How to know when you are ready

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

So here is my info. I have been studying for two weeks hardcore. 10-12 hour days doing mainly calculations (the RxPrep chapters on Calcs, Biostats, PK) and the RxPrep calc quiz banks (4 calc quiz, 1 biostat quiz, 1 PK quiz) and reading about 1/4th of the book. Have done a bit more than 1/3 of the quiz banks until I got 90-100%. Before that spent about 4 hours a day for 2 weeks doing RxPrep quizzes. Just did the RxPrep quiz that is 185 questions to simulate the test taking environment, don't know how well it actually simulates it thought except to give you an idea on time management though. Got a 57% out of the 185 questions which I must say were rather hard. Now not sure what to do. Exam is scheduled for mid day Wednesday. Should I take the prenaplex and if I score decent go for it or should I just reschedule for one week out so I can get through the rest of the book, do all the corresponding quizzes, and keep hammering away at the calcs?

Advice appreciated.
Signed,
Ssomeone who is not sure how to tell if I am ready.

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[Pharmgrlnxdor]

bump for advice ..... anyone? or was everyone just totally confident in their prep?

 

[toledoray7]

I just found out this morning I passed with a 98. I started about 1.5 months before and slowly read through RxPrep once then about 2 weeks before bought the RxPrep practice questions and did those for a few hours a day for 2 weeks. In retrospect I think it would have been more beneficial for me to have bought the questions earlier and did them for each chapter as I read through the book.

KNOW YOUR CALCULATIONS!!! I cannot stress this enough as I had easily 30-40 calculation questions.

I recommend Pre-NAPLEX. I took it a week before my NAPLEX and got a 101 and only looked up answers for 1 or 2 of the 100 questions. MOST people do better on the real NAPLEX than they do on the Pre-NAPLEX but my score actually dropped (or matched had I not looked up a few answers). If you take pre-NAPLEX and you are in the 90-110 range you will probably be fine, just study a couple of hours every day until the exam. If you are in the 70-90 range I would consider rescheduling. If you are above 110 you will have nothing to worry about.

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

Thank you for the advice. Seems very sound. I just am frustrated in how uncertain I am feeling about my level of preparation. Usually I have a good feel for how ready I am for an exam (that was in pharmacy school) but for this thing I don't have any real gut feeling about being ready or not. I am solid on my calculations though. I have been doing them every day and will continue right up to the day of the test. But in regards to the rest of the material I guess I feel like I could be studying for six months for this thing since there is so much volume of material to choose from. I did reschedule my exam for August 9th. I think it was the best choice so I could make sure I can get through the whole book one time in a thorough fashion while doing the corresponding RxPrep quizzes.

 

[toledoray7]

Thank you for the advice. Seems very sound. I just am frustrated in how uncertain I am feeling about my level of preparation. Usually I have a good feel for how ready I am for an exam (that was in pharmacy school) but for this thing I don't have any real gut feeling about being ready or not. I am solid on my calculations though. I have been doing them every day and will continue right up to the day of the test. But in regards to the rest of the material I guess I feel like I could be studying for six months for this thing since there is so much volume of material to choose from. I did reschedule my exam for August 9th. I think it was the best choice so I could make sure I can get through the whole book one time in a thorough fashion while doing the corresponding RxPrep quizzes.

Really other than math it is impossible to truly hit everything and retain it all. There is just simply too much. That being said it is a competency exam and that it why you don't need a crazy high score to pass.

 

[TonyRx]

I've been Licensed for 2 weeks now, but my experience with the Naplex is as follows:

Studied for 10 days (10-12hr days) and did about 2-3 days of solid calcs. I did about 90% of the online RxPrep quizzes and read maybe 1/4th of the RxPrep book. Took the prenaplex 2 days before my exam and scored a 96. Ended up scoring a 105 on the Naplex. I personally don't care for studying and the longer I studied the more anxious I got. I felt fairly confident and given it's a "minimum competency" exam, I was confident I would pass. I moved up my test date and got it over with, best decision I could've made.

Studied for Law for 4 days and moved up that exam date as well, another great decision. Two weeks into practicing full-time I've been promoted to Staff, great store with awesome hours. Probably would've missed that opportunity if I didn't take my exams early and get them over with. Personally, I think most people over-study for the Boards.

 

[CornerHH]

Great job TonyRx. Do you have any tips on what topics to study? Like for ID, do you need to focus on more disease states that are prevalent in community pharmacy like CAP, etc. As far as psych, there is a lot of information, what kind of questions did you have for Psych. Take the test in 12 days so just trying to wrap up studying, focus on calculations but like you, over study and I feel more nervous like a calculations professor who shows up late on their first day of class. Great job and good luck as a staff pharmacist

 

[TonyRx]

Great job TonyRx. Do you have any tips on what topics to study? Like for ID, do you need to focus on more disease states that are prevalent in community pharmacy like CAP, etc. As far as psych, there is a lot of information, what kind of questions did you have for Psych. Take the test in 12 days so just trying to wrap up studying, focus on calculations but like you, over study and I feel more nervous like a calculations professor who shows up late on their first day of class. Great job and good luck as a staff pharmacist

Thanks! For the cumbersome subjects (HIV, Onc, ID, etc) I just focused on mastering the quiz questions and skimmed through the book to brush-up on the big picture concepts. I looked at the big name drugs, side effects and counseling points, don't bother with the details. I had a lot of HTN, Lipids, DM, Psych, Arthritis and Pain questions and of course about 25 or so Calcs. Other than that, I had a sprinkle of HIV, Onc, ID and random disease state questions that were all either hit or miss. Maybe I lucked out with the make-up of my Naplex, but overall, I felt like it was fair and focused on the major disease states and touched a little on the difficult stuff. I also think that I got the HIV and Onc questions correct first try, so the computer didn't bother spitting out more my way. Just a theory, not really sure though.

Luckily, those common disease states I felt confident in, and I knew them fairly well. I used the quizzes to reinforce my knowledge and any questions I missed I made notecards on that question/topic to study from. For Psych, the questions I mainly saw weren't really crazy, just have to know your classes of meds (SSRI's, SNRI's, 1st-2nd Gen Psychotics, etc) pretty well, and know the side effects or dosing regimes that make some more unique than others.

Personally, for me, doing all those quizzes in the RxPrep online bank and the PreNaplex helped. It helps you perform under pressure and you get to see ball-park, what type of questions you may get on the Naplex. Plus the quizzes give you a detailed explanation on why the question is right or wrong, so it's like reading the book but not actually having too.

 

[CornerHH]

Thanks! For the cumbersome subjects (HIV, Onc, ID, etc) I just focused on mastering the quiz questions and skimmed through the book to brush-up on the big picture concepts. I looked at the big name drugs, side effects and counseling points, don't bother with the details. I had a lot of HTN, Lipids, DM, Psych, Arthritis and Pain questions and of course about 25 or so Calcs. Other than that, I had a sprinkle of HIV, Onc, ID and random disease state questions that were all either hit or miss. Maybe I lucked out with the make-up of my Naplex, but overall, I felt like it was fair and focused on the major disease states and touched a little on the difficult stuff. I also think that I got the HIV and Onc questions correct first try, so the computer didn't bother spitting out more my way. Just a theory, not really sure though.

Luckily, those common disease states I felt confident in, and I knew them fairly well. I used the quizzes to reinforce my knowledge and any questions I missed I made notecards on that question/topic to study from. For Psych, the questions I mainly saw weren't really crazy, just have to know your classes of meds (SSRI's, SNRI's, 1st-2nd Gen Psychotics, etc) pretty well, and know the side effects or dosing regimes that make some more unique than others.

Personally, for me, doing all those quizzes in the RxPrep online bank and the PreNaplex helped. It helps you perform under pressure and you get to see ball-park, what type of questions you may get on the Naplex. Plus the quizzes give you a detailed explanation on why the question is right or wrong, so it's like reading the book but not actually having too.

TonyRx, you know how the NAPLEX is divided into 3 sections - calculations, therapeutics and then the last section... what all was in this last section or things you recommend studying? Looks like you had a solid education and got a good test and aced it. Thanks bro!

 

[TonyRx]

TonyRx, you know how the NAPLEX is divided into 3 sections - calculations, therapeutics and then the last section... what all was in this last section or things you recommend studying? Looks like you had a solid education and got a good test and aced it. Thanks bro!

Thanks again, really nothing to it. Just be confident and you'll do just fine. As for the other stuff, I had a compilation of stats, misc compounding, drug lit/resources, etc. Hard to narrow it down, I felt like some of the questions may have been the toss-outs. But, just read over those chapters in the book and have a general understanding. Hard to say what type of exam you'll get since many people have different experiences. You'll do just fine, don't overthink things and don't second guess yourself. If you graduated pharmacy school (which you have) and got somewhat decent grades (which you likely did), you'll be okay. Don't sweat it. Good luck!