Phase 1 - Changes to format of Level 4 exams from September 2024

AMTRA/Harper Adams exams are at Higher Education Level 4 for Base, Veterinary Nurse, Avian and Companion. The Equine and Farm exams are at level 5 - there are no changes to the level 5 exams during 2024.

• Base, Veterinary Nurse, Avian and Companion written exams are now multiple-choice only, with no short or longer answer questions.
• The pass mark has increased to 60%.
• The Base exam now requires a candidate to gain a pass mark in both the Legislation and the Body Systems parts of the exam, and the Veterinary Nurse exam requires passes in both the Legislation and Companion Animal sections. Anyone not gaining the pass mark in both sections will fail overall, and a re-sit will be for the entire paper, not just the section in question.
• Anyone passing the new format Base or Veterinary Nurse paper will not be required to pass an AMTRA viva
• There was one final opportunity for people needing to re-sit to take the old format exam that they will have already experienced, which took place in October. (Anyone passing the old format Base or Veterinary Nurse paper on this final attempt will still be required to pass the AMTRA viva.)
• There are no changes to the Equine or Farm papers in 2024.

Phase 2 - Changes to the syllabus, training manual, content of exams, and use of Compendium

A periodic update of the AMTRA training manual is now complete and has now been published (with a date of July 2024 or later on the cover). This updated content and presentation, the result of much discussion with a wide range of partners, keeps the content fresh and relevant to the RAMA/SQP role. New exams from January 2025 will be based on this updated training manual and thus syllabus.

• All the written exams (Base, Veterinary Nurse, Avian, Companion, Equine and Farm) will change to reflect the updated training manual.
• The first exams based on the new training manual (incorporating the May 2024 SQP Code of Practice) will be the first exams of 2025, in January.
• There will be one final opportunity in April 2025 to sit exams based on the legacy training manual, for those who have studied from that manual. This will be open to anyone (not just re-sits) who enrolled before the end of July 2024, or who enrolled after then and booked for exams in September-December 2024.
• Newly enrolling students will now have the new version sent to them and so are not eligible to sit the legacy exam based on the old manual.
• Candidates already enrolled, who have the legacy training manual, will be able to request a copy of the updated training manual if they are taking their written exams in 2025, and have been notified of such.
• Anyone not taking advantage of the final opportunity to sit the exams based on the legacy content (or sitting such an exam but not passing) will have to sit exams based on the new training manual content.
• From January the new exams based on the new training manual will not permit access to the Compendium during the exam.
• Access will be provided to a small subset of data sheets / SPCs (or extracts of them) where relevant to specific questions. The data sheets will be embedded into the ‘Question Mark’ software which hosts the exams. Candidates should continue to be familiar with what data sheets / SPCs look like and interpreting and using them, either from the book if they have access to a copy, or in future via the NOAH or VMD websites. This mirrors daily life, where it is entirely normal and reasonable to look up details about a specific medicine, and it is not expected that anyone will remember all the key details about every product.
• However, understanding and implementing the SQP Code of Practice is an integral part of the role of being a RAMA/SQP, and so questions based on the Code will be included in the Base and VN exams (as they historically were in the viva/oral exam), and candidates should be able to answer them without needing to access the Compendium or the Code. Such questions will be focused on implementation and understanding the role of the SQP in context, and not on knowledge recall – it is not testing remembering the precise text.
• The Systems Access Test and practice exams will be updated from week commencing 9 December 2024 to reflect the new way of accessing data sheets / SPCs in the exam.
• Additional "drop in" sessions for candidates and trainers will be added in case anyone has questions on this – details of the additional dates coming soon.
• The new content is not more difficult, but is updated, and will require fresh study.