NHRA pharmacist exam: practice and paper requirements

Facts last verified 5 October 2026.

Practise calculations, medicine interactions and referral decisions. Use NHRA’s pharmacist reading list to plan your revision.

Is this the right paper for you?

Use Pharmacist practice for your NHRA title. Ask in Mehan if you can skip the exam before you book. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) licence route needs Bahraini or GCC nationality and a valid GCC licence (pharmacy rules).

Pass 60%

Format at a glance

Question count not published. Time: 2.5 hours of exam time in a 3-hour seating (Prometric). Pass mark: 60%.

Delivered by Prometric.

Sources: NHRA exam booklet, Prometric NHRA page

NHRA's exam booklet and Prometric's NHRA page do not give a question count.

What the paper covers

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

  • Basic Biomedical Sciences (10%): Study how the body works and how drugs act. Include biochemistry and the role of microbes.
  • Pharmaceutical Sciences (35%): Study how drugs are made and move through the body. Practise dilution, isotonicity, clearance and dose changes.
  • Social/Behavioral/Administrative Sciences (20%): Study law, ethics and safe use of medicines. Include how to run a practice. Use Bahrain’s law and medicine-class notes.
  • Clinical Sciences (35%): Choose the drug, dose and advice for the patient. Study drug interactions, over-the-counter (OTC) triage and counselling.

Sample questions

These are eight original ProMCQ practice questions with explanations. Select an answer to see the explanation.

  1. A 1-day-old boy is born at term in a high-TB-burden country. His mother was diagnosed with HIV late in pregnancy and has not yet started antiretroviral therapy. The neonate is feeding well and shows no clinical signs of HIV infection. His own HIV test result is still pending. What is the most appropriate BCG plan for this neonate?

    1. Defer until infant HIV result
    2. Defer until maternal ART starts
    3. Defer until 6 months of age
    4. Give one BCG dose now
    Answer

    D. In high TB-burden countries BCG is given as one dose at birth, or as soon as possible thereafter. WHO still gives it at birth to HIV-exposed neonates of unknown status who have no clinical signs of HIV, regardless of maternal ART. The old blanket rule of deferring every HIV-exposed infant is outdated. Deferral is reserved for confirmed infant HIV infection until the child is on ART and immunologically stable.

  2. Which agent blocks NPC1L1 at the intestinal brush border?

    1. Ezetimibe
    2. Cholestyramine
    3. Fenofibrate
    4. Niacin
    Answer

    A. Ezetimibe blocks NPC1L1 at the intestinal brush border, reducing absorption of dietary and biliary cholesterol.

  3. In a laboratory study of isolated vascular smooth muscle, an alpha-1 agonist is applied and phospholipase C is activated. Membrane PIP₂ is split into two second messengers, and within seconds calcium stored in the sarcoplasmic reticulum is released into the cytosol, triggering contraction. Which intracellular signal directly releases the stored calcium?

    1. Inositol trisphosphate (IP3)
    2. Diacylglycerol (DAG)
    3. Cyclic AMP (cAMP)
    4. Protein kinase C (PKC)
    Answer

    A. Gq-coupled receptors such as alpha-1 activate phospholipase C, which splits PIP₂ into IP3 and DAG. IP3 releases Ca²⁺ from the endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum, while DAG activates protein kinase C. The rising Ca²⁺ then drives smooth-muscle contraction.

  4. What is the blood half-life of adenosine given intravenously?

    1. About 1–2 minutes
    2. Less than 10 seconds
    3. About 10 minutes
    4. About 2 hours
    Answer

    B. IV adenosine has a blood half-life of less than 10 seconds. For this reason it is given as a rapid peripheral IV bolus over 1–2 seconds followed by a rapid saline flush.

  5. A prescriber asks a pharmacist to override a serious drug-interaction alert just this once because the prescription is urgent. Which pharmacist response best protects the patient while preserving the professional relationship?

    1. "I understand the urgency. I will dispense it this once as you requested."
    2. "I cannot override a serious interaction alert. Let us discuss a safer alternative."
    3. "This request is unsafe. You should know better than to ask for an override."
    4. "I cannot dispense this prescription. The interaction alert identifies a serious safety concern."
    Answer

    B. An assertive refusal combines specific facts, respect, and an alternative. It addresses the serious interaction without complying or attacking the prescriber.

  6. A pharmacy chain is revising its transfer procedure. Routine prescriptions and lower-schedule controlled refills may be transferable subject to local rules, while high-schedule controlled prescriptions have traditionally required a new prescription at another pharmacy and generally do not carry refills. Which prescription traditionally cannot be transferred between pharmacies?

    1. Schedule III–V refill prescription
    2. Schedule II-equivalent controlled prescription
    3. Shared-database chain prescription
    4. Non-controlled refill prescription
    Answer

    B. The traditional general rule is that a Schedule II-equivalent controlled prescription cannot be transferred between pharmacies; the patient needs a new prescription. Narrow electronic-prescription exceptions may exist under specific local rules.

  7. A 70-year-old woman is prescribed an insulin infusion at 2 units/h. The nurse selects the correct insulin drug-library entry on a smart pump but keys 12 units/h. For this entry, the facility has set a soft limit of 15 units/h and a hard limit of 25 units/h. The infusion starts, and the error is found at the next glucose check. Why did the dose-error-reduction software fail to intercept this error?

    1. The software checks drug name only
    2. The rate was within library limits
    3. The limits apply after infusion starts
    4. The software checks concentration only
    Answer

    B. DERS compares the programmed drug, concentration and rate/dose with the drug library's limits before the infusion begins. It alerts only when a value exceeds a predetermined limit. A wrong rate of 12 units/h lies below the 15 units/h soft limit, so the software has nothing to flag. The pump plays no active alerting role when a program is within all limits.

  8. Which model is the source of the SOLER nonverbal attending mnemonic?

    1. Indian Health Service prime questions
    2. Egan's The Skilled Helper
    3. Motivational interviewing OARS skills
    4. IHS Show-and-Tell refill questions
    Answer

    B. SOLER (face Squarely, Open posture, Lean slightly toward, Eye contact, Relax) comes from Gerard Egan's The Skilled Helper model and describes the observable nonverbal attending behaviours for face-to-face counselling.

Timed practice papers

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

How to prepare

  • Practise alligation, percentage strength, infusion rates and renal dose adjustment.
  • In OTC cases, identify the red flag that needs referral before reading the options.
  • Learn interaction mechanisms: enzyme inhibition, QT prolongation, bleeding and serotonin effects.
  • NHRA’s pharmacist list asks for the latest editions. It includes Remington, Goodman and Gilman, Lexicomp, pharmacotherapy and the Saudi National Formulary.
  • Study Bahrain prescription and controlled-drug rules from the Bahrain notes.

Licensing steps

  1. Check the licence steps: Check your title and documents. Apply through Mehan. Read the guide
  2. Check costs and book: Get NHRA’s approval and your code before you book. Read the guide
  3. Send your result: Send your report through Mehan. Check what to do next. Read the guide

Frequently asked questions

What is the pass mark for the NHRA pharmacist exam?

60%. NHRA’s booklet and Prometric agree for pharmacy.

Where can you find sample questions?

Use the NHRA pharmacist samples. Each sample has an explanation.

What should you do after the exam?

Send your report through Mehan. Follow NHRA results and next steps if you pass or fail.

Which books should you use?

Use NHRA’s book list for your profession.

Sources

Facts last verified 2026-10-05.

  1. Licensure Examination 2022, updated, National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA)
  2. National Health Regulatory Authority examination programme, Prometric
  3. Licensure Exams, National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA)
  4. Frequently Asked Questions: Mehan, National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA)
  5. Pharmacy Professional Qualification Requirements, version 3, National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA)
  6. Health Professions Fees (annual registration and renewal schedule), National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA)
  7. Approximate Cost, Cost - Aug 2022, National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA)
  8. Annual Report 2022, National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA)
  9. Pharmacists Examination References 2021, National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA)
  10. Customer Reference for NHRA, DataFlow Group