PCOA test

[Lexington2012]

My school just emailed us and said we need to sit for the PCOA test next semester. They also said:

"Those who receive less than 50th percentile on PCOA will be asked to undergo remediation processes, which will delay the start date of your APPE rotations."

It sounds like they are saying you will have to re-take classes if you perform poorly on this test.

I'm nervous about all of this. I don't see how the school can do this to us. I was under the impression that the only standardized tests that matter are the NAPLEX and MPJE. Why make us take this worthless test if there is no certification or incentive for us?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[steveysmith54]

is this for real? when i took my exam, i got bored and started to bubble "C" for all of my answers. I enjoyed it..

 

[DynamicPharmacist]

Hi Lexington2012
I had a similar question about the PCOA recently and wrote a blog post about it at http://dynamicpharmacist.com/pcoa/.
The idea of another standardized test is definitely not appealing. I did do a little research and the schools are going to be mandated by ACPE to have their students take the test. It is supposed to ensure that the schools are actually graduating students who know what they are talking about. Believe me, as a preceptor, I have had a few students who should have never been let out on rotation. In my opinion they were dangerous and could have hurt people. This test should help prevent that since it assesses the student knowledge in 4 different areas of pharmacy practice.
If I were I your position I would definitely try to do my best- you should get your individual score. If you do well, you may be able to use it to your advantage to get a leg up on your competition.
I know it sounds a little preachy, since I'm not in the position to take the test, but trust me try your best and you won't regret it.
And if you want to do a rotation at my hospital, send me a message!

 

[Sugoi Travis]

I don't even know what this test is

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Tapatalk

It's some standardized exam to see if your school's curriculum is up to par with the national standards...I think.

 

[Silvermist]

I recently beta-tested the PCOA test for my alma mater.

It is supposed to ensure that the schools are actually graduating students who know what they are talking about. Believe me, as a preceptor, I have had a few students who should have never been let out on rotation. In my opinion they were dangerous and could have hurt people. This test should help prevent that since it assesses the student knowledge in 4 different areas of pharmacy practice.

Based on the PCOA exam I tested, I am not sure it will meet this goal... a disproportionate number of the questions were not clinical in nature at all--a lot of medchem and odd pathophys trivia. Major disease states and therapeutics were largely ignored... I don't have confidence that this exam will improve any outcomes.

 

[y0ssarian87]

I recently beta-tested the PCOA test for my alma mater.

It's not standardized, it's written by the professors (at least at my institution). They had residents such as myself beta-test it.

Based on the PCOA exam I tested, I am not sure it will meet this goal... a disproportionate number of the questions were not clinical in nature at all--a lot of medchem and odd pathophys trivia. Major disease states and therapeutics were largely ignored... I don't have confidence that this exam will improve any outcomes.

That's strange. Your experience doesn't seem to line up with the information provided by NABP. This file states that the PCOA is developed by (and is copyrighted by) NABP. Perhaps your institution was creating mock material for a test run?

http://www.nabp.net/system/rich/ric...inal/pcoa-20school-20guide-final-09302015.pdf

it sounds like the types of questions your faculty created might not be too far off. According to the breakdown, the test contains the following content:

Basic Biomedical Sciences: 16%
Pharmaceutical Sciences: 30%
Social/Behavioral/Administrative Sciences: 22%
Clinical Sciences: 32%

Overall, there is a very heavy weighting on non-clinical, but foundational knowledge.

 

[Silvermist]

That's strange. Your experience doesn't seem to line up with the information provided by NABP. This file states that the PCOA is developed by (and is copyrighted by) NABP. Perhaps your institution was creating mock material for a test run?

http://www.nabp.net/system/rich/ric...inal/pcoa-20school-20guide-final-09302015.pdf

it sounds like the types of questions your faculty created might not be too far off. According to the breakdown, the test contains the following content:

Basic Biomedical Sciences: 16%
Pharmaceutical Sciences: 30%
Social/Behavioral/Administrative Sciences: 22%
Clinical Sciences: 32%

Overall, there is a very heavy weighting on non-clinical, but foundational knowledge.

Honestly, I don't know. They asked us to beta test it before the rising 4th years take it later this year, I am but a lowly resident so I complied. It certainly could be for a test run -- I'll defer to your research and NABP.

 

[SadPharma]

As if pharmacy school wasn't tough enough, now they need to add something extra.

 

[Dred Pirate]

As if pharmacy school wasn't tough enough, now they need to add something extra.

pharmacy school is not hard enough

 

[Digsbe]

I took the PCOA from P1 to P3 year. I didn't think it was all that bad. I think it's good to have a standardized test and have a more objective metric to rank schools and hopefully use it as a way to shut down under-performing or less academic challenging schools out there.

 

[blackwolf2000]

As if pharmacy school wasn't tough enough, now they need to add something extra.

Pharmacy school was by far easier than undergrad. I graduated w/ honors from pharmacy school. I sure as heck didn't undergrad (chem major). But I graduated Rx school in '96, but somehow I don't its harder now judging by some of students I have seen come through my hospital.

 

[Lexington2012]

Pharmacy school was by far easier than undergrad. I graduated w/ honors from pharmacy school. I sure as heck didn't undergrad (chem major). But I graduated Rx school in '96, but somehow I don't its harder now judging by some of students I have seen come through my hospital.

This varies depending on your school, obviously. I was also a chem major in undergrad, and pharmacy school is slightly more challenging for me.

 

[Digsbe]

This varies depending on your school, obviously. I was also a chem major in undergrad, and pharmacy school is slightly more challenging for me.

I was a molecular biology major and did my undergrad at the same institution that my pharmacy school is located at. Pharm school took at least 3x more time to study and go through class than my undergrad program. If I didn't study at least 40 hours for a therapy exam I wouldn't pass it. Maybe it's just me though, I think programs can vary a lot in difficulty.

 

[y0ssarian87]

I find pharmacy school MUCH easier than undergrad. But then again, there is also lots of technology to help students out in pharmacy school that I didn't have in undergrad. If I had Mediasite in undergrad, I think I would've done much better.

Pharmacy school requires more work than undergrad (especially with student organizations), but I found the material in undergrad more intellectually challenging. I am able to cram for exams the night before in pharmacy school, but I sure as hell didn't succeed in doing that in undergrad.

 

[lnd19]

My school just emailed us and said we need to sit for the PCOA test next semester. They also said:

"Those who receive less than 50th percentile on PCOA will be asked to undergo remediation processes, which will delay the start date of your APPE rotations."

It sounds like they are saying you will have to re-take classes if you perform poorly on this test.

I'm nervous about all of this. I don't see how the school can do this to us. I was under the impression that the only standardized tests that matter are the NAPLEX and MPJE. Why make us take this worthless test if there is no certification or incentive for us?

So i know this was a couple years when you posted this, but what was the remediation that they made you do?

 

[Lexington2012]

There was enough of an uproar that they agreed to not hold people back over the test. The class below us was held to the standard though. As far as I know, only two people had to do some sort of remediation.

 

[gothamsfinest]

For PCOA it depends on school. For my school we just have to take it. I find Pharmacy school the same difficulty as undergrad, but with a lot more at stake. We have a minimum of 84 on each exam. If we get <84, we fail the class and have to retake the class next year.

 

[PharmDBro2017]

We took it last year and not a single therapeutics question was on the exam (I wish there had been).

Pointless exam imo, but hey if it fails a few more *****s then so be it.

 

[Nguyen]

Just took it 3 weeks ago and now waiting for results.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile