Checked 25 September 2026. Weights, sub-areas and references from the SPLE Applicant Guide (Sep 2025). The week plan and hour split are our suggestion.
SCFHS publishes what most exam boards do not: an exact blueprint for the SPLE, down to the sub-areas. That makes planning simpler. Pharmaceutical and clinical sciences are 35% each, social, behavioural and administrative sciences 20%, and basic biomedical sciences 10%. This ten-week plan follows those weights, gives the often-neglected administrative area its full share, and ends in one of the open 2026 windows.
SPLE Applicant Guide (Sep 2025); our plan.
How the hours are split
Our split: the four areas at slightly under their blueprint weights (35/35/20/10), leaving a tenth for timed mocks.
SPLE hours planner
Choose your likely exam day and how many hours a week you can study. The planner counts the weeks left from today and splits your total hours across the paper.
The dates are the last day of each open 2026 window; you can sit on any open day before it.
The ten weeks
| Week | Focus | Blueprint area |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timed 100-question baseline; clinical: cardiovascular, diabetes and endocrine therapeutics | Clinical (4.6) |
| 2 | Clinical: infectious diseases, respiratory, renal; clinical pharmacokinetics | Clinical (4.2, 4.6) |
| 3 | Clinical: patient assessment, drug information, OTC and self-care, special populations | Clinical (4.1, 4.5, 4.6) |
| 4 | Pharmacology and toxicology; medicinal chemistry | Pharmaceutical (2.1, 2.2) |
| 5 | Pharmaceutics, biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics; calculations daily | Pharmaceutical (2.4, 2.5) |
| 6 | Compounding (sterile and nonsterile), pharmacognosy; first full 200-question mock | Pharmaceutical (2.3, 2.6) |
| 7 | Pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacoeconomics, biostatistics and research design | Social / administrative (3.2, 3.3, 3.6) |
| 8 | Saudi health system, pharmacy law and SFDA rules, management, ethics, communication | Social / administrative (3.1, 3.4, 3.5, 3.7–3.10) |
| 9 | Physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, immunology | Basic biomedical (1.1–1.4) |
| 10 | Second full mock; revise the weakest area; logistics | All |
Our plan. Clinical sciences come first because they draw on everything else and are the largest single block of marks with pharmaceutical sciences. With fewer than ten weeks, keep the order and shorten each block, but keep both full mocks.
Track the sub-areas
SPLE sub-area tracker
Tick a sub-area when you can answer a timed set on it at your target. Progress is kept on this device only.
0 of 26 done
Ticks are saved only in this browser on this device.
All 26 sub-areas from the SPLE applicant guide (Sep 2025), in its order.
What SCFHS says each area covers
| Area | SCFHS's description, summarised |
|---|---|
| Basic biomedical (10%) | Physiology and homeostasis; biochemistry, enzymes, cell signalling, DNA/RNA; microbiology and pathogens; immunology and the genetic basis of disease and pharmacogenomics |
| Pharmaceutical (35%) | Medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacognosy and pharmaceutics: drug properties, development, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, classes, mechanisms and side effects, drug delivery, dosage forms, sterile and non-sterile compounding |
| Social / behavioural / administrative (20%) | The health-care system, practice management, pharmacy law and ethics, health outcomes, drug information and the medication-use process |
| Clinical (35%) | Drug information, patient assessment and drug-related problems, pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenomics, dosing calculations, prevention and immunisation, and patient-centred recommendations with monitoring and education |
Summarised from the "Exam Sections' Description" in the SPLE applicant guide (Sep 2025). Note that the clinical description explicitly includes "performing calculations related to patient assessments and drug dosing" — calculations are not only a pharmaceutics topic.
Getting the most from the two mocks
The mocks in weeks 6 and 10 are the most valuable hours in the plan. Sit each as the real thing — two 100-question parts of 120 minutes, one 30-minute break — and spend at least as long reviewing, sorting every wrong answer by cause.
| Why you got it wrong | What to do |
|---|---|
| Did not know it | Add the sub-area to next week; tick it off only when a timed set goes well |
| Calculation slip | Redo it from scratch; ten similar ones the next day |
| Two options both looked right | Write down what separates them — this is where clinical judgement is tested |
| Ran out of time | Practise the checkpoints below with 50-question sets |
Our method. Your mock scores are only a rough guide to a scaled 536, so aim clearly above the line rather than at it.
Calculation types to drill
| Type | Blueprint home |
|---|---|
| Dilution, concentration, ratio strength | Compounding (2.6.3) |
| Doses by weight and body surface area | Clinical (4.6) |
| Infusion rates | Compounding (2.6.4) |
| Creatinine clearance and renal dose adjustment | Clinical pharmacokinetics (4.2) |
| Loading and maintenance doses, half-life | Pharmacokinetics (2.5, 4.2) |
| Biostatistics: sensitivity, specificity, NNT, confidence intervals | Biostatistics and research design (3.6) |
| Pharmacoeconomic ratios (e.g. cost per outcome) | Pharmacoeconomics (3.3) |
Standard calculation types mapped by us to the sub-areas where the SPLE guide asks for them ("Perform pharmaceutical calculations with accuracy" is objective 2.6.3). Ten a day from week 5 is enough to keep them quick.
If you are working full-time
Twenty hours a week is about two hours on weekdays and five on each weekend day; fewer hours stretch the same ten blocks over more weeks. Keep the order — clinical first — because it is the area your daily work supports most. The Saudi-specific material in week 8 is the one part you cannot learn from practice in India, so give it its full week and read the SFDA and MOH sources the guide lists rather than summaries of them.
One practical note on the reference list: you do not need every book. The two review books cover the whole blueprint in compact form and should be the backbone of the plan; DiPiro's Pharmacotherapy and Goodman & Gilman's are for looking up what the reviews compress; and the Saudi sources are short documents that no review book replaces.
Which books for which area
| Area | SCFHS reference |
|---|---|
| Whole syllabus (start here) | APhA Complete Review for Pharmacy; Comprehensive Pharmacy Review |
| Clinical | DiPiro's Pharmacotherapy; Applied Therapeutics; Patient Assessment in Pharmacy Practice; Handbook of Nonprescription Drugs; Lexicomp |
| Pharmaceutical | Lippincott Pharmacology; Goodman & Gilman's; Shargel's Biopharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics; Ansel's Calculations; Aulton; Principles of Toxicology |
| Social / administrative | Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics; Textbook of Pharmacoepidemiology; Pharmacy Management; research design and statistics texts |
| Saudi-specific | SFDA drug search; SFDA narcotics and psychotropics procedures; MOH immunisation list |
| Basic biomedical | Lippincott Biochemistry; Fundamental Immunology |
Titles from the SPLE guide, grouped by us. The two review books cover the whole blueprint compactly; use the others to look things up.
Pacing
| Checkpoint | Target time | If behind |
|---|---|---|
| Question 25 | 30 min | Flag long cases and move on |
| Question 50 | 60 min | Do not rework calculations already checked |
| Question 75 | 90 min | Answer everything first, then review flagged items |
| Question 100 | 120 min | Answer every question — the guide describes no penalty for wrong answers |
Our pacing for each 120-minute part. Up to 10% of questions are unscored pilot items you cannot identify, so give each the same effort.
Mistakes that cost marks
- Studying from a 300-question plan. The format changed in March 2023.
- Skipping the administrative 20%. The whole area is about 40 questions, and pharmacoeconomics, biostatistics and Saudi law are three of its ten sub-areas.
- Aiming at a percentage. 536 is scaled; aim clearly above the line in timed mocks.
- Ignoring the Saudi sources. The SFDA and MOH documents are on the reference list for a reason.
SCFHS also offers an official SPLE practice test drawn from its item bank, which you apply for on its website (the guide gives no fee). Taken in week 9 or 10, it is the closest thing to the real item style.
Practise it, don't just read it
Weeks 1–3 are clinical. Therapeutics quizzes are the quickest check that it has stuck.
The ProSyllabus SCFHS pharmacist library has topic quizzes for Pharmacology and Mechanisms of Action, Pharmaceutics and Dosage Forms, Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, Therapeutics: Cardiovascular and Endocrine, Therapeutics: Infectious Disease and Antimicrobials, Pharmacy Practice, Dispensing and Patient Counseling, Drug Interactions, Adverse Effects and Toxicology and Pharmacy Law, Ethics and Saudi (SCFHS) Regulations. Each question comes with an explanation.
How should I prepare for the SPLE?
Follow SCFHS's blueprint — 35% pharmaceutical, 35% clinical, 20% social/administrative, 10% basic biomedical — with the APhA and Comprehensive Pharmacy reviews, the Saudi SFDA and MOH sources, and at least two timed 200-question mocks.
How many months are needed for SPLE preparation?
SCFHS gives no figure. About ten weeks at 20 hours a week (200 hours) covers the blueprint for a working pharmacist; allow longer if you have been away from study.
Which area of the SPLE carries the most marks?
Pharmaceutical sciences and clinical sciences, 35% each — about 70 questions apiece.
Do I need to buy every book on the SPLE reference list?
No. SCFHS calls the list a study aid and says questions are not necessarily taken from it. The two whole-syllabus reviews plus the Saudi SFDA and MOH sources are enough for most candidates; use the others for reference.
Are calculations tested in the SPLE?
Yes, in two places: the compounding objectives ask candidates to "perform pharmaceutical calculations with accuracy", and the clinical-sciences description includes calculations for patient assessment and drug dosing.
How do I study Saudi pharmacy law for the SPLE?
Read the sources SCFHS lists: the SFDA drug search, the SFDA procedures for narcotics and psychotropics, and the MOH immunisation list, alongside general pharmacy-law chapters in the review books.
How much time do I get per question in the SPLE?
120 minutes for each 100-question part — 72 seconds a question.
Is there an official SPLE practice exam?
Yes. SCFHS offers an SPLE practice test that candidates apply for on its website.
More in this series
Sources
- official — SCFHS — SPLE Applicant Guide (Sep 2025)
- official — SCFHS — Professional Practice Licensure Exams: 2026 periods and attempts
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
