Preparation time

I prepared for the PSA for roughly 2 weeks in advance. Some candidates allocate more / less time towards this exam so you need to decide what is suitable to you. I had already completed my final year medical exams prior to the PSA, hence found a lot of the knowledge I had already learnt to be useful in the PSA- this might be the same case for you. If not, preparing for the PSA will be useful for final year knowledge exams. (Head over to ‣ for useful finals revision).

Use of resources

I have outlined the various resources recommended to me during my time of studying the PSA. Within each resource I have commented on the usefulness of it and how representative it is of the PSA. The biggest takeaway is to practice as much questions as possible and get used to the timings in the exam- this was the hardest element for me. The level of knowledge the PSA was pitched at was fair in my opinion, however, the timings per question was ridiculously short! Therefore, get used to doing quick math calculations, know common side effects of drugs and which drugs to stop in sick day rules if suspecting AKI for example.

My score

I scored 70% overall which I was quite happy with! I know many candidates scoring higher than me and this may be due to my timings in the exam- when the examiner announced 15 minutes left, I still had 2 out of the 8 sections to complete towards the end as well as all the questions I had flagged! Passmark for the exam is around 62-65% and according to our university, more than 90% candidates pass the first time. For our course, all was required was to pass the PSA and it did not contribute to the final grade. Most universities will have this approach as the PSA can be re-taken in F1 as well. Our university allowed us to resit the PSA as many times as possible and did not affect our graduation status, however, I understand some universities may not allow students to graduate if they have not passed the PSA- so make sure to check with your uni!

Knowledge

Know what common key concepts and topics appear on the PSA. This will help guide your revision- Content Summary

Last minute tips

Also head to Must know shortcuts/ tips

• Practice, practice, practice! The good old saying but most important. Learning the knowledge for this exam is good but will not be useful if not applied to questions. Therefore, get your hands on as many questions as possible and get practising.
• Timing is everything in this exam (head over to PSA Timings for general timings of the exam). The first section of the exam is supposed to take up to almost 50 minutes out of the 2 hours so make sure you can complete all the prescribing questions in this sections. I actually finished the section in 15 minutes but was unsure of quite a few of the questions. I spent a lot of my time on the ‘prescription review’ and ‘planning management section’ that is why I was short of time towards the end.
• Which brings me onto FLAGGING the question. Flag the question and move on if you are unable to get to a definitive answer within 20 seconds or so. Some questions may take longer than others (for example the calculation section), however, do not fall into the trap of spending too long on one question. The PSA exam is completely doable without any timing pressures, but as it is timed, use the flag feature to mark the question and come back to it in the end. I had 14 odd questions flagged!
  • As mentioned questions in the ‘prescription review’ took me longer to answer- specifically the ones asking about which drug had dosing errors or which drug had prescription frequency errors. These questions can be tricky to answer if you are not familiar with the drug so I would suggest to flag and move on
• I actually found the last 2 sections of the exam (‘drug monitoring’ and ‘data interpretation’) the easiest of all the sections in the exam - that is why I was able to do these 2 sections relatively quickly despite only having 15 minutes left at the end (which was quite lucky). I would suggest to get through the exam as quick as possible and get through the last couple of sections as these are easier and you can quickly search up answers in the BNF/ MC.
• Sometimes just reading the question and then coming back to the content is easier. A lot of the questions can have huge paragraphs of text outlining the clinical scenario, but by the time you get to the question you often realise you did not need to know the information beforehand. Thus I would recommend reading the question and then having a quick skim read of the scenario.
• Bring your own calculator- I had brought mine the day before the exam and it was a non-scientific simple calculator. I would recommend buying one as the online one can be tricky to use, specially if you are under time constraints.
• Optional- bring your BNF. I had a BNF copy from my med school and used the last section of the BNF allocated to drug interactions. You can use the MC drug interactions checker, however, listed in paper copy of the BNF were common interactions. For example, drugs causing hypokalaemia etc. This was handy as when I went to my PSA exam, I opened the BNF to that section and had it for reference through my whole exam.
• They do provide pen and paper (check with your university) so make use of it.
• Remember your university computer login and PSA account login - the basics but easy to forget if nerves kick in on the day!
• Optional- Have a banana! A common exam ritual I have partaken in since my a-levels and almost never failed me 😂