Free Pharmacist mock exam
25 real questions from our Pharmacist bank, timed at the exam’s own pace, scored against the 60% pass mark. You will see exactly which of the 13 blueprint domains you are weakest in - free, no sign-up.
Sit 25 real questions at real exam pace
These are 25 genuine questions taken from our Pharmacist bank - one from each domain on the official blueprint. You get 72 seconds per question, which is exactly the pace of the real PHO5481 exam (30 minutes for 25). At the end you will see which domains you are weakest in, and the full worked reasoning for every question.
- 25
- questions
- 30:00
- time limit
- 60%
- pass mark
A short diagnostic cannot predict whether you will pass - only the real exam does that. It will show you, honestly, where you currently stand.
What the real Pharmacist licensing exam looks like
Pharmacists applying to practise in the UAE sit a computer-based multiple-choice examination - DHA exam code PHO5481, delivered through Prometric for DHA, MOHAP and SHA, and through Pearson VUE for DOH Abu Dhabi. The pass mark is 60%, and the result is reported to you as pass or fail only - your score is never released.
The paper is built to a published blueprint, which is why a domain-by-domain diagnostic is more useful than a raw percentage. Your questions above were drawn one per domain across Public Health, Pharmacoeconomics, Pharmacoepidemiology & Biostatistics, Basic Biomedical Sciences, Toxicology & Poisoning Management, Clinical Therapeutics & Disease-State Management and 9 more - the same areas the real paper weights.
Before you can book the exam at all you need Dataflow primary source verification of your degree, licence and experience, which typically runs several weeks. Candidates routinely underestimate this and end up sitting the exam sooner after study than they planned. Check where you stand with our free eligibility checker or confirm whether your title even requires an exam using the Prometric exam checker.
You get three attempts in total across all UAE authorities - not three each - under the Unified Professional Qualification Requirements. At roughly AED 880 per attempt, plus the licensing delay each failure adds to your visa and start date, the cost of going in underprepared is not really the exam fee.
What is on the Pharmacist exam: the full blueprint
The published blueprint splits into 13 domains and 183 testable sub-topics. The diagnostic above samples across all of them, which is why its breakdown maps onto the structure the real paper is built from.
- Clinical Therapeutics & Disease-State Management~30%22 topics
DHA lists 'Pharmaceutical Care & Disease State Management' at 35%; SCFHS Clinical Sciences 35%
- Pharmacology, Drug Classes, ADRs & Drug Interactions~12%15 topics
est.; core of SCFHS Pharmaceutical Sciences 35%
- Pharmaceutical Calculations & Compounding~12%15 topics
DHA 'Pharmacy Calculation & Compounding' 15%; SCFHS Sterile/Nonsterile Compounding
- Pharmaceutics, Biopharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics~8%15 topics
est.; SCFHS Pharmaceutics 2.4 & Pharmacokinetics 2.5
- Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacognosy & Dietary Supplements~6%11 topics
est.; SCFHS Medicinal Chemistry 2.1 & Pharmacognosy 2.3
- Basic Biomedical Sciences~6%13 topics
SCFHS Basic Biomedical Sciences 10%
- Nonprescription (OTC) & Self-Care / Counter Medication~6%12 topics
DHA 'Counter Medication' 10%
- Special Populations~5%12 topics
DHA lists Pregnancy/Lactation 5%, Pediatrics 5%, Geriatrics 5%
- Toxicology & Poisoning Management~5%12 topics
DHA Toxicology 5%; SCFHS acute/chronic toxicity
- Patient Assessment, Counseling, Drug Information & Evidence-Based Practice~5%14 topics
est.; SCFHS Clinical 4.1, 4.5 & Professional Communication 3.8
- Pharmacy Law, Ethics & Regulatory Affairs~6%14 topics
DHA Law & Ethics 10%; SCFHS 3.5 & 3.7
- Public Health, Pharmacoeconomics, Pharmacoepidemiology & Biostatistics~5%14 topics
est.; SCFHS Social/Behavioral/Administrative 3.1-3.3, 3.6
- Pharmacy Practice Management, Medication Safety & Dispensing Systems~5%14 topics
DHA Medication Safety 5%; SCFHS 3.4 & 3.10
- Questions
- ~100-200 (varies by authority: single-authority Prometric exams DHA/MOHAP/DOH ~150, QCHP ~100, OMSB ~100-150; SCFHS SPLE = 200 in two 100-question parts)
- Duration
- ~2-3 hours (DHA 165 min; QCHP 2.5 hr; OMSB 2 hr; SCFHS SPLE 120 min per part x2 with a 30-min break)
- Pass mark
- 60% for most authorities (DHA/MOHAP/DOH/QCHP/OMSB/NHRA unofficial ~60-65%); SCFHS SPLE uses a scaled score of 536 on a 200-800 reporting scale
All computer-based single-best-answer MCQs delivered via Prometric (SCFHS via its own Prometric channel). No negative marking. Format is a mix of recall/knowledge items and scenario-based application items. Blueprint weights below are harmonised from the official SCFHS SPLE content guideline (10% Basic Biomedical, 35% Pharmaceutical Sciences, 20% Social/Behavioral/Administrative, 35% Clinical Sciences; may vary +/-5%) and the published DHA topic weights (Pharmaceutical Care & Disease State Management 35%, Calculation & Compounding 15%, Counter Medication 10%, Law & Ethics 10%, Toxicology 5%, Pregnancy/Lactation 5%, Pediatrics 5%, Geriatrics 5%, Pharmacokinetics 5%, Medication Safety 5%). Weights vary by authority and must be verified against the current candidate bulletin.
A worked Pharmacist exam question
Every question in the diagnostic and in the paid bank is written to this standard: a clinical stem, four plausible options and the reasoning for the answer, with its source.
Public Health, Pharmacoeconomics, Pharmacoepidemiology & Biostatistics
A pharmacist wants to improve adherence in a patient ambivalent about starting a statin. Which counseling approach is most consistent with evidence-based behavior change and respects patient autonomy?
- AWarning the patient repeatedly about death to induce fear
- BMotivational interviewing to explore the patient's own reasons for changeCorrect
- CRefusing to dispense unless the patient agrees to lifelong therapy
- DProviding a detailed pharmacology lecture on statin mechanism
Why: Motivational interviewing is a collaborative, patient-centered approach that helps resolve ambivalence by eliciting the patient's own motivations, and it improves adherence while respecting autonomy. Fear-based repetition, coercive refusal to dispense, and dense pharmacology lectures are not patient-centered, tend to raise resistance, and are not evidence-based methods for supporting sustained behavior change.
Source: Miller & Rollnick, Motivational Interviewing (foundational); WHO Adherence to Long-Term Therapies (2003)
How to use this diagnostic properly
- 1Sit it cold, once. Do not look anything up. A diagnostic you help yourself through tells you nothing. The number you get is only useful if it is honest.
- 2Read every rationale - especially the ones you got right. Getting a question right by elimination is not the same as knowing it. The worked reasoning is free above, whether or not you buy anything.
- 3Work weakest domain first. The breakdown orders your domains worst-first for exactly this reason. Studying what you are already good at feels productive and moves nothing.
- 4Re-sit under full exam conditions later. The real paper is far longer than this and stamina matters. Full-length timed papers are what the paid bank is for.