Ahmed Issa
Pre-Registration Trainee
I chose Tesco to do my pre-reg year with because they provide a really integrated course throughout the whole year so they give you support and guidance throughout the year and they also give you talks with hospital representatives and also pharmaceutical representatives from companies. They also give you a mock exam before your actual exam to prepare you further and they also give you a portfolio folder, which is separate to that of the Pharmaceutical Society, which has case studies and a step-by-step guide throughout the whole year, so it's a weekly-based guide that keeps you on track.
It's been quite good this whole year to feel that I am supported, and so on, within the Tesco team in-store and also by my tutor. There is also a second pharmacist in the store when my tutor's not around who is also very helpful and they also provide help and support that if you don't or if you're struggling or if you need to focus on areas that you're less comfortable with. So it's more of a guided tutorial session throughout the whole year basically which would focus on things that you're less confident with and less focus on the things that you're comfortable with that you're prepared for the exam. You also have to do competencies within the year, which are set by the Pharmaceutical Society which you have to achieve before you're actually put forward to your exam. And there's plenty of focus around that within the year which is very helpful because that actually prepares you to be a good pharmacist in practise and not just on paper, and so on.
Well during the day at work you do get a designated hours study time which is set for you to take whenever you like - obviously when it's less busy within the store but you can also organise it with your tutor as well then you can get more appropriate study time if the one hour is not sufficient for you so you can have maybe have four hours during one day and then take the rest of the time so you are just working fully within the store so it's more flexible in that way and during your exam time you'll get like the week off beforehand so you'll get more time to study and you get you get your regular holidays within the year so you can take them off whenever you like or you can use them to study later on in the year.
