The PSA exam, answered.
What is the Prescribing Safety Assessment?
The PSA is the national online exam that UK medical students and foundation doctors must pass before prescribing. It has 60 items across 8 sections in 2 hours: prescribing, prescription review, planning management, communicating information, calculation skills, adverse drug reactions, drug monitoring and data interpretation.
How is it marked?
Most sections are single-answer or multi-select; the prescribing section is free text, marked for drug choice, dose, route and frequency with partial credit for defensible alternatives. The pass mark is set per sitting by the assessment provider and is not published in advance.
How should I practise?
At the exam’s own pace: two minutes per item. Practising with the BNF open, as in the real exam, matters as much as knowing the answers — a large share of PSA marks are lost to time, not knowledge.
Do PassthePSA papers match the real format?
Yes: the same section blueprint, the same answer formats including free-text prescribing, timed at exam pace, with complete BNF-cited explanations after every item.
Can I try before paying?
Yes. Every account gets 20 real questions free with full explanations, no card needed.
Is there a pass guarantee?
Yes. If you answer at least 400 questions on PassthePSA, sit the PSA while your plan is active and do not pass, we extend your access free for 3 months so you can prepare for the resit. Email support@passthepsa.com within 30 days of your result with your result notification. The full conditions are in the terms.
How long is the PSA and how many questions are there?
120 minutes for 60 items worth 200 marks. That is two minutes per item, or 36 seconds per mark. The eight sections are weighted differently: prescribing alone is 8 items at 10 marks each, 80 of the 200. Each section is explained in our PSA exam guide.
What is the PSA pass mark?
It is set for each paper by the assessment provider using standard-setting, so it varies by sitting and is not published in advance. Practice scores are best read as a trend: a steady rise across timed papers is the signal that matters.
Can I use the BNF during the PSA?
Yes. The exam is open book: the online BNF and BNF for Children are available throughout. The limiting factor is time, which is why fast BNF navigation is worth practising as a skill in its own right.
When are the PSA sitting dates?
Dates are set each academic year by the provider and published at prescribingsafetyassessment.ac.uk; medical schools register their own final-year students, and foundation doctors who need to resit are told their date by their school or trust. Check the official site rather than a third party for the current year.
How are prescribing questions marked?
In two halves. Drug choice carries half the marks; the written prescription (dose, route, frequency, and duration where relevant) carries the other half, with partial credit for defensible alternatives and a mark deducted for specific unsafe habits such as writing a volume instead of a dose. PassthePSA marks the same way and shows which box lost the mark.
What happens if I fail the PSA?
Resit opportunities are scheduled through the year and arranged by your medical school or foundation school; the provider publishes the dates. Candidates who resit tend to have lost marks on pace rather than knowledge, so timed papers are the most useful preparation.
Is PassthePSA the same as the "Pass the PSA" textbook?
No. Pass the PSA is a printed revision book published by Elsevier. PassthePSA (passthepsa.com) is an online question bank and mock-paper platform with no connection to the book or its authors.