This FIR exam (Resident Internal Pharmacist) is a nationwide competition for pharmacists that allows them to access a training specialist position in the National Health System in Spain. The FIR exam is one of the Specialized Health Training (FSE) tests. In this post we will explain all the information you need to know about this selective process.
This exam is held annually and takes place between the months of January and February, normally the last week of January and the first week of February.
The FIR exam
The FIR is a pharmacy exam with 210 multiple-choice questions, in which 200 questions are taken into account for the evaluation and 10 are reserve questions. Each correct question will be worth 3 points and each wrong question will subtract one point. Blank questions do not add or subtract. The exam questions include images to lead to mini clinical cases.
A maximum of 4 hours and 30 minutes is allowed to complete the exam. There is no official agenda, since it is considered that anything related to or belonging to the pharmacy could be asked. However, an ‘informal’ syllabus is available for preparing the exam, based on previous exams. The mark obtained in the exam (90% of the final mark) together with the evaluation of the scale or academic record (10% of it) allow ordering all those presented from highest to lowest score.
After the exam, the opponents who pass the tests will have the title of Specialist Pharmacist and will choose the hospital where they will carry out the residency. The exam evaluates the pharmacy knowledge of more than 1,500 pharmacists per call.
FIR exam specialties
The position as Specialist Pharmacist in the National Health System of Spain has 6 possible specialties:
- Clinical Analysis
- Clinical Biochemistry
- Hospital Pharmacy and Primary Care
- Immunology
- Clinical Microbiology
- Radiopharmacy
All of them have a training period of 4 years.
Examples of FIR exams
Next, we show you examples of FIR exams from the last 2 calls.
FIR 2024 exam (2023-2024 call)
Solutions FIR exam 2024 – version 1
