What To Do If You Fail The PSA First Time Around


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So you didn’t pass the Prescribing Safety Assessment exam on your first sitting. What do you do now? 

Firstly, don’t panic! You’re not alone, PSA resits are really common, and there are lots of ways you can maximise your chance of success next time around. Let’s go through 4 easy steps you can take to prepare yourself for your resits.

 

1. Make sure you know exactly what’s expected of you

The more you know about what’s being marked in each section of the exam, the better you’ll be able to tackle each of the 8 question styles on exam day. The best place to start is with the free PSA Prep sessions. They’ve been created by a team of experts, including the medical director of the PSA, to address common challenges encountered in the exam and help you understand what’s expected of you.

There’s an introductory session as well as one for each of the 8 question styles, helping you understand how marks are awarded for optimal and sub-optimal answers and giving you the confidence you need ahead of resit day to approach the PSA questions confidently and effectively.

 

2. Understand question weightings so you can use your time properly on exam day

Understand the different question weightings so you can use your time most effectively in the exam itself. You don’t want to be spending too much time on a question that’s worth a quarter as many marks as another that you end up neglecting because of the time restrictions! So it’s important that you know how each section of the exam is weighted, and you have a plan on how best to spend your time.

There are 200 marks available in total over the 120 minutes of the exam. If we look at that time broken down across the 8 sections of the exam, we get: 

  • Section 1: Prescribing (PWS) is worth 80 marks = 48 minutes
  • Section 2: Prescription Review (REV) is worth 32 marks = 19 minutes 12 seconds
  • Section 3: Planning Management (MAN) is worth 16 marks = 9 minutes 36 seconds
  • Section 4: Providing Information (COM) is worth 12 marks = 7 minutes 12 seconds
  • Section 5: Calculation Skills (CAL) is worth 16 marks = 9 minutes 36 seconds
  • Section 6: Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) is worth 16 marks = 9 minutes 36 seconds
  • Section 7: Drug Monitoring (TDM) is worth 16 marks = 9 minutes 36 seconds
  • Section 8: Data Interpretation (DAT) is worth 12 marks = 7 minutes 12 seconds

You may not want to allocate every single second of the exam, however! You’ll need time to take a breath and reset every now and again, as well as a cushion of time for any unexpected challenges. This is just a starting point.

Again, if you’re still unsure we’d recommend watching the free PSA Prep sessions, as they will talk you through exactly what you can expect from each of the 8 sections of the exam.

 

3. Get really familiar with MedicinesComplete and the NICE BNF

This may sound obvious but you don’t want to be spending lots of time in the exam frantically looking up items in MedicinesComplete when you could be answering questions. We know that the time pressure is one of the biggest challenges for PSA candidates, but it’s there for good reason – it emulates the pressure you’ll be under in real life clinical situations. 

So it’s really worth getting familiar with MedicinesComplete and the NICE BNF so you can use them as efficiently as possible on exam day. In particular, spend time on the ‘treatment summaries’ section of the BNF, which you’ll need to consult if you don’t know the medication required for a particular treatment, as it’s not always immediately obvious where to find particular topics (for example, opioid conversion comes under ‘palliative care’ – if you didn’t know that in advance, you could waste valuable exam time searching).

 

4. Understand your weak spots and work on them… practise makes perfect! 

There’s nothing quite as valuable as real practice time when it comes to exam technique! Chances are that you already made use of the 3 practice papers that you were given access to when you were registered for the PSA exam the first time around. Well, good news! There are 3 further practice papers you can take advantage of, each with automated marking and detailed feedback on optimal and sub-optimal answers, so you can really understand where you’re going wrong and learn how to fix those mistakes. 

You get unlimited practice attempts on each of the 3 practice papers from BPS Assessment, again written by a team of experts, and the format mirrors that of the real exam. 

 

Take a closer look here and get resit-ready! You’ve got this. 

 

How To Prepare for the PSA

Here are our 5 top tips to help you get prepared for your Prescribing Safety Assessment exam.

 

1. Understand the exam format and what’s expected of you

First thing’s first – get really familiar with the structure of the exam and understand what’s expected of you in each of the 8 sections of the PSA. For this, you’ll want to watch the free PSA Prep eLearning sessions, written by experts including the medical director of the PSA

The PSA Prep sessions are especially useful as they deep-dive into the exam format, looking at the layout of each question style, explaining how optimal and sub-optimal answers are marked, and addressing common challenges, like the time pressure and exam calculations. 

There’s one session dedicated to each of the 8 sections of the PSA exam, as well as an introductory session. You can get instant access to these 9 free PSA Prep sessions here.

 

2. Get familiar with MedicinesComplete and the NICE BNF

We know that time pressure is reported to be the biggest challenge for candidates sitting the PSA, so you don’t want to lose valuable minutes trying to navigate your way around the BNF! Both MedicinesComplete and the NICE BNF are available in the exam (depending on your location), so it’s important that you familiarise yourself with both of these resources ahead of time. That way, you’ll be as efficient as possible in the exam itself. 

 

3. Make good use of your PSA exam account 

As soon as you’ve been registered for the exam, you’ll be able to login to your PSA platform account. Read up on the exam, use the information you’ll find there, and complete the practice papers included. 

 

4. Practise, practise, practise

Once you’ve completed the practice papers included with your PSA account, consider broadening your revision materials and investing in more practice papers. You’ll find 3 bonus practice papers exclusively on the BPS Assessment Learner Portal.

These 3 papers offer 120 questions with unlimited practice attempts, so you really can ‘practise til perfect’. They include clear, in-depth feedback on each question style, so you can understand how to tackle the 8 different exam areas. Read through the feedback, assess your weakest areas, and keep on trying until you feel confident!

 

5. Time yourself!  

As we’ve said before, the time pressure is reported to be the biggest challenge for PSA candidates. That’s because the exam simulates prescribing under pressure in the real world. So it’s really important that you understand what it feels like to try answering those 60 question items in 2 hours! 

For that, you’ll need Practice Paper 3, which includes 60 question items and has 200 marks up for grabs, just like the real exam. Set your timer and see how you get on. You’ll soon work out where you’re losing time and which areas you need to focus on in order to make the best use of those 120 minutes (remember that the different sections of the exam are worth a different number of marks, so you should be spending more time on the sections with more marks). 

If you’re worried about prioritising your time in the exam, watch the free PSA Prep sessions to understand more about how marks are allocated for each section of the exam before you time yourself with Practice Paper 3. 

 

Finally… good luck!

As the learning and assessment branch of the British Pharmacological Society, we’re committed to helping you become a confident, capable prescriber – not just so that you can pass the PSA, but so that you can excel in whatever prescribing career path that follows. We hope that resources like PSA Prep and our Prescribing Practice Papers help you take control of your revision, so that you can approach exam day with confidence. We believe in you! 

 

 

Best PSA Study Resources For 2023

Revising for the Prescribing Safety Assessment exam? We take a look at all the revision and practice materials out there, and recommend the best study resources for 2023. 

 

1. PSA Prep (free)

These new eLearning sessions have been written by Professor Simon Maxwell, Medical Director of the PSA in collaboration with BPS Assessment, the learning and assessment arm of the British Pharmacological Society. There is 1 session for each of the 8 sections of the PSA exam, as well as an introductory session. PSA Prep is totally free to access and covers: 

  • The exam format and layout of each question
  • Understanding how to answer the questions
  • Common challenges, like the time pressure and exam calculations

To get instant access, simply create a free BPS Assessment platform account and you’ll be able to press play on PSA Prep next time you log in.

 

2. Official PSA Practice Papers (free)

This may sound obvious but don’t overlook what you already have! One month before your exam you’ll be registered by your school at https://prescribingsafetyassessment.ac.uk.  Once you’re logged in, read up on the exam, use the information you’ll find there, and complete the 3 official PSA practice papers included. 

 

3. MedicinesComplete and the NICE BNF 

We know that time pressure is reported to be the biggest challenge for candidates sitting the PSA exam, so it makes sense that some of the best study resources you’ll find are MedicinesComplete and the NICE BNF. You don’t want to lose valuable minutes in the exam trying to navigate your way around the BNF, so it’s important that you familiarise yourself with these resources ahead of time. Time well spent! 

 

4. Bonus Practice Papers (£40 for all 3 papers)

Once you’ve completed the 3 official practice papers, you’ll want more practice on a variety of question items in the same style as the exam format. You’ll find 3 bonus practice papers exclusively on the BPS Assessment Learner Portal, mirroring the format of the PSA and offering clear, in-depth feedback on each question. 

There are 120 questions across the 3 papers, spanning all 8 sections of the PSA. You also get unlimited attempts, so you can learn from the automated feedback and keep trying til you get 100%. What better way to get confident ahead of exam day?! 

It’s also worth noting that Paper 3 is worth a full 200 marks and is designed to be taken over 2 hours, just like the real exam. So you can set your timer and complete your very own ‘mock’ PSA exam whenever and wherever suits you! Once you’ve completed the paper and read through the feedback on your answers, you can have another try (you get unlimited attempts after all).