The Hard And Difficult Years In Pharmacy School

Pharmacy student and the difficult pharmacy programme

The truth is that most pharmacy students have little or no idea how difficult or hard the course will be. The thought was always to learn about drugs and diseases together with the anatomy of the human body. The examinations question should be on how drugs work for diseases. The whole truth came crashing on us all gradually and it was too late to think.

This post is for those who want to know how difficult pharmacy is. The idea about the programme by the different students varies. This is because some of the students are children or relations of pharmacist why others just came in like that. Some of them already know what is up. However, nobody had it rosy.
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Year One

For those who gain admission into year one, most schools of pharmacy curriculum focus only on science and general school courses. However, this is not to say some schools do not mix pharmacy courses with it. The courses in year one are very simple. That does not mean that some students do not withdraw when they fail to meet guides for proceeding.
Since the number of students doing science courses in year one is many from different departments, the questions type is usually multiple-choice essay. This is loved by many students as it gives freedom to select even without knowing the answer. I have a very strong doubt if any school uses negative marking for this level.
Another reason why this level is simple is the fact that since the number of students offering these courses is much, the materials are readily available among students. So many students do not even bother themselves going to these classes, as attendance is not compulsory. To cap it all, a pharmacy student must realise that the laws holding pharmacy students are more stringent than other departments so a fair result in other departments may be detrimental to a pharmacy student. The best grades are gotten here.

Year Two

Year 2 is a different ball game entirely. New friends within the faculty come together and old friends in the other departments become distant friends. However, that is not even the thing. The course volume doubles exponentially. This sudden rise in hours of lectures couple with assignments with compulsory lecture attendance can put a strain on the student. Another thing I notice is that the curriculum is designed in such a way to put more strain in year two. This way, those who will not be able to cope can withdraw early rather than pamper students to final year and make them face hardship. It may be very bad withdrawing a student in year five or six.
This level will witness a significant drop in cumulative grade point average (C.G.P.A). The reason is simple. Learning about time management all a sudden is not easy.
This level is not exactly what the other students from the other departments’ experience. Actually, the course content year one is all about the introduction to the various departments including the history of some departments and culture. Basic components of each department take a good portion of lectures. The truth is that this course content is not hard. The difficult part is the sudden transition from a simple coursework to a more comprehensive one in a short period to read and understand it.

Year Three

Year 3 is a build-up of year two. To so many pharmacy students, this level is the most difficult of all the pharmacy level as an undergraduate. Majority of pharmacy students who scale through this stage will graduate. This level contains topics most pharmacy students consider irrelevant to the profession. Well, I feel the same way, too. For example, most schools of pharmacy place biosynthesis of natural products in year three and this course is technically not practical in common pharmacy settings except when you want to enter into herbal medicine which is not a very common practice in this part of the world.
The lecture time is so long lecturers will queue to lecture. Laboratory practical are there always organising the next experiments. The battle for student industrial training experience (SIWES) Industrial Training (IT) is around the corner.

Year Four

Year 4 is a kind of bringing down the pressure. Because of the reduced pressure, it is very common to see students coming out with better grades. The beautiful part is that from here onwards, a majority of the courses is on what pharmacy students perceive to be the true practice of the profession. In fact, the courses are what most students from the very beginning have been looking forward to reading. This is when what most of them gets to see the lectures they want to see. The SIWES exposes the students to things this level will focus more on, community pharmacy.

Year Five

Year 5 is designed with two things in mind, to reverse and conclude the profession. For those in the University of Benin, (U.N.I.BEN) this should fall into year six. Most of the courses are repetition course taught in one of the previous years. Coursework is few. The major pressure experience will be adding lectures with clerkship and project. Generally, this level is a relaxation stage.
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The transition from one level to another is a thing of joy. However, knowing what to expect can greatly improve on the success of each level. Talking of success in pharmacy, I have a plan in the future to write a book on ‘how to succeed in pharmacy school.’ The book will be revealed when it is ready.
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