passed NAPLEX

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zzll

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After waiting for 2 weeks, I got a letter from BoP about the result. I opened the envelope with shaky hand and I didn't even unfold that piece of paper completely. I was thrilled to find that I passed with a nice score. I got 115, which isn't that high but enough to cheer me up. Now I can move to CPJE, which might be my limiting step.

I am a foreign graduate and I didn't touch pharmacy for over 10 years. I have one 6-year-old and a 8-month-old. I know the passing rate is over 90% for US graduates and around 80% for foreign students, which is high. But I still got overwhelmed by the thick RxPrep textbook in the beginning. I didn't get a good training in hospital pharmacy and this really made me not confident at all. Later I used the RxPrep test bank first to see how much I know. I read the RxPrep book with questions in mind and this helped me to study positively. From there, I enjoyed reading the textbook. I bought a used Apha book and only did questions on the back of a few chapters. I didn't read the text. I don't think it's that useful for me. RxPrep is really good!! Well organized, concise. I postponed once because I didn't think I was ready.

Even with the great RxPrep book, I can't fall in love with chemo, HIV and ID. I didn't really study them until 2-3 days before the test day. Here I want to thank this forum. I read several posts regarding how much we should know about these chapters. I finally focused on MOA of antibiotics, important cephalosporins, chemo man and Chemo-induced nausea. As of HIV, sorry, I can't read the books. I studies the test bank and got an idea what medications are important by their frequency in the test bank. Then I went back to the book just reading those medications. I got 2-3 on HIV and I got them all right; 2-3 on chemo and quite a few on ID. Here I can't disclose what question was on my test but I want to thank RxPrep's 2-day review,esp the ID part. Why? One question is exactly the same mentioned in the review and it was hard for me without listening to that review. It asked to me arrange 5 medications in an order of *** activity. That was my 2nd question. My hands were shaking and my heart was beating so fast in the first 30 mins. I would be even nervous if I didn't know that.

For case questions, I found most of the questions can be solved without evening looking at the case so I didn't bother to read the long case. For calculations, I got probably around 20+. I am good at math and the 120 questions were easy for me. But I still got nervous on test! In the first 30 mins, I got a lot calculations, all filling blanks, which made me think I did them wrong. I even found I can't find the buttons on the built-in calculator to calculation lgX. I got a simple calculator from the test center for easy +/-/* but I later found that the results for a/b-c/d was not even correct using that calculator for a question about NNT. So you better break it down and write them separately on the paper!!! I had to triple check my result. When I looked at the watch, I used about 40 mins on about 20 questions. I got even nervous. I sort of wanted to give up. I also got 3-4 questions all about renal disease calculations and I wasn't sure about that required maximum flow rate so I didn't know what rate for me to use from the scratch (not provided) so I probably got all those wrong. I got 3-4 statistics questions, 1 for NNT, the others were about figures and definition.

DM, hyperlipidemia and thyroid were on my test. The others were quite random. Gout, ADHD, Asthma, skin conditions, HTN, renal disease ( I really didn't focus), anticoagulation, HIV, ID, chemo, compounding(? don't know how to assign those questions. asking about filter, function of specific chemicals), formulations... There were only 3 MOA questions.

If you are graduating from US pharmacy school, you will be fine. You spent 4 years in school and NAPLEX is a piece of cake for you. If you are like me, you can still do it! Buy a book and do the questions. Read not only the highlighted part, please read all! I didn't use the online course (total about $900+). If you have the extra money, you might invest on that course. Good luck to everybody!

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A BIG CONGRATS TO YOU.
Thanks for nice feedback.
Really its great feeling to see such great scores.
 
it was a 2-day review in June 2015. That might be the 1st time they did such a thing. You can see the notice/ad on their website if they will host another one.
 
I have few questions. What kind of Secondary ID for Naplex Exams is acceptable ? Driver license primary ID , can I take my credit card as secondary ID? Should credit card should have a picture on it ? And during the exams , 10 minutes break mandatory or option ? Will I see notification or alert on computer for break time? Any idea
 
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