How to prepare‌ for the NZ Intern Written & Oral exams?

What Is the New Zealand OSCE Exam?

The New Zealand OSCE exam is officially called the Pharmacy Council Assessment Centre OSCE examination. It is the final practical exam that checks whether an intern pharmacist is ready to practise safely and independently in New Zealand.

Unlike a written multiple-choice test, the OSCE is a hands-on exam. You are placed in real-life-style situations with patient actors and examiners who watch and score how you handle each situation. This exam is required for all pathways to pharmacist registration in New Zealand, whether you studied in New Zealand, Australia, or overseas.

Who Needs to Sit the New Zealand OSCE Exam?

Not everyone follows the same road to becoming a pharmacist in New Zealand and not everyone sits the OSCE.

Only these two groups need to pass the OSCE (the Assessment Centre):

• New Zealand and Australian Bachelor of Pharmacy graduates (the NZ graduate route)
• Pharmacists from any country other than Australia, Canada, USA, UK or Ireland — this is called the Non-Comparable Pathway

These groups do not sit the OSCE:

• Pharmacists registered in Australia (TTMRA route) — instead they complete 4 weeks (140 hours) of supervised practice and pass a Law & Ethics interview
• Pharmacists from the UK, Ireland, USA or Canada (the Comparable Pathway) — instead they complete supervised practice (4 weeks for UK/Ireland, 3 months for Canada/USA) and pass a Law & Ethics interview

Also worth knowing: as of 10 September 2026, PCNZ removed the CAOP exam requirement for the Comparable Pathway completely. Applicants no longer need to sit CAOP or upload CAOP results.

What Comes Before the OSCE Exam?

Before you can sit the OSCE exam, you must first complete your intern training programme (ITP) while working under the supervision of a registered pharmacist.

For overseas pharmacists coming through the Non-REQR pathway, the full sequence looks like this:

Only after finishing your internship can you register to sit the OSCE you cannot skip ahead to it.

What Does the OSCE Exam Actually Test?

The OSCE exam tests your practical pharmacy skills, not your ability to memorise facts.

Examiners are checking whether you can:

• Counsel patients clearly and confidently
• Identify drug-related problems in a prescription
• Apply legal and ethical rules correctly in real situations
• Make safe, sound clinical decisions under time pressure
• Communicate well within the specific healthcare context of New Zealand

You will also need to show you can work respectfully within New Zealand's cultural safety expectations while caring for patients from different backgrounds.

How Many Stations Are in the New Zealand OSCE Exam?

The New Zealand OSCE exam is widely reported as a 10-station clinical exam, where each station tests a different pharmacy skill.

A quick transparency note: the Pharmacy Council of New Zealand's own pages confirm that a pass in the "Assessment Centre OSCE examination" is required, but they do not spell out the exact number of stations on the pages we could access. The "10 stations" figure is consistent across independent sources describing this exam, but we'd suggest double-checking the exact number directly with PCNZ before publishing it as an absolute fact.

Typical skill areas tested across the stations include:

• Communication and patient counselling
• Documentation and record keeping
• Clinical reasoning and decision-making
• Basic life support and emergency management
• Legal, professional, and ethical responsibilities
• Patient assessment and history taking
• Infection control practices
• Medication management and administration

How Can You Prepare for the New Zealand OSCE Exam?

The best way to prepare for the OSCE exam is through repeated, realistic practice not just reading textbooks.

Since this exam checks how you act in the moment, not what you can recall on paper, your preparation should include:

• Practising patient counselling out loud, not just silently reading scripts
• Working through mock clinical scenarios under timed conditions
• Getting feedback from someone who has seen real OSCE-style stations before
• Studying New Zealand-specific pharmacy law and ethics, since these come up directly in scenarios
• Learning how to stay calm and organised when a station feels rushed
• Practising cultural safety responses, since this is a specific expectation in the New Zealand healthcare system

Simply knowing pharmacology well is not enough examiners are watching how you apply that knowledge in front of a patient.

What Happens After You Pass the OSCE Exam?

After passing the OSCE exam, you are not automatically registered you must also be assessed as fit to practise by the Pharmacy Council.

This fitness-to-practise check looks at your health, conduct and competence. Once this is confirmed, you can apply for full registration as a pharmacist with the Pharmacy Council of New Zealand and begin practising independently.

Which Courses Does Elite Expertise Offer for OSCE Preparation?

Elite Expertise offers a dedicated New Zealand Pharmacist Intern OSCE Exam Preparation course built specifically to help candidates prepare for this practical exam.

The course includes 300+ pharmacy OSCE scenarios and full study materials, an online learning platform with 100+ visuals, clinical tips and resource sheets, over 300 live and recorded sessions plus 20 final live review sessions, and individualised faculty evaluation and feedback across multiple mock scenarios. It also includes 1:1 sessions with faculty and dedicated patient communication skills training, covering communication coaching, clinical reasoning practice, calculation and dosing workshops and role-play scenarios with detailed, examiner-style feedback after every attempt.

How Does Elite Expertise Teach Its Students?

Elite Expertise focuses on practical, scenario-based teaching, since the OSCE exam rewards real performance over memorised facts.

• Role-play scenarios recorded and reviewed with detailed, examiner-style feedback
• Structured case walkthroughs that build the same diagnostic logic OSCE examiners look for
• Hands-on drills for dose calculations, conversions, and paediatric or renal dosing adjustments under time pressure
• One-on-one and group coaching on patient rapport, active listening, and clear counselling language
• Focused modules on legal, professional, and ethical responsibilities specific to New Zealand pharmacy practice

The courses are led by Mr Arief Mohammad and Mrs Harika Bheemavarapu, both KAPS-qualified, AACP-accredited Consultant Pharmacists working as Clinical Pharmacists at Northern Health hospital and Monash Health Hospital in Melbourne. Together they have guided over 500 intern pharmacist candidates toward passing their OSCE exams, many in their first attempt.

Final Words

The New Zealand OSCE exam is the last big hurdle before you become a fully registered pharmacist. It doesn't test what you can memorise — it tests how you actually behave with patients, under pressure, in real time. That means your preparation needs to shift from just reading notes to practising out loud, getting feedback, and building confidence in how you speak and think during a clinical situation. Give yourself enough time after your internship to properly prepare, rather than treating it as a formality at the end of your training.

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