Bcps

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How long did it take you to study for BCPS? How did you approach it? Any advice?
Thanks!

Nearly all of the pharmacists at my college have BCPS, if you don't get any bites here, start asking your teachers. I am curious too!

Most people take a few months before. I think I started in July...

Start now! Read through all of the chapters in the prep book. Study stats multiple times. Read the last chapters on fda stuff and economics right before the test.

i know a pharmacist from another country who took BCPS and studied in a month's time and passed but she has been a pharmacist for many years and is very experienced. when i was on rotations, a resident was studying throughout her entire year of residency.

fyi ACCP has materials to help you study for BCPS. you must be an ACCP member to purchase it. i have personally seen some of the text in that book and the quality is excellent. all are written by clinical pharmacists and is a very good read. good luck to all those studying!

I have the 2011 Amb Care BCPS book that I am selling. I unfortunately bought them at non-member price. Selling them (both volumes) for $200 + shipping. Anyone interested?

Does anyone have the 2012 Amb Care prep course? I have the 2011 but I would like to have the lecture on PD/AD chapter from 2012. The professor (Dr. Ruscin) who was supposed to present that topic couldn't make it, so it was presented by another prof. If anyone has the 2012 lecture on that topic, would you mind emailing me? Thanks.

Does anyone want to sell their BCPS exam materials (I am a 1st year Pharmacotherapy Resident) and want to start chipping away at the material for the 10/2013 exam?

I bought the audio (with slides) for BCPS 2012 and it's pretty much the same as the one that I got in 2010. If you want, I will sell it to you for $200. Let me know. Thanks.

I just started studying seriously and is using prep books + audio lectures from ACCP. Also just found out that they are selling the mock BCPS exam at a discounted price that can be accessed for 1 year. This may be helpful. So much to cover in so little time - yikes! Good luck to everyone!

Right now I'm using the ACCP book and audio lectures, I can split the cost with someone if they are interested. I already got the mock exam too.

Contemplating if the ASHP review is worth the money. They have 2 things, one is the same topics as the ACCP book, another is suppose to be geared toward the BCPS.

I also bought the amb care prep from ACCP and it's very similar to the bcps prep.

Are the questions helpful? Where did you buy the mock exam?

Mock exam can be bought on http://www.accp.com/bookstore/meph12.aspx.

hey kuvan,
did the audio synched slides change from 2010? no update?

It's slightly different (i.e., new dosing guideline for Ceftriaxone for gonorrhea is 250 mg IM instead of 125 mg), but not that much. They go through the same pt cases during the lectures.

Wow, the mock exam is expensive!

Luckily, I'm a member for ACCP, so I only paid the $50 for the mock exam, it's geared toward the BCPS, not amb care, I've done a couple of questions from it, it seems okay. They say all over it, that they don't write the questions to the BCPS and have nothing to do with the test, it's just an exam, it might not even be the same format as the real BCPS. For $50, I figured, I didn't have much to lose.

There are updates every year here and there. ie.. COPD guidelines came out new in Dec, little things but I had a copy of 2010 and it was almost the same.

Ahh....that's good to know. Thanks for the info. I'll definitely consider it.

Hi guys. Does anyone know where to find the BCPS exam passing rates from previous years? Hope studying is going well! Thanks.

I've been studying for a couple of weeks already. How do you memorize all this information???? Any advice?

HA! My thought exactly! I'm struggling with the ACS guidelines. Sigh!

Did anyone do the mock exam by ACCP? Is it worth it?

I took the mock exam about a week ago. I got it for the discount price. It's tough. Compared to previous year's results (posted below), I passed but barely. The test doesn't have a pass/fail cutoff, just a score. It generates a report broken down by the 3 domains and also by the specific subject areas. The breakdown matches the study guide so if you do poorly in neurology you can go work on that chapter. It also has explanations of each question and some references. The questions seemed like a good balance of all the material. They say they don't write actual exam questions but you have to assume they know the format, content, and difficulty. The writers are probably all BCPS. Might not be perfect but it's bound to be close.

I've been studying for a while so I felt like this helped me find out what areas needed the most work in these last few weeks. I have very little critical care experience so those topics are giving me trouble plus neurology/psych.

The test might not have really been worth it but it was something to find out where I stand and motivate me to study hard during the time left before the real test. Still feel like I'm not ready.

Originally Posted by SimbaPharmD

Hi guys. Does anyone know where to find the BCPS exam passing rates from previous years? Hope studying is going well! Thanks.

Here's results posted on the forum for the last 3 tests.

2009:

Passing point was 124/200, but it changes from year to year depending the test, so take that with a grain of salt. It could be higher or lower for this year. Average score was 134 with a SD of 22. Scores ranged from 45-184. I walked out of there thinking I failed and scored well above the passing point and average.

For the different test "domains"
Domain 1 (clinical knowledge): Max score 110, average 74, SD 17, range 24-107
Domain 2 (stats/clinical trails): Max 60, average 40, SD 9, range 11-58
Domain 3 (regulatory stuff I think): Max 30, average 21, SD 4, range 4-29

2010:
Passing score was 133, scores ranged from 54-192.

Domain Max Ave SD Range
1 110 71 13 28-103
2 60 41 8 11-59
3 30 21 4 6-30
Total 200 133 23 54-192


2011 : Average was 121 with a std dev of 23, passing was 111.

Originally Posted by Kuvan

HA! My thought exactly! I'm struggling with the ACS guidelines. Sigh!

You know why you're struggling with the ACS guidelines because they are really organized badly in the book. Until I listened to the lecture, I was like when do you use a GPI, they need to clarify that section a lot.

I just took the mock exam and I got 130 out of 200; I don't think with that score I could pass; at the same time I felt some questions were not standard; what do you guys think

Originally Posted by badally

I just took the mock exam and I got 130 out of 200; I don't think with that score I could pass; at the same time I felt some questions were not standard; what do you guys think

I scored similarly on the mock exam. When I initially saw my score, it worried me but after reviewing the answers I actually think I scored a little higher... some of the questions are blatantly scored wrong (like when you review the explanation it's obvious that the letter they have set for the right answer is not correct) and then there are a few that I disagree with their answers that they chose.

Hopefully the passing score is more like last year than 2010! One week left! Good luck to all.

Hope everyone did well! Now the long agonizing wait....

BCPS Fail! See everyone next year, at least I know what to study... Haha...

Man that was a beating. Such a random collection of trivia.

Time to wait.

Yeah, random, but now it's obvious why people pass easily on the second try. And no we can't talk about what we saw but I know exactly what must be done and studied to pass next year. The ACCP books are enough to pass.

I also agree that the ACCP books are enough to pass. I am just happy it's all over. I heard it actually takes 60 days for the results in the mail which sucks.

You can't really study either to a certain extent because its random. We get it in 60 days, someone said if you get a letter that says your name with BCPS as the ending you passed... Haha

Yeah we won't know anything until December. They're so slow especially considering the crazy amount of money they get from a few thousand people taking the exams.

Would anyone happen to know the passing point for the BCACP exam last year?

Originally Posted by Pharmdst15

Would anyone happen to know the passing point for the BCACP exam last year?

In 2011, passing score was 111. One of the Lowest ever passing score in history of BCPS. So this prompted Record amount of people taking the boards this year. So i am not sure if this is good or bad for my chance of passing this year. I hope they tell us Via email, probably faster. I have to wait til december, it is long wait.


I took it this year in 2012. and i thought it was pretty tough. and i was told this year, Record number of people took the test. Is that good or bad ? Does this lower the pass score ? I would assume so but not sure.
and I am not sure what happened in 2011. Record number of people passed from what i was told. What was the pass score from last year ? Virtually everyone that i know passed the test, even people i thougth had NO chance of passing passed. LOL. That is what kind of prompted so many people to take it this year, from what i was told.

Interesting about the record # of candidates. Really tough to say what that does to the passing cutoff especially since it was a tough test.

My wife is getting a PhD in education psych and is very knowledgeable in classical test theory. She said it's really hard to know what will happen to the scores. More candidates could drive the average down especially if those candidates had a lesser ability and decided to take the test because they perceived it to be easier for them to pass. But, there's no way to know what BPS will decide to do with the results. The passing cutoff may be lower but if the average and SD was lower too it may work out the same. Look at the 2009 vs 2011 results. The average in 2009 was 13 points higher than 2011 but according the the BPS press releases about 70% of candidates passed each year (1198 of 1709 in 2009 and 1,743 of 2,419 in 2011). She also brought up the point that there's no way to know what changes they made due to the low passing score and high # of people passing in 2011.

Basically classical test theory sucks because how one person does do is dependent on how everyone else does.

And the wait is already killing me.

Originally Posted by kdr2002

Interesting about the record # of candidates. Really tough to say what that does to the passing cutoff especially since it was a tough test.

My wife is getting a PhD in education psych and is very knowledgeable in classical test theory. She said it's really hard to know what will happen to the scores. More candidates could drive the average down especially if those candidates had a lesser ability and decided to take the test because they perceived it to be easier for them to pass. But, there's no way to know what BPS will decide to do with the results. The passing cutoff may be lower but if the average and SD was lower too it may work out the same. Look at the 2009 vs 2011 results. The average in 2009 was 13 points higher than 2011 but according the the BPS press releases about 70% of candidates passed each year (1198 of 1709 in 2009 and 1,743 of 2,419 in 2011). She also brought up the point that there's no way to know what changes they made due to the low passing score and high # of people passing in 2011.

Another problem is how the content is distributed. Having a certain slant or biased toward certain areas can favor some people over others.

Basically classical test theory sucks because how one person does do is dependent on how everyone else does.

Thank you so much for the information. You are simply AWSOME. Lets all hope they pass about 70 % of the people again this year and we blong to that 70 %. Like i said before, if you are in bottom 30 % of the people who took the exam, maybe just maybe, you really should study some more. It just might be for your own good.

It isn't a curve, if everyone gets above the cut line everyone passes. The cut line is determined by results of the test though, in the sense where they use statistical analysis.

Originally Posted by moolman

It isn't a curve, if everyone gets above the cut line everyone passes. The cut line is determined by results of the test though, in the sense where they use statistical analysis.

Hello, to my Fellow Kappa Psi brother. Anyway, i was told by a girl that took the test last year and passed that it is graded on the curve. and guy in BCPS confirmed it when i talked to him on the phone.

It isn't a curve in the strict sense where you have a bell curve and the better others do the higher the pass line becomes. So if everyone bombs the test , the pass line doesn't become so crazy low number.

I hope you remembered to write KY on your score sheet to make sure you pass... wait are we not suppose to talk about the in public.

Originally Posted by moolman

I hope you remembered to write KY on your score sheet to make sure you pass... wait are we not suppose to talk about the in public.

darn, looks like no bcps for me

Originally Posted by UCIGUY

darn, looks like no bcps for me

Don't worry as long as you didn't write PDC on the sheet your sheet will at least be graded cause if you did it gets thrown out cause why bother to score a failed test.

Yea, i can't wait til December. i hope it is good news or there is always the option of hari-kari. the way of the warrior.

Hi everyone,

i took 2012 exam and i regret taking it !!!!!!!!!!!!! the exam was full of tricks and i was all the time confused between two answers,and because im sooo smart i just kept choosing the wrong answers like no one did before...LOOOOL, by the way i wish all the luck for everyone including myself ,any other feed back about IT????????
do people who took the exam overseas in the past years included in the same scoring scale ?

I agree- Still freaking out. Had student presentations...and every time I see something from the test- another missed question! Wish we could just get our results!

It has only been 3 days....we have 57 more to go lol.

Everyone is on the same scoring scale, it was the same test.

Originally Posted by alhajjar

Hi everyone,

i took 2012 exam and i regret taking it !!!!!!!!!!!!! the exam was full of tricks and i was all the time confused between two answers,and because im sooo smart i just kept choosing the wrong answers like no one did before...LOOOOL, by the way i wish all the luck for everyone including myself ,any other feed back about IT????????
do people who took the exam overseas in the past years included in the same scoring scale ?

From the reactions of everyone so far, this test was very difficult. I too took the 2012 exam and i actually thought 1st half of the test went pretty well for me. LOL then 2nd half of the test came after lunch. and WOW, it was different and difficult. I thought i ate something wrong for lunch. LOL 2nd 1/2 of the test was sobering experience for sure. i just wish i did well enough, that's all.
I was told by a friend of mine that took the test 3 years ago and passed, that everybody does alot of Guessing on this exam, and that's just the way it is. It is that tough. So guys just relax and don't think about the exam for next 2 month.