How to Pass the OPRA Exam – Best Course for Pharmacists Abroad

Are you an Overseas pharmacist who wants to pursue a dream career as a pharmacist in Australia? The Overseas Pharmacists Readiness Exam, or OPRA exam, is the gateway to your dream career. Formerly called the KAPS exam, the OPRA exam assesses your pharmaceutical knowledge, skills, and competencies to match the Australian Healthcare standards.

At Elite Expertise, a centre that has trained thousands of students and led their path to KAPS success, and now with a success rate in March 2025, OPRA exam, we understand the hurdles faced by the OPRA aspirants and have curated this guide to thoughtfully meet the needs of international pharmacists for OPRA exam preparation.

Key takeaways:

• OPRA exam and its importance

• Who can sit the OPRA exam

• OPRA exam preparation

• OPRA exam Syllabus

• Is OPRA exam tough?

• Tips clear the OPRA exam

• Best crash course for OPRA exam

• Why Choose Elite expertise?

OPRA Exam and Its Importance

OPRA exam is short for Overseas Pharmacists Readiness Assessment, apt by its name this exam evaluates the readiness of an international pharmacy graduate to practise in Australia due to the difference in standards among the countries on the Healthcare sector.

This exam conducted by the Australian Pharmacy Council and applies to international pharmacy graduates outside of:

• Australia

• New Zealand

• Ireland

• Canada

• United Kingdom or UK

• United States of America or USA

Who can Sit the OPRA Exam?

• International graduates with a minimum of four years degree (B pharm, MPharm or Pharm D)

• Registered as pharmacist or eligible to be registered as a pharmacist from the country of qualification with no age limit are eligible

Preparation for OPRA Exam:

• This is a computer-based exam with 120 multiple choice questioned to be answered in 2.5 hours conducted thrice yearly

• The main criteria for preparation is understanding the exam syllabus. Considering the vast syllabus the APC has provided with a blue print of the exam with 5 main components or domains:

1. Therapeutics and Patient Care (45%):

This domain contributes to the highest percentage of scoring in the exam and a major change from the KAPS exam syllabus thoughtfully included to prepare the Overseas pharmacists to the practical and current Healthacare standards of patient care. This area majorly concentrates on:

• Dose calculations

• Screening of the patient's general parameters, like Body mass index, etc

• Primary Healthcare

• Safe and effective use of medicines in general and in special populations like Pregnant women, elderly patients, children, etc.

• Harm minimisation and confidentiality

Tip: Calculations are the toughest to prepare for most of the candidates and proper guidance and practicing numerous mocks with calculations will help boost your confidence in the exam

2. Biomedical Sciences (20%):

• Understanding the normal and abnormal functioning of the body by studying the physiology and all the systems in the body CNS, cardiovascular, cardiovascular systems etc

• Aetiology of the disease or the cause of the disease

• Understanding infections via bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc.

• Immunology

• Signs and symptoms of the disease

• Diagnostic tests and lab investigations

• Blood disorders and other body fluid affecting disorders

Tip: This covers 20% and is the highest after the Therapeutics and Patient Care but this gives a proper understanding and is the connect between all the content areas. A thorough knowledge in this rae will ease a syllabus to a maximum level.

3. Medicinal Chemistry and Biopharmaceutics (10%):

• This deals with ADME- Absorption, distribution, Metabolism, and Elimination of the drug from the body

• Drug formulations for their delivery

• Drug and Chemical stability

• Solubility

• Drug formulations

• Pharmaceutical microbiology

Tip: This part might be be a little complex is most important for understanding the drug formulations

4. Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics (10%):

• Understanding how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes drugs, as well as their effects at the biological level, is paramount.

• Use of pharmacokinetics to calculate, evaluate, and individualise drug therapy

• including monitoring and adjustment of doses in renal and hepatic dysfunction, loading does and time to reach steady state.

• Drug concentration Vs time curves

• Kinetics of drug interactions

Tip: Understanding this content area will give an idea of what happens to the drug in the body, which can be later correlated during the practical times practicing repetitively can make you perfect in this area.

5. Pharmacology and Toxicology (15%):

• A thorough understanding of drug mechanisms,

• Potential interactions and adverse effects is crucial.

Tip: There are many drug-drug interactions, but a few among them are commonly asked in your exam make sure to understand them thoroughly to better score in the exam.

Is OPRA exam tough?

• Yes, it is tough considering the vast portion or syllabus.

• OPRA aspirants often are confused where to start from and scheduling the syllabus in stipulated time.

• No clue on topics that are very important and topics with slightly lesser important

• The stress that creeps in as the exam date approaches.

• No proper guidance

• Gap in the education

• Losing focus easily and no motivation are some of the difficulties that the candidates face while preparing for the OPRA exam

Tips to Clear OPRA exam:

• Look for right guidance

• Join study groups on social media platforms to motivate you constantly and have a peer discussion of the topics

• Prepare a schedule and divide the content covering the topics as easy to remember and understand the basics

• Mocks test to understand your strengths and weakness

• Sharpening the strengths and work on the weak areas based on the scores

• Proper exam time management through tests simulating the exam conditions

• Recall and repeat the areas that you are not confident enough practice until perfection

• Have ample time for multiple revisions

Why Choose Elite Expertise:

• Here are few reasons to choose the best online education platform for OPRA exam preparation:

• Our OPRA exam preparation course provides 300 plus hours of interactive online coaching

• We also provide offline or recorded sessions incase you missed attending the live lectures, allowing you to study at your own pace

• Key to any OPRA exam crash course are the mentors or the teachers and Elite Expertise’s directors and Clinical pharmacists, Mr Arief Mohammad and Mrs Harika Bheemavarapu, with years of experience in the field and teaching, provide you with immense knowledge transfer, highlighting their teaching through real-life case studies. This allows the students to not just be exam-ready but for the real-time pharmacy practice too.

• 10,000-plus curated mock tests for turning you exam-ready.

• One-to-one doubt-solving sessions. We understand that every student has their own pace, and these sessions allow clearing all the doubts that a student has.

• Pay once and stay with us until you pass the exam. Enjoy our resources and services until you pass the exam with just a one-time payment. You are our responsibility!

• We provide guidance for Skills assessment, Intern written and oral exams once you pass the OPRA exam and Ahpra registration guidance too, apart from OPRA exam preparation course, saving time and energy so you don’t have to go searching for all these services elsewhere. So, we are a one-stop destination for the Australian licensing pathway.

CONCLUSION:

OPRA exam preparation can be tiring but with the right focus and guidance, this becomes easy to achieve.

With the busy life, responsibilities, job, and family, maintaining a schedule a sticking to it is next to impossible, so let's make the job easy for you through our OPRA exam modules covering all the important topics by the best mentors and teachers.

Therefore, join the best OPRA exam crash course today to begin your journey of becoming a pharmacist in Australia and fulfil your dream of a career abroad with Elite Expertise!

This blog is for informational purposes only and represents the views and interpretations of Elite Expertise regarding career opportunities in pharmacy. While we aim to provide accurate and up-to-date insights, pharmacy licensing requirements, immigration policies, and healthcare regulations may vary by country and are subject to change.EliteExpertise does not accept responsibility for any decisions made based on the information provided in this article.

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About the Author

Sahana Rao

Sahana Chinthapatla is renowned for her expertise in scientific and medical writing, backed by an MPharm in Pharmacology and years of experience in research analysis and scientific writing.

As the Head Business Writer at Elite Expertise, she provides insightful and well-researched content on KAPS, OPRA, PEBC, PSI and global pharmacy pathways, guiding aspiring pharmacists in their professional journeys.

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Head Business Writer | Elite Expertise