UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON

SCHOOL OF PHARMACY AND BIOMOLECULAR SCIENCES

MPharm (Hons) Degree;

MPharm with Integrated Foundation Year (Hons) Degree

Professional Numeracy Diagnostic Assessment

Time allowed: Two hours

____________________________________________________________________
Instructions to, and information for, candidates.

CANDIDATES MUST NOT REMOVE THIS EXAMINATION PAPER FROM THE

EXAMINATION ROOM, BUT MUST HAND IT TO THE INVIGILATOR AT THE END
OF THE EXAMINATION.

There are 40 questions in total.

Write your answer on the EDPAC answer sheets provided (see instructions on the
following page).

Non-programmable calculators may be used during the test.

When doing calculations, only the final result should be rounded to the number of
decimal places or significant figures indicated.

You should have a resource pack which you will need to refer to for some questions.
This will be marked on the paper where relevant.

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Instructions to fill the EDPAC answer sheet
• Enter your student number on the grid of BOTH answer sheets.
• You must use an HB pencil only on the answer sheets.
• Do not fold or crease the answer sheets.
• There are two answer sheets each containing answer boxes for 20 calculation
questions.
• Write your answers neatly. Make sure your numbers are written clearly within the
boundary of each box.
• Make sure your numbers are legible and unambiguous.
• If you make a mistake, rub it out completely and re-write your answer in the
boxes.
• You may write on the question paper before completing the answer sheet. Be
sure to leave sufficient time to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. You
will not be allowed any extra time for this. Only the answers on the answer sheet
will be considered.
• Make sure you have answered using the units asked for in the question.
• Use the pre-entered decimal point to guide you. For example, if the answer is 118
tablets, fill in the answer as shown below. For whole numbers, do not enter zeros
after the decimal point.

• Decimal points are provided. If the number has a decimal point, use the decimal
point that is pre-entered. For example, if the answer to a question is 450.5 g, fill in
the answer as shown below.

• Do not use commas. For example, if the answer is four hundred and thirty
thousand units, write this as 430 000 as shown below.

• For values below 1, follow standard practice and enter zero before the decimal
point. For example, if the answer to a question is 0.2 ml, fill in the answer as
shown below.

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Section A: Rational Numbers

1. Calculate the numerator of the second fraction (x) so that both fractions will have
the same value. Express your answer as a whole number.
2 x
=
3 42

2. Find the missing value (x) from this proportional set, express your answer as a
whole number:
14 x 56
18 45 72

Section B: System of Units

3. Convert 0.034 g to mg. Express your answer as a whole number.

4. A patient comes into the pharmacy for advice about her weight. They tell you
they weigh 9 stones 8 pounds and are 5 ft. 5 inches tall. Using the conversion
factors and the equation as shown below, calculate the patient’s Body Mass
Index (BMI). Give your answer in kg/m2 to one decimal place.

weight (kg ) Conversion factors:

BMI = 1 foot = 12 inches
[height ( m)] 2
1 inch = 25.5 mm
1 pound = 0.4536 kg
1 stone = 14 pounds

Section C: Concentrations

5. Convert the ratio strength 1 in 10 to percentage strength. Express your answer

as a whole number

6. How many ml of ingredient are needed to produce 200 ml of a 1 in 20 solution?

Give your answer in ml to the nearest whole number.

7. How many g of calamine are needed to make 50 g of a 4% ointment? Give

your answer in g to the nearest whole number.

8. A 1% weight in volume (w/v) solution contains 1 g in 100 ml. What volume of

12% w/v solution contains 25 g of ingredient? Give your answer in ml to one
decimal place.

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Section D: Dilutions

9. You are provided with a solution containing 150 parts per million (ppm) chloride
ions. How many ml of this should be taken and diluted to produce 500 ml of a
10 ppm solution? Give your answer in ml to the nearest whole number.

10. A 1% weight in volume (w/v) solution contains 1 g in 100 ml. You are required
to produce 1 L of dilute hydrochloric acid containing 10% (w/v) HCl. What
volume of 35% (w/v) HCl would be used? Give your answer in ml to the nearest
whole number.

11. What weight of substance X is required to make 150 ml of a solution such that
10 ml diluted to 1 L will give a 1:10,000 solution? Give your answer in g to one
decimal place.

12. Zidovudine is to be infused at a rate of 1.5 mg/kg/hour for one hour. Ampoules
of zidovudine containing 5 mg/ml are available commercially, and this solution
is to be diluted with 0.9% sodium chloride solution to produce 150 ml of the
infusion. What volume of the commercial solution will be required to produce
sufficient infusion for a 65 kg patient for one hour? Give your answer in ml to
one decimal place.

Section E: Formulations

13. The formula for Magnesium Trisilicate Mixture BP is:

Magnesium trisilicate 50 g
Light magnesium carbonate 50 g
Sodium bicarbonate 50 g
Concentrated peppermint emulsion 25 ml
Double-strength chloroform water 500 ml
Water to 1000 ml

How much Magnesium trisilicate is required to make 50 ml of Magnesium

Trisilicate Mixture BP? Give your answer in g to one decimal place.

14. The formula for Magnesium Trisilicate Mixture BP is:

Magnesium trisilicate 50 g
Light magnesium carbonate 50 g
Sodium bicarbonate 50 g
Concentrated peppermint emulsion 25 ml
Double-strength chloroform water 500 ml
Water to 1000 ml

If you start with 7 g of light magnesium carbonate, how much concentrated

peppermint emulsion do you need? Give your answer in ml to one decimal
place.

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 15. A doctor requires an ointment made to the following formula:

Betnovate ointment 1 part

Yellow soft paraffin 3 parts

How much Betnovate ointment is required to make 200 g? Give your answer
in g to the nearest whole number.

16. A 1% weight in volume (w/v) solution contains 1 g in 100 ml. The

formula for a product is:

Ammonium chloride 5% w/v

Raspberry syrup 35% v/v
Water to 100 ml

Calculate the amount ammonium chloride needed for 240 ml. Give your
answer in g to the nearest whole number.

Section F: Calculation of Doses

17. A patient brings in a prescription with the following prednisolone reducing

regime:
40 mg daily for seven days
35 mg daily for seven days
30 mg daily for seven days
25 mg daily for seven days
20 mg daily for seven days
15 mg daily for seven days
10 mg daily for seven days
5 mg daily as maintenance therapy thereafter.

The patient requires a sufficient supply of 5 mg tablets until their next clinic
review which is in ten weeks. How many 5 mg tablets does the patient require?
(Day 1 of the course will be the first dose of 40 mg daily). Give your answer to
the nearest whole number.

18. You have a palliative patient taking Zomorph capsules 30 mg every 12 hours.
The patient also has Oramorph solution 10 mg when required for breakthrough
pain. The patient is currently using 10 mg four times a day. How many ml of the
Oramorph (which is available as a 10mg/5ml solution) does the patient require
for a 28 days’ supply based on current usage? Give your answer in ml to the
nearest whole number.

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Section G: Doses in children

19. Omeprazole is used to treat gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. The dose of

omeprazole for a 6-month old baby who weighs 7.6 kg is 700 mcg/kg once
daily. Calculate the daily dose of omeprazole in mg. Give your answer in mg to
one decimal place.

20. Intravenous aciclovir is required to treat a varicella zoster (chickenpox) infection

in a 3-year old child who has a body surface area of 0.21 m 2. The dose required
is 250 mg/m2 every 8 hours. Calculate the dose of aciclovir required to be given
every 8 hours. Give your answer in mg to one decimal place.

Section H: Density, Displacement Volumes and Displacement Values

21. You are asked to prepare 15, 1 g suppositories, each containing 500 mg of
metronidazole. You will use an oily base and the displacement value (weight of
drug that displaces the equivalent volume of 1 g of the oily base) for
metronidazole is 1.7. How much oily base will you need to make 15
suppositories? Give your answer in g to one decimal place.

22. You are asked to formulate 15 x 4 g pessaries with an oily base containing 150
mg pethidine hydrochloride. Pethidine hydrochloride displacement value
(weight of drug that displaces the equivalent volume of 1 g of the oily base) is
1.6. How much oily base will you need to make 15 pessaries? Give your
answer in g to one decimal place.

23. A brand of amoxicillin 250 mg vials has a displacement volume of 0.2 ml per
vial. How much water for injection should you add to get exactly 250 mg in 5 ml
of injection? Give your answer in ml to one decimal place.

24. Co-amoxiclav is an antibiotic that comes in vials for reconstitution of 1 g in 10

ml. If the displacement volume for 1 g is 0.5 ml, what is the volume of water for
injection you need to add to get exactly 10 ml. Give your answer in ml to one
decimal place

Section I: Calculations involving molecular weights (MW)

25. Calculate the weight of 0.5 moles of potassium chloride (MW of KCl is 74.5).
Give your answer in g to one decimal place.

26. Convert 1.2  10-4 moles to millimoles. Express your answer in standard, not
scientific notation.

27. The empirical formula of aspirin is C 9H8O4. Calculate its MW to the nearest
whole unit. Atomic weight: C = 12, H = 1, O = 16.

28. How much hyoscine (MW = 303.4) is contained in a 10 mg tablet of hyoscine

butylbromide (MW = 440.4)? Give your answer in mg to one decimal place.

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Section J: Parental Solutions and Isotonicity

29. A patient has been prescribed caspofungin 50 mg once daily. This needs to be
diluted in 250 ml of NaCl 0.9% and administered over 1 hour. What would the
rate need to be set at in ml/min? Give your answer to one decimal place.

30. A patient is on vancomycin 2 g injection which is diluted in 500 ml NaCl 0.9%.

The rate will be set at 10 mg/min. How many minutes will it take to administer
this dose? Give your answer to the nearest whole number.

31. Danaparoid is available as 750 units/0.6 ml injections. You have a patient that
is currently on a maintenance dose of 200 units/hour. How many hours will 8
injections last? Give your answer to the nearest whole number.

32. A 70 kg patient who has just had a bone marrow transplant is on ciclosporin
3 mg/kg/day. The daily dose of ciclosporin is diluted in 250 ml NaCl 0.9% and
needs to be administered over 6 hours. What would the rate need to be set at
in ml/min? Give your answer to one decimal place.

Section K: Accuracy of measurement

33. A bottle contains 90 ml of a drug solution to the nearest 10 ml. How many
significant figures are there? Express your answer as a whole number.

34. Correct the number 17536 to four significant figures.

35. Paediatric ferrous sulfate solution contains 12 g of ferrous sulfate in 1000 ml.
The EP states that the content of ferrous sulfate in the solution is 1.10 to 1.30%
w/v. If a child is given a 5 ml dose, what is the upper limit of ferrous sulfate that
would be in that dose, if the solution complied with the EP. Give your answer in
mg to the nearest whole number.

36. The EP’s Uniformity of Content for transdermal patches states that the
preparation complies with the test if the average content of ten dosage units is
between 90% and 110% of the labelled content, and if the individual content of
each dosage unit is between 75% and 125% of the average content. Assuming
that each patch contains a stated 680 mcg of norethisterone, and that the
actual average for ten patches is 710 mcg per patch, what is the lower limit for
an individual patch? Give your answer in mcg to the nearest whole number.

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Section L: Calculations involving data retrieval

37. Using the resource pack provided:

A patient has been taking Epanutin (phenytoin sodium) 300 mg capsules at
night for epilepsy. Whilst in hospital they are prescribed oral suspension (5 ml
of suspension contains 30 mg free phenytoin). What is the equivalent volume of
phenytoin oral suspension for this patient? Give your answer in ml to the
nearest whole number.

38. Using the resource pack provided:

A 58-year old patient is prescribed 80 mg furosemide intravenously for acute
heart failure. Their renal function is within the normal range. What is the
minimum number of minutes that this dose can be administered over? Give
your answer in min to the nearest whole number.

39. Using the resource pack provided:

A 45-year old patient with pneumonia is prescribed clarithromycin. What dose
would you advise to be given twice a day? (Their eGFR is 45 ml/min /1.73m 2).
Give your answer in mg to the nearest whole number.

40. Using the resource pack provided:

A 10-year old child who weighs 30 kg is prescribed domperidone for 7 days for
nausea. The child has asked for a liquid formulation. What dose of
domperidone in mg to be given three times a day would you recommend? Give
your answer to one decimal place.

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