KAPS Exam Preparation 2026: OPRA Guide, Samples and Courses

OPRA and intern exam study options compared

Option	Price	Free to use	Links
Official sources
APC: OPRA exam guide and sample contentOfficial exam guide and sample paper (web page and PDFs)From the Australian Pharmacy Council, dated 30 July 2026. The guide sets out the content areas, question rules and scoring; the sample uses retired questions and has an answer sheet.	No charge shown	The 14-page guide and the 13-page sample, to download	APC: OPRA exam guide and sample ↗
APC: Intern Written Exam guide and sample contentOfficial exam guide and sample paper (web page and PDFs)For the exam you sit during your internship, after OPRA. Lists the competency standards tested and the reference books you may bring.	No charge shown	The 11-page guide and the 14-page sample, to download	APC: Intern Written Exam guide ↗
Pearson: APC online sample testSample of the exam software, onlinePearson delivers the APC’s exams. Its APC page says the sample test previews how the exam software looks and works before exam day; the APC adds that it shows how questions appear on screen.	No price listed	Not stated	Pearson: APC sample test ↗
Online courses
Academically: OPRA and intern exam coursesLive and recorded online coursesAcademically says its OPRA course has 120+ hours of video tutorials, 5,000+ practice questions and 12 months of access (a 4-month course plus 8 months) for up to 3 attempts. A separate course covers the Intern Written and oral exams, with trainer access until you pass.	Not listed on its course pages	A free mock test	Academically: OPRA course ↗Academically: intern exams course ↗

Prices and ratings checked November 2026.

Where does KAPS exam preparation start?

The APC’s OPRA resources page links all three:

The OPRA Exam Guide, 14 pages as a PDF: the exam structure, the five content areas and their weights, how questions are written and how scoring works
The OPRA sample content, 13 pages: retired questions from all five content areas, with an answer sheet. The APC says the questions were picked to show the format
Pearson’s online sample test, which shows how the exam software works before exam day

The APC says the real exams will differ from the sample, and that it can’t promise the sample’s answers stay right after publication if guidelines change. Its copyright notice on both PDFs doesn’t allow copying or sharing them without permission.

Download the OPRA sample (PDF) ↗

Are there KAPS past papers or a free PDF of a prep book?

No. The APC doesn’t share the questions or answers from anyone’s attempt at OPRA or the Intern Written Exam, so each exam’s sample of retired questions is the closest thing to a past paper, and those samples are the free PDFs you can trust. The APC revised the content areas when OPRA replaced KAPS, so check any KAPS-era book or PDF against the five areas in the OPRA guide.

The APC tells candidates to treat its own content as the reliable source and to be careful with third-party information, scams and advertising.

What to read for OPRA

The APC bases its exams on the latest information in peer-reviewed journals, clinical practice guidelines and textbooks, and asks you to use up-to-date, evidence-based resources. Its guide names no textbook, but it does set some house rules worth learning:

Drug and ingredient names follow the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s list of approved names
Units and directions follow the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care’s recommended abbreviations
Values are in metric units from the International System of Units
Words like CORRECT, MOST, LEAST and NOT are in bold capitals, to show what kind of answer is wanted

To build your readiness to practise, the APC suggests the professional bodies for pharmacists in Australia and New Zealand: the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Advanced Pharmacy Australia and the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand.

APC written exam sample and preparation

The Intern Written Exam comes after OPRA, during your internship, and has its own guide and sample content from the APC, dated July 2026. The sample has 25 retired questions, with an answer sheet and notes on how to enter calculation answers. Pearson’s sample test covers this exam’s software too.

You may take two reference books into this exam, but the APC warns that not everything you need is in them, so don’t rely on the books alone. The APC doesn’t endorse any preparation program for it and suggests asking your intern training program provider for support.

A study path for OPRA

One way to use the APC’s material, in our suggested order:

Read the OPRA Exam Guide and note which content areas carry the most questions.
Work through each content area’s topic list in the guide, using up-to-date guidelines and textbooks.
Practise the calculations listed under therapeutics and patient care.
Do the sample questions against the clock, at about 1 minute 15 seconds a question, the pace the real exam asks for.
Try Pearson’s sample test, then register in the Candidate Portal when registration opens for the session you want.

How the exam works →

How to choose

It depends on where you are on the pathway:

Studied for KAPS before 2025: start again from the OPRA guide’s five areas, because the content areas changed
Thinking about a paid course: hold its topic list against the OPRA guide’s areas and weights before you pay
Passed OPRA: switch to the APC’s Intern Written Exam guide and sample, and ask your intern training program provider, as the APC suggests

Sources: Australian Pharmacy Council · Pearson VUE and 6 more. Checked November 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

Explore

Everything else, in one place

Overview

KAPS exam preparation: the APC’s guide, samples and courses