How to pass calculations

[hibernia]

Good question - how do you develop common sense ??
.

The old problem with common sense - it was never that common and it seems to be getting rarer and rarer.

Some say it is an instinct that can't be taught but I say it is just a question of using your brain, THINKING about what you are doing and why. Do you things this way because you always have or because everybody else does or do you ask 'is this the best way?'

[amersidd]

totally agree! i sat the paper in june and found maybe 2 questions which were challenging, the remaining questions required common sense and basic maths. A lot of pre-regs panicked when they saw unfamiliar questions in the paper that had not come up in past papers. I advise future pre-regs to use past paper calculations just to get used to the layout and timing of the paper and nothing more. if you rely heavily on past-papers you will be in for a shock as the GPhC can put any random question into the paper. this years paper was nothing like past paper calculations, but some of the questions were really easy marks which could be worked out in less than a minute, however people who panicked messed up badly!

if you want to pass the calculations then my advise would be to;
1. sharpen up on basic maths such as long division and multiplication
2. learn to round-up especially if the options given in a question are far apart (easier to work with full numbers and less likely to make mistakes)
3. always read questions at least twice even if they sound easy (last thing you want to do is get an easy question wrong)
4. double check as you go along (rather than coming back to it, saves a lot of time)
5. do all working-outs on paper (less likely to make mistakes)
6. do not panic if you have never seen a certain question before
7. keep an eyes on the time, some questions may take you 5 mins or longer to answer whereas others will take you less than a minute, so it all balances out
8. mark the answers on the marking sheet as you answer each question

Hope you all pass! Good luck!

sounds like you know what ur talking about!! i was hoping you can throw some light on which books you HAVE used and those that you would recommend. perhaps you have some on your comp that u can upload, it will be a great help. cheers mate

[OPIOID]

sounds like you know what ur talking about!! i was hoping you can throw some light on which books you HAVE used and those that you would recommend. perhaps you have some on your comp that u can upload, it will be a great help. cheers mate

I've basically used past papers to get used to the layout of the paper and timing. At work at the moment, when get home I'll email you what I've got.

[amersidd]

opoid mate u said u were gona send me some stuff to help us out. i messed the exam up and may never be able to pass unless i get some help? plz spare couple of minutes

[amersidd]

u got any gud stuf that i can use to pass calcs. its pea in me off. my medical knowledge is top notch. jus the calcs

[pre-reg trainee]

u got any gud stuf that i can use to pass calcs. its pea in me off. my medical knowledge is top notch. jus the calcs

Hey check the 2011/2012 pre-reg thread. It has MCQs in Pharmaceutical Calculation book in PDF to download. first or second post I believe. But watch for mistakes. I found one already.

[pre-reg trainee]

u got any gud stuf that i can use to pass calcs. its pea in me off. my medical knowledge is top notch. jus the calcs

Please, could you share your ways of how you managed the medical knowledge to become top notch? Thx