OPRA Exam Passing Marks 2026: Scaled Scores and What the APC Publishes

There is no published OPRA passing mark. The Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) uses a scaled score, and the passing standard is set for each exam form through psychometric standard-setting with subject matter experts. APC does not disclose raw scores or percentages, so no number or percentage of correct answers out of 120 is an official pass mark. Your result report states whether you met the overall standard or were unsuccessful; the exam guide says it also gives feedback on each content area, which does not decide the result.

This guide sets out exactly what APC publishes about OPRA scoring and what it does not. It covers the 12 unscored questions, what your result report shows, what an appeal can and cannot do, how re-sits work, and how to use a practice score when there is no target number to aim at.

ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not affiliated with the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC), and our practice tests are independent practice, not made or endorsed by the APC.

APC OPRA Exam Guide, 30 July 2026, sections 4.2 and 4.3. 108 and 12 are 90% and 10% of 120.

APC's OPRA Exam Guide (30 July 2026, Version 2.3) explains scoring in section 4.2 and results in section 4.3. The same text is on APC's exam guide and sample content page. In APC's own words:

Put simply: APC uses scaled scoring and does not publish a raw-score or percentage target, and your performance is not compared with other candidates. Each sitting has several live versions of the exam, allocated at random, and you must meet the passing standard set for the version you get.

Each OPRA sitting uses several versions (forms) of the exam, allocated at random. APC says its scaled scoring system is there "to ensure fairness and consistency across multiple versions of exam forms", and that you must meet the passing standard set for your allocated form. It also says raw scores and percentages "do not accurately reflect the difficulty of the questions or whether the exam standard was met". That is why a count of correct answers, on its own, is not the measure APC uses.

The standard itself is fixed by experts, not by how other candidates did that day. APC describes it as the minimum standard that must be met to apply for provisional registration as an intern pharmacist and begin supervised work and training. So a candidate is not competing for a share of passes. APC's exam guide and results information do not give the score scale or name a particular standard-setting method.

Of the 120 questions, 90% (108) are scored and count towards your result. The other 10% (12) are unscored: APC includes them "for calibration and testing", and they do not count. APC says they are "evenly distributed across all five content areas", that they do not count towards the target percentage for any area, and that you will not be told which questions are unscored. The content-area weights therefore describe the 108 scored questions. Here is roughly how they split (our arithmetic; APC calls its weights approximate):

Two practical points follow. First, treat every question as if it counts, because you cannot tell which 12 do not. Second, do not let one hard question shake you for the next ten: you cannot tell whether it counts, and APC judges your overall performance. For what each area covers, see our OPRA syllabus guide.

APC emails you when results are ready, and you download them from the Candidate Portal. APC's two pages describe the report a little differently, so here is each in turn:

Either way, APC says it does not disclose raw scores or percentages. If your report includes area feedback, use it to plan study: APC describes it as general guidance for professional development, and says those area scores do not determine your result. APC says results are available about 4 weeks after the exam and publishes a release date for each sitting:

The dates come from the APC Knowledge Stream page. The 2027 dates fall about six weeks after each exam, later than the "approximately 4 weeks" in the guide, so plan on the published date. Registration windows and a back-planner are in our OPRA exam dates 2027 guide.

Each question has one correct answer and three incorrect options. APC's exam guide does not mention any penalty or deduction for a wrong answer. A blank answer cannot be correct, so on the published information there is no reason to leave a question blank: answer every question, flag the ones you are unsure of, and come back if you have time. You have 150 minutes for 120 questions: on average 75 seconds a question (our arithmetic). The 5-minute non-disclosure agreement and 10-minute software tutorial before the exam, and the 5-minute survey after it, are not part of the 150 minutes.

These examples print no exam questions. They show how to read the numbers you can measure yourself.

1. What percentage do I need? A candidate reads online that OPRA needs a fixed percentage and plans to stop revising once a mock reaches it. Nothing in APC's guide supports that figure: the standard is set for each exam form, and a percentage on a practice mock is not on APC's scale. A better rule is to aim to be consistently comfortable across all five areas on full-length timed mocks, with no area left as a gamble.

2. Reading an area breakdown. A candidate scores 81 of 120 on a full-length practice mock built in the APC weights. The breakdown (illustrative numbers):

Therapeutics and patient care is the weakest area and the heaviest: about 45% of the scored questions. Lifting it from 32 to 37 of 54 adds 5 correct answers. A perfect 12 of 12 in medicinal chemistry and biopharmaceutics would add only 2. Since APC judges overall performance, not each area separately, the next block of study goes to therapeutics, while keeping the strong areas warm.

3. One bad section on the day. A candidate feels a run of five pharmacokinetics questions went badly. Two facts help. You cannot know which questions were among the 12 unscored ones, so there is no point guessing. And APC has no per-area minimum, so a weak patch in one area can be made up elsewhere. The right move is to finish every remaining question with the same care.

4. An unsuccessful result and a re-sit. A candidate sits in March 2027 and gets an unsuccessful result on 6 May 2027. Registration for July 2027 runs from 11 May to 28 June, so they can register for July and re-sit the full exam, paying the full fee of AUD 2,245 again (about ₹1.5 lakh at ECB reference rates of 30 October 2026, approximate). Their eligibility check does not expire, so it is not repeated. If the report includes area feedback, it decides where the first weeks of revision go.

Timed, exam-style practice shows you which areas need more study. Start the short free sample below: four questions, one from each of four content areas, in our practice player, with every answer explained. For more explained example questions, see our OPRA sample questions guide. APC also offers its own sample content PDF and a Pearson online sample test of the exam software on its exam guide page.

APC's exam guide says: "Exam results are not subject to review." Its Knowledge Stream page says its appeals process is "for matters other than the calculation of results". So you cannot ask for a re-mark or a recount. An appeal under APC's Exams Appeal and Review Policy (4 March 2026, Version 6.0) covers four eligible grounds, including exam misconduct decisions. Its main points:

For a system failure, the policy asks you to create a case with the test centre or exam delivery partner on the day, so that your issue is recorded for review; we suggest doing it before you leave the centre. APC reviews logged system failures after every exam and offers a full refund or a free rescheduled exam to anyone affected by a confirmed failure.

APC's Knowledge Stream page says: "You may re-sit as many times as you need to." There is no published limit on attempts. Each attempt is the full exam and the full registration fee, and you register again in the next exam period. Your eligibility check carries over: APC says it has no expiry.

APC fees are from the Knowledge Stream page. Rupee figures are our conversion at the European Central Bank reference rates for 30 October 2026 (AUD 1 is about ₹66.70), rounded; what you actually pay depends on your bank or card and the rate on the day.

A pass completes the second part of APC's Knowledge Stream skills assessment (the eligibility check is the first). You can then request a Skills Assessment Outcome in the Candidate Portal, which APC says you can use to support a visa application with the Department of Home Affairs. The OPRA Exam Guide says the passing standard reflects the minimum needed to apply for provisional registration as an intern pharmacist, and APC's Knowledge Stream page adds that you then complete a period of supervised practice before receiving general registration.

More on OPRA: sample questions with answers · OPRA syllabus and topic weights · OPRA exam dates 2027 · KAPS and OPRA: what changed · OPRA exam alerts and updates.