Babir Malik
There are a plethora of companies who want your money to run pharmacist pre-registration events. Here are 21 questions that you should ask before handing over your money.
- Who are they? Lots of companies do not actually say who they are in their “About us” section on their website.
- Is the person trying to get you to book for their session financially motivated to do so?
- Do they get paid per number of attendees or per session?
- Does the promotional material make outlandish claims about how great the session will be?
- Who will be running the session?
- Are you expecting one person and end up with someone else?
- Is the person running the session doing it for the first time?
- Do they have any teaching experience?
- Do they have a teaching qualification?
- Are they recently qualified so can empathise with you even though they have no experience?
- Are they very experienced but sat the exam several years ago or not at all?
- Are you fully aware of what the session will entail?
- Have you got feedback about the company from recently qualified pharmacists?
- Have you asked to see anonymised feedback from the company from previous sessions?
- Is there any pre-work?
- Is the venue appropriate? E.g. parking and access from the train station.
- Will refreshments be provided?
- Will you be able to contact the company to ask further questions after?
- Is it affordable for you?
- What resources will you be able to take home with you?
- Is there someone you can contact after the event to clarify information?
No one can guarantee you will pass and you do NOT need to attend every pre-reg event!
In recent years Babir Malik has been involved in running pre-reg events for a range of organisations. The views expressed are his alone.