The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) Exam is a pharmacist and pharmacist technician competence assessment exam which, when passed, enables them to practice in Canada. Whoever intends to take the exam is categorised into either:
- Canadian Graduates
- American Graduates
- Overseas Graduates
Each category of student pays a different fee to the examining board. If you would like to know more about the cost of the PEBC Exam, click here.
PEBC Exam International Comparison
The main difference between the PEBC exam and other pharmacy competency exams internationally is the stress of the importance of evaluating the real-life practice of pharmacists/technicians instead of using purely Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ's). Due to this, the PEBC exam was split into two parts: the MCQ's (Part I) and the practical OSCE section (Part II).
Part I
The MCQ part is set out over two half-day sessions. Each session comprises 150 questions and you have 225 minutes per session (plus a 15-minute induction). This means that per question you get 90 seconds. The content of these is intended to assess your competence in areas set out by the syllabus and to judge your ability to problem-solve.
Part II
The OSCE part is taken on a separate day from Part I. It comprises a room which is divided into multiple "stations". These stations can include a patient or a scenario that you will have to resolve. At each station you are judged by an objective viewer, upon the following criteria:
- Gathering and interpreting clinical patient information
- Identifying and solving practice problems
- Communicating effectively
This site specialises in the MCQ section of the PEBC exam but also includes useful tips and hints for the practical assessment part of the exam.