PEBC Evaluating Exam Dates 2025

PEBC Evaluating Exam Dates 2025

The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) was established in 1963 as the national certification board to assess the qualifications of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Canada. The Board is responsible for ensuring that individuals meet the necessary standards for practice in Canada. Thus, PEBC plays a crucial role in maintaining public health and safety by granting only those who have proven they have the knowledge and skill expected from an entry-level pharmacist or technician.

For anyone interested in working in Canada as a licensed pharmacist, the PEBC is a crucial first step in determining if you will be granted a license to practice. The exam evaluates candidates’ foundational knowledge in pharmaceutical sciences, such as pharmacology and medicinal chemistry, and biomedical sciences, like anatomy, physiology, and pathology. Lastly, the behavioural, social, and administrative pharmacy sciences cover ethics, communication, and health systems.

The PEBC exam is divided into two parts. The first is the evaluating exam for internationally educated pharmacists. The evaluating exam serves as a way for candidates trained in countries other than the US or Canada to prove that their education meets Canadian standards. Over the years, the evaluating exam has undergone significant changes to align with Canada’s evolving landscape of pharmacy education and practice. The second part is the Qualifying exam, a two-part exam on two different days. Passing this exam shows you meet the standard required to perform competently at entry-to-practice.

Exam Format and Structure

The exams all have different formats as they serve different purposes. The evaluation exam was changed in October 2024 to a three-hour multiple-choice exam of 150 questions. The questions are divided into two sections of 75 questions each. Approximately 40% of the questions for this exam will focus on pharmaceutical sciences, 30% on biomedical sciences, and the remaining 30% on behavioural, social, and administrative pharmacy sciences; passing this exam will qualify you to write the qualifying exam. Another change was increasing the exam frequency to four times a year to increase accessibility for all candidates. To reflect Canada’s move from a Bachelor of Pharmacy to an entry-to-practice Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program, the exam will undergo an update in June 2025. This way, the exam will stay relevant to modern standards.

The qualifying exam is a two-day exam and is divided into two parts. The first is a single-day, computer-based, multiple-choice question exam that assesses your understanding and application of knowledge to problems. Part II is an in-person objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) where candidates move around a series of stations set up to stimulate a scenario common to pharmacists working in Canada. A trained examiner will observe, record, and assess you perform the tasks asked of you. The tasks of each station can range from gathering and interpreting information needed to identify and solve a patient’s drug therapy problem to collaborating with other health professionals to solve the problem.

According to the examination blueprint, which guides how the PEBC designs its exam, the qualifying exam assesses your knowledge based on nine competencies. They are:

  • Ethical, legal, and professional responsibilities
  • Patient care
  • Product Distribution
  • Practice setting
  • Health promotion
  • Knowledge and research application
  • Communication and Education
  • Intra and inter-professional collaboration
  • Quality and safety

Important date for 2025

According to the PEBC website, two evaluating exams will be held in the first half of the year. The first will be on the 7th of January 2025, and the application for the exam started on August 2nd and ended on September 19, 2024; the result for the exam will be released on the 5th of February. The second exam date is on the 25th of March 2025; application began on the 11th of October and closed on November 21, 2024. The PEBC also announced that starting in June 2025, they will implement a revised exam blueprint to align with the updated pharmacy curriculum; additionally, the exam will be offered four times per year. These changes may be why information on the later exams is scarce.

The Qualifying exam will be held in May 2025, and applications will begin on the 10th of January and close on the 20th of February 2025. The MCQ exam will run for seven days from the 20th to the 27th, excluding the 25th, which was set aside for the OSCE.

How to Register

Before applying for the PEBC Evaluating Examination (EE) or the Qualifying Examination (QE), you must first confirm your eligibility. For international pharmacy graduates, this involves completing the Document Evaluation process on the official PEBC website. During this step, you enroll in the NAPRA Pharmacists Gateway Canada to obtain a national ID number before you submit your academic credentials, transcripts, and other required documents for verification. PEBC reviews your qualifications to ensure they meet Canadian standards and notifies you of your eligibility to proceed with the next steps. There is a fee for the document evaluation; US applicants will pay CAD 250, while people from other countries will pay CAD 715.

Once your eligibility is confirmed, decide on the exam period you wish to write and regularly monitor the PEBC website for application period openings. The registration process operates on a first-come, first-served basis, so early application is crucial to secure your preferred exam date.

You apply for the EE or QE through your PEBC online account; ensure your application includes necessary details such as the National Identifier Number received from NAPRA, preferred language of examination, and any requests for special accommodations.

Your application will be reviewed, and if approved, you’ll receive a confirmation email. At this point, you must pay the exam fee. For 2025, the cost of the EE is CAD 910, while the QE fees vary depending on the component: Part I (MCQ) is CAD 855, and Part II (OSCE) is CAD 1915. Your registration is not complete until payment is made.

Tips for Preparation

Practice exams are essential for success when preparing for the PEBC exams. They familiarize you with the format, improve your efficiency under timed conditions, and pinpoint areas needing more attention. CanadaQBank offers an unparalleled platform to achieve all this and more, providing targeted tools tailored to the needs of PEBC candidates.

CanadaQBank allows you to simulate real exam conditions, helping you develop the confidence and time management skills required on test day. With customizable settings, you can take tests in timed or untimed modes, ensuring a realistic practice environment. This feature empowers you to replicate the pressures of the actual exam while building your stamina and speed.

After completing each test, you can review detailed explanations for every question. This clarifies the correct answers and provides insights into why other options are incorrect. Such in-depth analysis is invaluable for refining your understanding and tailoring your study strategy to strengthen weak areas.

CanadaQBank’s question bank is meticulously aligned with PEBC standards, offering a variety of question types and scenarios reflective of the real exam. The platform regularly updates its content to match the real-world changes. Its tracking tools let you monitor your performance over time, providing cumulative reports that help identify areas for improvement. With features like marking cases and writing personalized notes, you can create a highly personalized study plan to maximize your efficiency.

By choosing CanadaQBank, you can access a comprehensive and continually updated resource beyond standard preparation methods. With proven success rates and thousands of satisfied users, it’s the ultimate tool to ensure you’re ready for the PEBC exams. Visit CanadaQBank today to explore how its innovative approach can help you achieve your goals.

How CanadaQBank Can Help You Ace Your PEBC Evaluating Exam

If you’re preparing for the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) Evaluating Exam, we have good news: there are plenty of online resources that can help you prepare in less time. In particular, CanadaQBank has a comprehensive online practice quiz bank that will give you everything you need to feel confident and prepared by test day.

Getting Started

So you’ve applied to the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC), and you’re going through the screening process as a pharmacy technician. The first step of this process is to get your pharmacy degree.

The PEBC is the governing body for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Canada, setting standards for all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, including those working in independent clinics and those working in hospitals or long-term care facilities.

The second step is passing the Pharmacist Evaluating Exam, a multiple-choice exam. The multiple-choice exam consists of 300 questions with four possible answers to each question. You will have approximately 4 hours to complete this test, so ensure you have plenty of time to answer all 300 questions correctly. To help you prepare for this type of test, CanadaQBank offers practice tests that are similar in format and difficulty level as those found on actual PEBC exams administered by pharmacy schools around North America. These practice tests allow users to see how they fare against fellow students who took these same types of exams before they were tested themselves!

Exam criteria for PEBC

The Passing Score is 60%. You can take the exam up to three times in a row (4 in total), but before you write the exam for the fourth and final time, you need to complete remediation.

Before you can write the fourth time, you need special permission, usually on medical issues or compassion.

Take note that an attempt is only counted if you write and fail, not if you miss the exam. To pass, you must get at least 60 percent of the 200 obtainable marks.

The Evaluating Exam consists of 300 multiple-choice questions. The Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs says that most people take between three and five months to fully prepare for this part of the exam. If you have a full-time job, that can seem like an impossible task to balance work and studying!

That’s why CanadaQBank developed its own study guide specifically designed for pharmacy school admissions exams such as PEBC Evaluating Exam.

The exam covers the following topics:

  • Anesthesia/Critical Care
  • Emergency Medicine, X-RAY & ECG
  • Hematology
  • Respiratory Medicine
  • Toxicology
  • Cardiology
  • Pharmacology
  • Endocrinology
  • Ophthalmology
  • Nephrology
  • Ear, Nose, and Throat
  • Neurology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Genetics
  • Gastroenterology
  • Rheumatology
  • Trauma and Orthopedics
  • Dermatology
  • Anatomy
  • Oncology
  • Pediatrics
  • Obstetrics and Gynaecology
  • General Surgery
  • Psychiatry
  • Epidemiology

Requirements for applying

  • Applying as an international graduate

It would be best to have your pharmacy degree evaluated by relevant Canadian authorities. And you will be required by some Canadian provinces to write the IELTS exam.

  • Applying as a US graduate

You should have a pharmacy degree from a school accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) or the Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP).

  • Applying as a Canadian graduate

You need to have a pharmacy degree from an accredited institution.

Preparing for Your PEBC Evaluating Exam Made Simple

You may wonder, “Where can I find the best questions?”

You’re not alone. We’ve heard this question from many people preparing for their exams, and we’d like to help answer it. CanadaQBank offers more than 2,500 questions as part of its service. Their experts have created these questions based on years of experience teaching medical students and candidates across Canada: they want to help you prepare for your exam effectively in less time!

It was designed by practicing pharmacists who want to help medical students and candidates from across Canada prepare for their exams in an effective way with the most up-to-date information available.

CanadaQBank is a comprehensive online practice quiz bank that can help you know what to expect on your exam day. The questions are written by experts who have worked at various pharmacy schools around the world. The questions are carefully selected to mirror those found on actual exams so that you get a realistic look at how well-prepared you are before taking this major test!

It is an easy-to-use resource that would help students prepare for their PEBC Evaluating Exam quickly and easily so they could focus on studying instead of spending time searching through books or websites trying to find the information they need before an exam day arrives.

FAQs about Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada Exam

  • What is the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC)?

The PEBC was established in 1963 as a self-governing organization to administer the licensing and assessment process for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmaceutical supervisors. It also serves as an advisory body on pharmacy issues related to public health and safety.

  • How many parts does the exam have?

There are two parts to the exam, which can be taken one after the other:

  1. A multiple-choice section that tests your knowledge of pharmacy practice and theory.
  2. A clinical assessment that evaluates your ability to apply this knowledge under the supervision of a qualified PEBC assessor or an approved educational institution.
  • What are the exam fees?

For the Pharmacist qualifying exam parts I & II, you’re to pay 4,255 CAD.

For the Pharmacy Technicians qualifying exam parts I & II, you’re to pay 1,750 CAD.

  • How many questions are there?

There are 300 of these questions, and the questions are split into 2 150-question blocks with 225 minutes to finish each block.

  • How long does the exam take?

It takes 4 hours and 30 minutes to complete the exam.

Find out more about preparing and applying for the PEBC exam here. You can also learn more about other exams such as USMLE, PLAB, and so on  CanadaQBank.

Conclusion

The Pharmacist and Pharmacy Technician exams are challenging, but if you study hard and practice your skills, you can pass your exam with flying colors. Good luck!

What is the PEBC Exam?

PEBC EXAM

Before we get into the details of what the PEBC exam entails, we have to give a little history of PEBC itself. PEBC stands for Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada and was created in 1963 to license all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Canada. The PEBC also ensures that entry-level pharmacy professionals have the proper professional ability to practice safely within their scope. The board acts on behalf of all the provinces in Canada except Quebec. Quebec conducts its assessment and licensing process differently.

The PEBC exam assesses the competence, knowledge, and skills of persons who want to be licensed as a pharmacist or pharmacist technician in Canada (except Quebec). The people who will write this exam are generally classified into three groups. These groups are Canadian Graduates, American Graduates, and Overseas Graduates. Each group has its specific requirements and will be discussed individually.

Furthermore, the PEBC exam is divided into two parts –

  • Part I (MCQ section)
  • Part II (OSCE section)

Requirements

Overseas Graduates/International Students

For international students, there are specific steps you need to complete

  • Document Evaluation – You will have to submit your foreign pharmacy education credentials to be able to take the Pharmacy Evaluation Examination. PEBC will determine if your credentials are equivalent to the Canadian ones. Only after this is done will you be able to take the Pharmacy Evaluating Examination. If it is not comparable, you will have to enroll in a pharmacy school in Canada for four years.
  • Pharmacy Evaluating Examination – This exam tests your knowledge of pharmacy as relevant to the Canadian pharmacy curriculum. To pass the exam, you will have to get 60. You have four attempts only to pass this exam.

After this examination has been completed, you will be able to go on with the PEBC certification. Note that you may not need to do a language proficiency test as an international student before you write the PEBC exam. However, certain provinces in Canada do require it.

United States of America Graduates

If you are a recognized and licensed pharmacist in the US and graduated from a program approved by the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP) or the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), you are eligible to take the Pharmacy Evaluation Examination.

Canada Graduates

  • You must have completed a four-year undergraduate pharmacy degree in Canada and possess a certificate as evidence of graduation.
  • Successful completion of pharmacy evaluation examination to test your entry-level proficiency

One should note that even after all these requirements are met, the PEBC exam and certification do not automatically make one a legal pharmacist in Canada. The specific provinces also have their requirements for this.

 

Where Can the PEBC exam be taken?

The PEBC exam can be taken in several locations in Canada. Places such as Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Regna, Winnipeg, London, Hamilton, Toronto (North York and Downtown), Mississauga, Ottawa, Halifax, Whitby, Montreal, Vancouver, Saskatoon, and St. Johns.

International Locations the exam can be taken include Egypt (Alexandria, Cairo), India (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai), Palestine (Ramallah), Jordan (Amman), Kenya (Nairobi), Kuwait (Kuwait), Lebanon (Beirut), Nigeria (Lagos), Oman (Muscat), Pakistan (Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore), Philippines (Cebu City), Qatar (Doha), Saudi Arabia (Jeddah, Riyadh), South Africa (Durban, Johannesburg), South Korea (Seoul), Turkey (Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir), Uganda (Kampala), United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai), United Kingdom (London), and the various Unites States cities.

You can also do Remote Proctoring. This means that you will be able to take the test remotely without going to test centers. This is an effect of the global pandemic and the fact that there are limited centers for this exam.

What Does the PEBC Exam Entail

The PEBC exam is split into two parts.

Part I

This part is an MCQ examination written in one day. It is meant to check your understanding, application of knowledge, and ability to combine these two to solve problems and make judgments in pharmacy practice. The exam is divided into two half-day sections. Each section has 150 questions to be answered in 225 minutes. Therefore, you will have just 90 seconds to answer each question. Thus, you will have to be very fast and accurate to pass this section. CanadaQBank helps prepare you for these exam conditions.

Part II

Part II is done on a different day. It is an OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) with various stations that simulate real-life practical scenarios. These stations will represent a part of the pharmacy you are meant to be conversant with. In each station, you will interact with a “Simulated Patient,” “Simulated Client,” or “Simulated Health Practitioner.”

 

In this exam, there are certain things that you may have to do, such as identifying a patient’s drug therapy issue, gathering and interpreting the clinical history, working without health practitioners, and effectively communicating with the patient, caregiver, and other health workers.

 How to Schedule Your Exam

If it is your first time applying for the exam, create an account on the PEBC portal. After making the account, you must do an ID and education verification.  You will then have to submit all the necessary documents online and wait for the approval. Approvals could take up to 6 weeks.  Once you have been verified and approved, the Part I and Part II applications will appear on your portal. You will then choose what part of the exam you want to write.

Two weeks to your Part I exam, you will receive an email to schedule your exam with Prometric. For Part II, this usually is three weeks before the exam.

Payment

International students will pay CAD 665 for documents evaluation and CAD 850 to take the evaluation exam in Canada.

After this is done, they will have to pay CAD 795 and CAD 1795 for PEBC Part I and Part II, respectively. This amount is the same for everyone who writes the PEBC in Canada.

Preparing for your exam

For an exam like the PEBC exam, it is best to prepare at least six months beforehand. There are a wealth of resources at your disposal that you can use. CanadaQBank helps streamline all these with questions bank. We have over 1500 multiple questions with explanations to use anytime you want.

You could also take timed tests that simulate exam conditions for you. These services are accessible from anywhere globally and not just in Canada.

Our subscription prices range from $95 per month to a discounted $395 per year.

The subjects covered include Respiratory Medicine, Toxicology, Cardiology, Pharmacology, Endocrinology Ophthalmology, Nephrology, Ear, Nose, and Throat, Neurology, Infectious, and lots more.

So, let us help you start your pharmacy journey now. Click here