ABPI Exam

Qualification

The ABPI exam is a certified qualification for current or prospective medical representatives and other people who promote medicines in the UK.

The ABPI Professional Examination has been in existence since 1969, and the qualification has been formally accredited in the UK education system since January 2014. The current qualification titles were adopted in January 2024. The qualifications are accredited by SFJ Awards (formerly Industry Qualifications 2014-2020).

The qualifications examine the skills and knowledge required to promote medicines. They cover different areas divided into units with credit values. In order to pass the Intermediate Professional Programme, you must achieve 31 credits (made up of five mandatory units), and to pass the Advanced Professional Programme, at least 46 credits (made up of the mandatory units plus two or three disease area units). For traditional medical representatives, the Advanced Professional Programme for Industry Personnel is the appropriate examination, whereas for generic sales representatives the Intermediate Professional Programme for Industry Personnel is the most appropriate qualification.

Timing

The ABPI Code of Practice states that medical representatives must take exams for all units within one year of beginning employment in the promotion of medicines to prescribers and pass all units within two years. This time limit does not apply to candidates not currently employed in the promotion of medicines to prescribers.

Units

This qualification is open to both personnel within the pharmaceutical industry and others looking to move into the industry.

After May 2025, Medical Representatives must sit and pass five mandatory units and two or three optional disease area units to combine to a total of at least 46 credits in order to obtain the Certificate of Achievement in the Advanced Programme. Credits are comprised as follows: 31 credits from the mandatory units and 15 credits from the optional units.

Mandatory units
Unit	Title	Question	Minutes
1	Operating in the Pharmaceutical Industry (Code of Practice)	30	30
2	Human body systems (part 1)	40	40
3	Human body systems (part 2)	40	40
4	Development and use of medicines	45	50
5	Understanding working with the NHS and the provision of prescription medicines	30	30

Optional disease area units
Unit	Title	Questions	Minutes
6	Arthritis	50	45
7	Cardiovascular Disease	50	45
8	Dermatological Disease	50	45
9	Diabetes	50	45
10	Diseases of the CNS	50	45
11	Disease of the Bone	50	45
12	Female Reproductive Health	50	45
13	Gastrointestinal Tract Problems	50	45
14	Disorders of the Male Genitourinary System	50	45
15	Oncology	50	45
16	Psychiatric Disorders	50	45
17	Respiratory	50	45

Creating an account

You need to go to the ABPI Learning and Examinations Platform and listen to a short video, before you register for the examination and learning material.

We can help you decide when to sit your examinations and give you advice on your optional subjects. Each unit can be booked separately on separate occasions if this suits you best.

Re-sits

Hopefully you will pass at first sitting but if you fail any unit, you may re-sit, as long as you are within your time limit for passing the exam and it can be booked in the normal way.

Extra info

Candidates should consider the substantial amount of content that needs to be studied for the exam.

Each unit is assigned several credits (all optional subjects are 5 credits apart from Psychiatric disorders and Cardiovascular diseases). Each credit indicates about 10 hours of study for someone with no prior knowledge of the subject.

Therefore, the Advance Programme of 46 credits can imply 460 hours of study – that is 38 x 12hour days!

The accredited ABPI exam requires understanding of the subject matter, not just recall of key facts. This results in more sustained learning and ability to apply what has been learned in other situations. Some exam questions require information to be interpreted to identify the correct answer.

See our FAQs page for more information