Measuring the correct dose
2 marks of the 15 in Part A, which runs for 30 minutes.
These questions give you a prescription and a stock strength and ask what the patient should actually receive. The arithmetic is not hard on its own. What makes it hard is that the numbers arrive in different units, the calculator is on screen rather than in your hand, and you have around two minutes a question.
What this section asks about
- Dose per kilogram of body weight, then the volume that dose comes to
- Concentrations written as mg/mL, mg in a given volume, or a percentage
- Body mass index from a weight in kilograms and a height in metres
- Rounding to a volume a syringe can actually measure
Where the marks go
2 marks of the 15 in Part A, which runs for 30 minutes.
Every numeracy question sits at the apply and analyse level: you are given a situation and asked to work something out, rather than to recall a fact.
Where candidates lose marks
- Rounding partway through. Carry the full figure and round once, at the end.
- Dividing the wrong way round. Write the sum as dose required over dose per unit before you touch the calculator.
- Giving an answer no device can measure. If a calculation returns 0.37 mL, check the strength you used.
Questions people ask
- Do I get a calculator for the numeracy questions?
- Yes, an on-screen one, along with an erasable note board and a marker. You must not write on the board until the tutorial has finished.
- How precise does the answer have to be?
- You type a number, so give it in the unit the question asks for and to the number of decimal places it asks for. If the question says one decimal place, 26 and 26.04 are both the wrong shape of answer.
Practise this section
Practice is filtered by section, so you can work on this one on its own. Every account gets 10 new questions a day without a card.