.
Myth 2 – I have a life sciences degree, therefore the exam will be easy.
Many of the exam units require a knowledge of human biology so the hours of study are likely to be less for someone with this background than for a person who has done no biology since a GCSE several years ago.
Myth 3 – I have no science background, therefore the exam will be impossible.
The exam is intended to provide industry representatives with broad background knowledge of human body systems, immunology, different types of diseases and their treatment as well as knowledge of the NHS and the ABPI Code of Practice, and reporting of drug safety issues. This provides an appropriate background for company training to build on, to enable representatives to take part in meaningful conversations with healthcare professionals about the products their company supplies.
Hence the exam will require those people who do not have a science background to study in more depth, but the knowledge they will gain will be significant.
Myth 4 – If you learn the materials “parrot fashion”, then the exam will be easy.
The accredited ABPI exam requires understanding of the subject matter, not just recall of key facts. This results in more sustained learning and ability to apply what has been learned in other situations.
Some exam questions require information to be interpreted in order to identify the correct answer to the question.
Myth 5 – The e-learning questions on the website are exactly the same as the exam questions, so if you just focus on these, then you will find the exam easy.
The e-learning questions have been written by the ABPI question writing team. Hence the range of styles of question are the same as you will encounter in the actual exam,but the actual questions will be different.
It can be misleading to take the e-learning mock exams more than 2 or 3 times as you will encounter the same questions, and you may have learned the correct answer. Hence your mark achieved may be much higher than you will achieve in an actual exam with a different set of questions.
Myth 6 – I don’t need to take the disease area units within one year of starting a promotional role. It is only the compulsory units that have to be taken in the first year.
This is incorrect. For the Diploma all units have to be taken within your first year.
Myth 7 – the year starts when I first promote medicines, not the date I joined the company.
Also incorrect. The Code of Practice (Clause 16.3) clearly states that the time is from ‘starting such employment’.
Myth 8 – I can book an exam at any time up to the closing date for that exam.
In practice this is often not possible as exam sessions are often fully booked several months in advance of the closing date.
Myth 9 – The ABPI exam provides training for final signatories.
This is incorrect. The company that the person works for provides final signatory training, there is no recognised exam for this role. The requirements for this role are set out in Clause 14 of the Code of Practice.