DOH pharmacist exam: paper and practice

Facts last verified 5 October 2026.

The Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH) groups pharmacists within a range of 50 to 100 questions in 1 to 2 hours. Confirm your paper’s exact length before planning your pace.

Is this the right paper for you?

This paper is for Pharmacist. Clinical Pharmacist and Specialized Pharmacist have their own title rules.

  • You need a BSc in Pharmacy or a Doctor of Pharmacy (PQR).
  • The Pharmacist title needs 2 years of related experience after you qualify.
  • EPREE or a qualifying listed-country licence may remove the exam requirement. Ask DOH to confirm the conditions before booking.

Ask DOH about the pass mark

Format at a glance

50–100 questions. Time: 1 to 2 hours; DOH publishes a range for this group, not an exact pharmacist figure. Pass mark: Not published.

Delivered by Pearson VUE.

DOH lists pharmacists in a group sitting 50–100 questions in 1–2 hours and does not give the exact pharmacist count.

What the paper covers

We did not find published section weights for the DOH paper for pharmacists. ProMCQ's mock papers use the published Qatar DHP blueprint for pharmacists as practice targets. These are not DOH's own weights. Each mock includes national-topic content, so its final question shares can differ slightly from these targets.

  • Basic Biomedical Sciences (4.7%): Use basic science to explain how a drug acts.
  • Pharmaceutical Sciences (25.3%): Revise pharmaceutics and how drugs move through the body. Practise dose calculations, compounding and stability.
  • Social/Behavioral/Administrative Sciences (25.3%): Revise law, ethics and pharmacy management. Keep medicines safe and explain their use. Use the UAE law notes for local rules.
  • Clinical Sciences (44.7%): Choose drugs for common disease. Check interactions and adverse effects. Adjust care for pregnancy, breastfeeding, children and renal disease.

Sample questions

Eight original practice questions from the DOH pharmacists bank. They are written to the paper's style, not taken from the live exam. Pick an answer to see the key and explanation.

  1. An adult with serious VRE infection will receive orally available linezolid. Which regimen is the standard dose?

    1. 600 mg once daily
    2. 600 mg every 12 hours
    3. 4 mg/kg every 12 hours
    4. 6 mg/kg once daily
    Answer

    B. For serious VRE infection, linezolid is administered at its standard dose of 600 mg every 12 hours by the intravenous or oral route.

  2. A generic gives an AUC ratio CI of 92–108%, a Cmax ratio CI of 85–118%, and Tmax values of 1.5 versus 1 hour. What is the bioequivalence conclusion?

    1. Bioequivalent; both required confidence intervals pass.
    2. Not bioequivalent; the Tmax values differ measurably.
    3. Not bioequivalent; the AUC interval is too narrow.
    4. Not bioequivalent; the Cmax interval is too wide.
    Answer

    A. The 90% confidence intervals for both AUC and Cmax fall entirely within 80–125%. Tmax is considered but is not part of this formal pass-or-fail interval criterion.

  3. A small trial reported that a dietary supplement reduced migraine frequency compared with placebo (p = 0.04), and the authors concluded that the supplement was effective. Three later large, well-conducted trials established that the supplement has no true effect. What kind of error did the first trial's conclusion represent?

    1. Type II error
    2. Insufficient power
    3. Type I error
    4. Detection bias
    Answer

    C. The first trial rejected the null hypothesis of no difference, but the null was true. Rejecting a true null is a Type I (α) error, also called a false positive.

  4. A pharmacy compounding worksheet lists two ingredients in each millilitre of a phosphate concentrate: 276 mg NaH₂PO₄·H₂O, with molar mass 138 mg/mmol, and 268 mg Na₂HPO₄·7H₂O, with molar mass 268 mg/mmol. Each formula unit contains one phosphate group. The worksheet requires the total phosphate concentration. What phosphate concentration should be entered?

    1. 1 mmol/mL
    2. 2 mmol/mL
    3. 3 mmol/mL
    4. 4 mmol/mL
    Answer

    C. Total phosphate mmol/mL = monobasic mass ÷ its molar mass + dibasic mass ÷ its molar mass. Substitution gives 276 ÷ 138 + 268 ÷ 268 = 2 + 1 = 3 mmol/mL. Both species contain one phosphorus atom, so their phosphate amounts add without charge weighting.

  5. A 58-year-old woman is prescribed metformin one tablet twice daily. She was dispensed 60 tablets for 30 days. At the 30-day review, a pill count shows 18 tablets remaining. Adherence is quantified as doses taken versus doses prescribed. Which interpretation of her adherence is most accurate?

    1. 70%, meets the target
    2. 70%, below the target
    3. 30%, below the target
    4. 42%, below the target
    Answer

    B. Doses prescribed = 2 per day × 30 days = 60. Doses taken = 60 − 18 remaining = 42. Adherence = 42 ÷ 60 × 100 = 70%. The target is at least 75% to 80%, so her adherence is below target.

  6. A sterile-compounding service is redesigning a technician's competency simulation. Her assigned work includes demanding aseptic manipulations under busy working conditions, but the existing exercise uses a simple filling task in a quiet room. The quality pharmacist must select the basis for the revised assessment before it is used. What should determine the simulation's design?

    1. The simplest routine filling task
    2. The most demanding assigned work
    3. A fixed testing-room occupancy
    4. The final filled-container appearance
    Answer

    B. A competency simulation must reproduce the compounder's most demanding aseptic tasks, include every element affecting sterility, and reflect actual working conditions and preparation exposure.

  7. A man with confirmed G6PD deficiency is being assessed before drug therapy. Which agent is classified as high risk and should be avoided?

    1. Sulfamethoxazole
    2. Dapsone
    3. Nitrofurantoin
    4. Ciprofloxacin
    Answer

    B. Dapsone is among the genuinely high-risk oxidative drugs that should be avoided in G6PD deficiency. Nitrofurantoin is medium risk, whereas sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin are graded as low-to-no risk. Phenazopyridine is also high risk and must be avoided.

  8. A hospital recommendation panel is updating its disclosure form. The draft asks members to declare only payments received from pharmaceutical manufacturers. One member has received no such payments but has a well-known personal interest in promoting one of the treatments under review. What should the revised form require members to declare?

    1. Manufacturer payments only
    2. Payments above a set value
    3. Financial and nonfinancial interests
    4. Interests only when requested
    Answer

    C. Panel members should declare relevant financial relationships and nonfinancial interests. Both kinds can then undergo conflict assessment.

Full papers in the real format

10 timed mock papers of 150 questions each, built to the weights above. No question repeats across papers.

How to prepare

  • Our suggested approach: practise dilutions, infusion rates, creatinine clearance and doses for children. Use a screen calculator.
  • Check renal function, pregnancy and interacting drugs before choosing a treatment.
  • Revise ProMCQ’s UAE pharmacy notes on law, medicines, the formulary, screening and national programmes.
  • ProMCQ mocks have 150 questions in 150 minutes. They are longer than the published range; use them for extra practice.

Licensing steps

  1. Check eligibility: DOH licence requirements.
  2. Book the exam: DOH fees and booking.
  3. Get your result: DOH results and next steps.

Frequently asked questions

What is the DOH pharmacist pass mark?

DOH sets the pass mark internally. Its catalogue gives no percentage. TAMM shows pass or fail with no score.

How many questions will your DOH pharmacist paper have?

The catalogue gives no exact pharmacist count or time. Ask DOH or Pearson VUE before choosing a pacing target.

Does EPREE exempt a pharmacist from the DOH exam?

EPREE is a PQR route for pharmacists and clinical pharmacists. Ask DOH to confirm it under DOH licence requirements.

Which books should you use for the DOH pharmacist exam?

We did not find an official full reading list. Send study-material questions to exam@doh.gov.ae.

Sources

Facts last verified 2026-10-05.

  1. Licensing Service Catalogue and Licensing Procedural Manual (Circular 151/2024), Department of Health Abu Dhabi
  2. Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements, April 2025, MOHAP, DOH, DHA and SHA
  3. Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements, April 2025, MOHAP, DOH, DHA and SHA
  4. Arrival and taking the exam (DOH programme), Pearson VUE