Books which I recommend for the Singapore Pharmacy Council Competency Assessment

As a registered pharmacist in Singapore, I had to go through the grueling pre-registration training phase, pass the numerous oral examinations in the hospitals where I was attached to (viva voce), and finally pass the nationwide Singapore Pharmacy Council Competency Assessment (a 100 MCQ-styled two-hour examination that covers almost any medical condition you can think from head to toe) [1].

Regardless of where you do your pre-registration training in Singapore, you would still need to thoroughly revise your lecture notes from the university for this final examination. This examination is the gatekeeper that determines whether you get your pharmacist license in Singapore.

Do not be fooled by the MCQ way of questioning - quite a number of the questions are case-based; meaning it reflects an imaginary patient that came to the hospital/clinic, presenting with certain symptoms, and after diagnosis by the physician for various medical conditions (s), you (as the exam taker/pharmacist to be) would need to review the medications list, spot any issues/mistakes, and then select/choose the most appropriate treatment for the patient. Such case-based questions are extremely wordy and time-consuming, and having to analyze and choose the correct answer under time constraints is certainly no mean feat! But hey, this is what you have been training for all these while during your pre-registration training, so give it your best shot - and I'm sure you will do just great :)

For the non-case-based questions, many of them are also extremely tricky as well - with some options so close to one another - e.g. minute differences in dosages or differences in pharmaceutical formulation. In the real world, these minute differences can significantly affect a patient's quality of life, or even worsen patient outcomes. I will not go into the specifics here - but the point of this examination is to thoroughly evaluate your knowledge and understanding of topics that form the core knowledge required by a newly registered pharmacist, be it clinical & non-clinical (i.e. pharmacy law & ethics), thus ensuring safe and effective professional practice, when you finally get the license.

Coming back to the main point of this post, I recommend the five following books to supplement your studying for the SPC Competency Assessment (see images below). These books were crucial in helping me to ace the SPC Competency Assessment exam. From my understanding, I got an outstanding score of 85+/100. I was delighted with my excellent performance on the national exam, especially considering the fact the highest score for foreign-trained pharmacy graduates was 79/100 for that paper [2].

Many of my NUS peers whom I know of, also passed the examination, and scored in the 60s and 70s - and many agreed it was a tough and grueling paper. Regardless of the scores, we were grateful that we managed to pass this significant hurdle before licensure.

The minimum passing score for the exam is 60/100 [1]. However, there were rumors of potential moderation for that particular exam we took. Many of my batchmates agreed that the exam we took was a lot harder compared to previous years (hence the rumors of potential moderation I guess?).

I've also heard of people who claimed that they scored in the upper 50s range, and still managed to get a 'PASS' result when the results email was released. Oh ya, we were only notified by email whether we 'PASS' or 'FAIL' the exam; the raw scores weren't released - but we have our ways of checking :P

I want to give a disclaimer here that revising your university lecture notes would probably be sufficient for the exam. But I wanted to supplement my learnings beyond the school syllabus, and like many peers - we would rather overprepare than under prepare for this particular paper that can change our lives.

Without further ado, these are the 5 pharmacotherapy books I recommend to study for the national exam:

Book 1 - The Maudsley (Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry - 12th Edition)

Review: TOP psychiatry book that I recommend - 5/5 ⭐

Book 2 - DiPiro Pharmacotherapy Handbook (10th Edition - International Edition)

Review: Great book to strengthen your general medications knowledge - 5/5 ⭐

Book 3: BNF 75 March - September 2018 Edition Review: Very detailed book to improve general medications knowledge - 5/5 ⭐

Book 4: MIMS Pharmacy Patient Counselling Guide (Singapore 2017/2018 edition)

Review: Good book to improve your minor ailments & counselling skills - 4/5 ⭐

Book 5: Kaplan & Sadock's Pocket Handbook of Psychiatric Drug Treatment

Review: If you have time, you can use this to supplement the psychiatric learnings from your university lecture notes and Maudsley textbook. Otherwise, KIV. 3/5⭐

Hope you find these book recommendations useful, and good luck to juniors who will be taking the SPC Competency Assessment in the future!

Never ever give up, 加油。

References:

[1]  Guide to the Singapore Pharmacy Council Competency Assessment/Examination 2023 (Section B. Assessment/Examination Syllabus) - available at: https://www.healthprofessionals.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider3/standards-exams/guide-to-competency-assessment-exam-2023.pdf

[2] Singapore Pharmacy Council Annual Report 2018 (Figure 2: Competency Examination Results of Foreign-trained Pharmacy Graduates in 2018) - available at: https://www.healthprofessionals.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider3/forms-publications/spc-annual-report-2018.pdf