New-Zealand-OPRA Exam Information and Outline
Overseas Pharmacist Readiness Assessment (New Zealand)
Syllabus Update Checked on: October 30, 2026
New-Zealand-OPRA Exam Syllabus & Study Guide
Before you start practicing with our exam simulator, it is essential to understand the
official New-Zealand-OPRA exam objectives. This course outline serves as your roadmap.
The information below reflects the 2026 syllabus defined by
APC.
Below are complete topics detail with latest syllabus and course outline, that will help you good knowledge about exam objectives and topics that you have to prepare. These contents are covered in questions and answers pool of exam.
- Exam Format
- 120 single-best-answer multiple-choice questions (four options)
- Duration: 150 minutes; closed book; on-screen calculator
- Integrated, case-based exam (replaced the KAPS exam in 2025)
- Used as the knowledge assessment pathway for overseas pharmacists registering in New Zealand
- Therapeutics and Patient Care (45%)
- Drug selection based on patient factors
- Monitoring and therapeutic drug monitoring
- Patient counselling
- Pharmaceutical calculations
- Primary healthcare and self-care
- Professional ethics
- Biomedical Sciences (20%)
- Physiology, pathophysiology and biochemistry
- Microbiology and immunology
- Interpreting liver and renal function markers
- Pharmacology and Toxicology (15%)
- Mechanisms of action
- Adverse drug reactions and interactions
- Poisoning and overdose management
- Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics (10%)
- Absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion
- Clearance, volume of distribution, half-life and steady state
- Receptor–ligand interactions
- Medicinal Chemistry and Biopharmaceutics (10%)
- Drug structure and physicochemical properties
- Formulation and routes of administration
- Sterile manufacturing and pharmaceutical microbiology