If you've ever wondered what it actually takes to go from an overseas-trained pharmacist to a fully registered one in Australia, Mohini Sharma's story is exactly what you need to read.
Mohini came to Australia in 2025 after spending nine years working in the pharmaceutical industry back in Jammu and Kashmir, India. She had the experience, the knowledge, and the drive. But like thousands of internationally qualified pharmacists before her, she had to navigate Australia's multi-step registration pathway before she could practise.
She did it. And she did it with Elite Expertise by her side.
The Road to Becoming a Pharmacist in Australia (For Overseas Graduates)
Before we talk about Mohini's journey, let's quickly break down what the pathway actually looks like, because if you're new to the field, it can feel like a maze.
Australia has one of the most structured pharmacy registration pathways in the world. For overseas-trained pharmacists, it generally goes like this:
- Step 1 → Skills Assessment (Successfully clear KAPS or OPRA)
- Step 2 → Provisional Registration with AHPRA as an intern pharmacist
- Step 3 → Supervised Internship (1,575 hours)
- Step 4 → Intern Written Exam
- Step 5 → Intern Oral Exam
- Step 6 → General Registration
Sounds straightforward on paper. In practice, each step demands serious preparation, especially if you've been away from clinical pharmacy for a while.
KAPS to OPRA: What Changed and Why It Matters
Mohini cleared her KAPS exam in November 2024, just before one of the most significant changes to hit the overseas pharmacist pathway in years.
From March 2025, the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) officially replaced the KAPS exam with the Overseas Pharmacist Readiness Assessment (OPRA). This was a significant shift.
The old KAPS format had two separate papers. OPRA is:
- single exam with 120 questions
- The duration of the exam is 2.5 hours
- with a sharper focus on clinical therapeutics and practical knowledge rather than theoretical recall
- The exam fee also came down slightly to AUD 2,245
If you're just starting your journey now, OPRA is what you'll be sitting in. The message from the APC is clear: they want pharmacists who can think clinically, not just remember facts.
The Intern Written Exam: What You're Walking Into
After clearing the skills assessment and securing provisional registration, the next big hurdle is the Intern Written Exam — and it trips up more people than it should.
Here's what the exam looks like in 2026:
- 75 multiple-choice questions
- 2 hours (120 minutes)
- Open book — but only AMH and APF (physical copies)
- No negative marking
- Held three times a year: February, June, October
- You need to have completed at least 75% of your 1,575 internship hours to be eligible
One major update for 2026: calculation questions are no longer multiple choice. They're now fill-in-the-blank, which means no more process of elimination.
You need to actually work through the numbers and get them right. Creatinine clearance, renal dose adjustments, infusion rates, percentage strengths – these are all fair game.
The open book format sounds like a safety net. It isn't. With only about 96 seconds per question, there's no time to be flipping through AMH trying to learn something on the spot. The candidates who do well are the ones who already know the content and use their references just to confirm.
Mohini sat the intern written exam in February 2026. She passed it.
What's remarkable? She barely needed the AMH. Her fundamentals were so solid from her preparation with Elite Expertise that she could work through most questions from understanding alone. That's the standard you want to aim for.
The Intern Oral Exam: A Different Kind of Challenge
The oral exam is where many candidates feel the most pressure — and understandably so. It's face-to-face, with a real examiner, and you can't hide behind a keyboard.
Here's how it's structured:
- Duration: 35–40 minutes
- Format: Face-to-face with an examiner (an experienced registered pharmacist under PBA guidance)
Three Parts
1. Part A – Primary Healthcare
This is a roleplay. You're given a scenario involving a patient with a minor health issue — think eye infection, rash, or pain — and you have to manage it appropriately, just like you would at a pharmacy counter.
2. Part B – Legal and Professional Practice
Discussion-based. The examiner tests your understanding of pharmacy law, ethics, and professional responsibilities.
3. Part C – Problem Solving and Communication
Another roleplay. You're given a prescription, you analyse it, and you need to identify any issues and communicate the appropriate advice clearly.
It's not just about knowing the right answer. It's about how you communicate, how you think on your feet, and whether you come across as someone a patient can trust.
Mohini sat the intern oral exam in March 2026. She passed that too.
"Sir and Ma'am Would Start at 8 AM and Go Till 9 PM"
Here's the part of Mohini's story that tells you everything about how she got through her ordeal.
When asked what made the difference, she didn't talk about textbooks. She talked about the people.
She remembered how dedicated her trainers were, how classes would start at 8 in the morning and sometimes run until 9 at night. Students would get tired. Genuinely, physically tired. But her trainers would keep pushing, keep motivating, and keep the energy going even when everyone in the room was running on empty.
Mohini always attended live classes. She never watched recordings, even when they were available. Her reason was simple: the live sessions were interactive. She could ask questions the moment something didn't click. She could participate in role-plays in real time. She could get immediate feedback.
"It's all about practice," she said.
And that practice paid off – role play after role play, mock exam after mock exam, until the format became familiar and the nerves had nowhere to hide.
Elite Expertise: Where Mohini's Journey Took Shape
If you're an overseas pharmacist navigating the Australian registration pathway, you've probably come across the name Elite Expertise. Mohini's story is a good example of what that programme actually looks like in practice.
Who Are the Trainers?
Harika Bheemavarapu is a Clinical Pharmacist Educator at Monash Health. She brings genuine clinical experience into every session, and her teaching approach is built around how real pharmacy practice works, not just how exams work.
Arief Mohammad is a senior clinical pharmacist at Northern Health. He's an accredited consultant pharmacist, which means when he discusses clinical reasoning and patient safety, he's drawing from current, active practice.
Both of them are working pharmacists. Not retired academics, not people who studied this years ago. Pharmacists who are in hospitals right now, making clinical decisions, and bringing them into the classroom.
What the Program Covers
The Elite Expertise preparation programme covers the full scope of what you need for both the written and oral exams:
- Clinical reasoning and patient safety frameworks
- Calculation practice with speed and accuracy focus
- AMH and APF navigation strategy
- Role play practice for the oral exam (Parts A, B, and C)
- Mock exams under timed conditions
- Personalised feedback and weak area targeting
The teaching philosophy is aligned with what the APC actually looks for: safe practice, sound judgement, and the ability to communicate clearly with patients.
From KAPS Student to Wanting to Give Back
Here's the moment in Mohini's story that stuck with us.
After passing both her written and oral exams, after completing this entire journey from KAPS candidate in November 2024 to intern oral exam passer in March 2026, she said something that sums up everything.
One day, she wants to work with Arief, sir, & Harika, ma'am, as a registered pharmacist.
That's the kind of impact a good programme leaves on you. It's not just about passing an exam, but also about wanting to contribute to the process that led you there.
The Conclusion: What Mohini's Story Tells You
If you're sitting somewhere in this pathway right now, maybe you just passed OPRA, or you're deep in your internship hours, or you're three weeks out from your written exam, Mohini's story has something useful in it for you.
She had nine years of industry experience and still needed to prepare properly. She had the knowledge, but she sharpened it. Despite her clinical background, she diligently practiced the format until it became second nature.
The Australian registration pathway is challenging by design. It's meant to make sure that every pharmacist who enters independent practice is genuinely ready. The exams aren't there to catch you out; they're there to confirm that you can do the job safely.
Preparation doesn't guarantee success. But the right opra exam preparation, with the right people, gets you a lot closer to it.
Key Takeaways
- Mohini cleared KAPS (Nov 2024), Intern Written (Feb 2026), and Oral Exam (March 2026); full pathway completed
- KAPS has been replaced by OPRA from March 2025: 120 MCQs, 2.5 hours, AUD 2,245
- Intern Written Exam: 75 MCQs, 2 hours, open book (AMH + APF only), held Feb/June/October
- 2026 update: calculation questions are now fill-in-the-blank – no multiple-choice safety net
- Intern Oral Exam: 35–40 mins, face-to-face, three parts – role play, law, and prescription analysis
- Consistent live practice, mock exams, and role plays – not cramming – are what gets you through