Originally posted by lovilla
Why don't you just answer the question instead? 😛
Don't you have to take the NAPLEX?
Yes, and the post that I was referring to has mysteriously vanished, so I'd be happy to help. To become licensed in the US, you have to 1) Graduate from an accredited US pharmacy school 2) take, and pass the NAPLEX 3) take, and pass the MPJE (for the state that you'd like to practice in). If you would like to practice in California then you have to take their specific exam. I believe that you need a score of "75" or "80" to "pass" the NAPLEX, but they are really weird regarding how they interpret their scores, and it's not a percentage. I couldn't find the exact info with a cursory glance at the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy website (
www.nabp.net) , but it must be there. Some states also want "proof of good moral character" for licensure. Almost all graduates pass on their first try (almost all pharmacy schools have 1st-try pass percentages in the 90%+ range). If an applicant doesn't pass on their first try, I think that there is a 90 day (or close) waiting period until they may take it again. I believe that a graduate has up to 4 tries to pass before having to go back for additional education. I have never heard of anyone doing this.
Regarding grades..
It's completely up to the college. Every U.S. pharmacy school has to be accredited, and that somehow assures that the grading system is up to par with most other schools. Some have A, B, C... some have A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.. some have numbers, and some have pass/fail, with pass set around 70% (I think). There is no "standard". A B at one school (or even for one class) could be 77% and a B at another school could be 81%. There are also different requirements for graduation. Some schools allow students to graduate with a 2.0 minimum and some require a 2.5. There are probably some that require more than that.
Useful Websites:
- (This one, including the search feature)
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www.aacp.org
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www.ashp.org
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www.aphanet.org
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www.nabp.net
Hope that helps, sorry that I don't have exact statistics, but they can be found online with enough searching.
Jd
