«Why do so many students stall out in BA1 pharma, even though they love pharmacy? In Belgium, success in the first year of pharmacy is decided very early on, especially after the January session. This is because the progression rules make every credit precious, and because chemistry changes levels completely.

The first year is like a suspension bridge between two cliffs, with the wind blowing and the planks shifting under your feet, and yet you have to carry a heavier bag than you expected.

This bridge is the transition from secondary school to university, where chemistry, biology and physics are combined in new problems. Success in the first year of pharmacy depends less on a good memory than on a stable, repeated method. Adapted to dense courses.

understand what's at stake with credit now

Here's a concrete example: a student aims for an «average» and leaves two courses for later. Then discovers that he doesn't have enough time to catch up in the second year. This is a common scenario.

This is a serious matter. Since the Glatigny Decree was fully implemented, pharmacy students must complete the entire 60-credit Block 1 in a maximum of two academic years. If they don't, they run the risk of losing their financial eligibility and getting stuck in their course.

Figures from the Rectors' Council show that, in the health sciences sectors, full validation of a Block 1 is often between 40% and 55%. This turns BA1 into a selection filter and means that success in the first year of pharmacy has to be planned as a project. Not as a simple addition of exams.

using january as a dashboard

A concrete example: after January, a student has 24 credits and tells himself that he will «do better in June». Then they find themselves having to take too many ECTS at once, with heavy courses coming back in the second session.

It can be calculated.

The January session is decisive, because obtaining fewer than 30 credits at that time statistically places the student in a danger zone for the rest of the course. Success in the first year of pharmacy therefore becomes a race against the clock rather than a gradual learning process.

• After each exam, students note their estimated points. Then they compare it with the answer key or feedback, where available.
• Each week, the student sets aside two short periods dedicated solely to exercises. Not for re-reading the course.
• Each chemistry chapter is summarised on one page, then explained aloud. As if the student were teaching a classmate.
• At the end of each weekend, the student plans the three most profitable objectives in terms of ECTS for the following week.

breaking through the chemical barrier without burning out

Here's a concrete example: in organic chemistry, a student learns reactions by heart, then fails a question that asks them to predict a mechanism based on an unknown structure. This is the classic trap.

General chemistry and organic chemistry are often the biggest obstacles in the first year. Not least because they weigh heavily in terms of ECTS and because they require you to reason about molecules, equilibria and mechanisms. Instead of reciting a list of formulae.

To help you succeed in your first year of pharmacy, you need to train your molecular reasoning skills with short, frequent exercises. Linking each step to a simple idea. For example, «where are the charges», «who gives or takes a proton», and «which bond is formed or broken», so that the structures become reference points and not drawings to be memorised.

absorbing the methodological shock of higher education

A concrete example: in biology, a student understands the course separately. Then fails when a question asks him to link a physical principle to a biological process and a chemical consequence. This integration is very surprising.

The transition to university requires a permanent synthesis between physics, biology and chemistry. This mixture creates a methodological shock for many students who had learnt to «study well» by repeating and rewriting. Here, you have to solve, connect and justify.

Success in the first year of pharmacy studies is improved when students transform their sessions into active training. With questions, exercises and timed mini-tests. Because that's exactly what assessments require, where understanding is more important than presentation.

staying motivated: a demanding course with a solid future

Here's a concrete example: a student has doubts after an initial failure. Then he learns that there is a growing demand for pharmacists in Belgium, which gives new meaning to the daily effort. This vision helps them to keep going.

Once the course has been completed, employability remains high, as current trends show a growing shortage of pharmacists in Belgium, but this reality does not protect you from BA1, which remains a demanding selection stage.

Time is against those who wait, since the rules of progression and the credit bar make each session decisive, and action must be taken now to ensure success in the first year of pharmacy before the accumulation of delays becomes impossible to make up. Need for’assistance ? Contact us now.