Another “I passed NAPLEX and so will you” thread

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john888

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Hi all - I just wanted to make this thread to offer some reassurance to those who haven’t taken naplex yet and might be worried about not passing. I took the exam about a week ago, and found out that I passed with a 94 (not the highest score of course, but I’m happy with it).

I was the type of student that would study for a therapeutics exam in school, pass it with a low-to-moderate grade, and then forget a lot of the information right after the test. I tried to slow down on the cramming in my last year or two of classes and moderate my studying better, but still found myself not retaining much of the info for whatever reason.

So on rotations I basically had to re-learn most everything. Of course, some things came back pretty easily because I had already learned them once before. When it came time for naplex studying I even found myself forgetting a lot of the info that I had used daily on earlier rotations – even very basic pharm stuff that was embarrassing to not know after so many years of studying pharmacy.

I had read many threads on SDN and was excited to see so many people talk about how they thought they would fail but ended up passing, and how you really just need to know calculations and the rest you should know from pharm school. But like I said, I felt pretty certain that I had not retained as much info as the typical pharm student. I was also discouraged as I started finding multiple threads with multiple people saying they failed.

Anyways, I just wanted to give a little background info and mention that I was on the low end of my pharm class and I still passed with room to spare.

I used the RxPrep book for all of my studying, and there were multiple chapters that I didn’t even get a chance to glance over at all. I went over HTN, DM, dyslipidemia, and asthma a few times to try to get a decent handle on them, and I read through most other chapters once only, with some quick skimming review in the few days before the exam. For oncology, I only looked at the drugs that require supplementation with another drug (due to major toxicities etc). I didn’t even look over brand/generics for oncology or even read through the chapter because I didn’t manage my time well enough. I had studied HIV very early on, but forgot much of it around test time – I glanced over it before the test again to try to refresh myself and retain whatever I could.

I purchased the RxPrep quiz bank but only got around to doing 10 quizzes - I scored from 61-83% on all of them, barring one 93% on smoking cessation. I started late, and in the last 5 days before the test I figured it would be better for me to keep studying/reviewing from the book than to do practice questions on topics that I didn’t know very well.

I also went through the SDN 120 calc questions twice. This is one area where I did feel pretty confident. I always did pretty well in pharmaceutics class and with calculations in general. I think this is because calculations are something that once you figure out how to do them, it usually sticks. It’s not really memorization like most therapeutics stuff. I will admit that going through RxPrep’s calc chapter I felt pretty confident but ended up being surprised at how tough some of the questions on the SDN 120 calc questions list were. Many were simple, but some of the tough ones threw me. However, once I looked up and understood how to do them I realized they weren’t so bad. The second time around was much better, though I did get caught up on one or two questions but realized my errors after checking the answer.

I took pre-naplex twice. 12 days before the test I scored a 66. I took it again 4 days before and scored a 98. BUT, I looked up multiple things during the test lol. It started with some things that I felt “I would probably know this on the exam cause I do intend to review it again, so I’ll just look it up for now to get a more accurate score,” and just went from there. The 2nd pre-naplex was really tough for me, def tougher than the first, and I didn’t want to get a really low score and freak out a few days before the exam so I ended up looking up a few things. After receiving my score, which was higher than I expected, I wished I had not looked up anything to see what my actual score would have been. I would estimate maybe 70-80, though it’s impossible to tell. I felt that the questions on both pre-naplex exams were much tougher than those on my actual naplex.


My exam (everyone’s experience will of course vary):

The calculations that I got on the exam were much easier than the ones on SDN’s 120 calc list. I had time to double check them all, and honestly felt like I got them all correct. This was probably a huge part in helping me pass. Just like everybody else, I recommend you know your calculations – it will probably play a large part in your score.

I also felt like my non-calc questions were not all that hard. It is an adaptive test, so maybe I was getting easier questions if I got certain ones wrong, but either way I didn’t feel like I was bombarded with impossible stuff like I did on the 2nd pre-naplex. This was good, because it kept me in a good mood throughout the test (as opposed to feeling hopeless like I’ve heard others feel). There were many questions which I wasn’t sure of the answer to, but were not very tough questions, and I took educated guesses on.

After the test I was pretty happy, and actually felt like I passed (along with just being relieved to be finished). I know most people say they feel like they def did not pass and yet end up with a very good score, but this was not really the case for me. I think that my confidence with the math questions (of which I had a ton) helped me to feel good about how I did. There were multiple questions which I already knew I had missed, but I still felt like I would get a passing score because I knew that they grade the test somewhat leniently.

Also, as far as time – I had more than enough. I was trying to move somewhat quickly from the start, but about an hour in I realized I was doing well on time and made sure to slow down when necessary. I even took a 5 min unscheduled break about 20 min before my scheduled one to get some water and quickly eat a granola bar.

Sorry for the long post, but just wanted to let you guys know that you will probably be fine. Put in the effort to study of course, but there’s really no need to freak out about it. I certainly put in plenty of study time, but was not very quick with going through material so I didn’t get through everything I should have. I still passed though, so don’t worry too much.

Good luck!

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I felt the same way after I left my NAPLEX too. I must been pale too because the Procter offered me a seat/water and asked if I was okay. Hah.

I took it on Monday (7/21) and after checking my nabp I saw my registration was now closed and the button was clickable. I scored above 100 on the Pre-NAPLEX twice so let's hope it meant that I was ready. I'll update as soon as I get the official response.

Good luck to everyone still studying and best wishes to those waiting for results!
 
Hi everyone, I took the NAPLEX on Thursday 07/17. I really didn't know what to make of it and pray that I passed. I felt good right after the exam (maybe because I finished all questions), but as I walked out to the parking lot I started thinking of a million things like did I miss this or that ? And I just stressed myself out thinking about it too much.

And I just took the CPJE today 7/25 and I am just feeling so nervous. I think I am drained but I can't sleep!

I am in California and have not received my results yet for the NAPLEX. When I went on the NABP website on Monday 7/21 I did see that my status was changed to closed and the Naplex button thing was clickable. I do hope the rumors are true and that it means that I have passed. I guess only time will tell.

Good luck to everyone.
Don't worry, you're fine. Congrats you passed NAPLEX
 
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I felt the same way after I left my NAPLEX too. I must been pale too because the Procter offered me a seat/water and asked if I was okay. Hah.

I took it on Monday (7/21) and after checking my nabp I saw my registration was now closed and the button was clickable. I scored above 100 on the Pre-NAPLEX twice so let's hope it meant that I was ready. I'll update as soon as I get the official response.

Good luck to everyone still studying and best wishes to those waiting for results!
Congrats you passed too
 
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Just took my exam. As everyone else says, I think I failed. I was guessing a lot, and didn't really know what I was doing except for math.

How long does it take to post scores if I took it on a Saturday in NJ?
If registering for the naplex on NABP is greyed out, is that good, bad, or normal?
 
UPDATE: I got my official letter today, and I passed NAPLEX with 114! Pretty happy about that, now we wait for the CPJE.
 
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Just took my exam. As everyone else says, I think I failed. I was guessing a lot, and didn't really know what I was doing except for math.

How long does it take to post scores if I took it on a Saturday in NJ?
If registering for the naplex on NABP is greyed out, is that good, bad, or normal?
If you're confident about most of the math, there's no way you didn't pass. Don't worry you're fine
 
Congrats!! I am freaking out now, the address I have on file is a PO box I don't have access to I am going to have my parents check it! My classmates are getting their results too. You took it after me, mine has to be there...

UPDATE: I got my official letter today, and I passed NAPLEX with 114! Pretty happy about that, now we wait for the CPJE.
 
I passed!! I'm so happy!

I feel like I can say what I did now since I did not feel like I could before because I was not feeling very confident when I did not know my results.

I used PassNaplexNow and I got the RxPrep book earlier this year because a few pharmacists in my rotations told me to get it and start looking over it. I did not even consider getting RxPrep until one pharmacist insisted that I need the book and I'm glad I listened. I was hardly able to look at it because my rotations kept me busy but I tried to look over topics casually during that time especially if they gave me DI questions during my rotation, I would look it up from official resources and on RxPrep as well. After I graduated I studied from there, took notes, made flash cards, etc. I didn't have time to finish all the chapters to be honest and I feel that those chapters were my weakness.

I should also say that I dislike calculations and I do not think I am very good at them but I did my best. I practiced with PassNaplexNow and RxPrep calculations. I found the 120 calculations questions on here too late but I looked over them but was only able to do about the first 20 questions but I had to skim through the rest to try to learn from it as much as I can before taking the test. My time was simply running out for studying but that was a great resource that I learned a lot from. Like others mentioned I was bombarded with calculation questions at the end of the NAPLEX and I put in a random number for about two calculations questions because I felt I was running out of time and wanted to get to questions that I had a better chance of getting correctly. I believe if I would have mastered the 120 questions then the calculations would have been easier for me.

Good luck to everyone, if I can do it you can too!
 
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Okay took Pre-Naplex and forced myself to not peak at all......trust me this was hard. Am totally bummed now as I got a 94. Was hoping for over a 100. Test is on Saturday....just burnt out totally.
 
Okay took Pre-Naplex and forced myself to not peak at all......trust me this was hard. Am totally bummed now as I got a 94. Was hoping for over a 100. Test is on Saturday....just burnt out totally.

Good luck and will pray for you :bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow:
94 on PreNaplex is good number. You will pass. Just keep loading information in to engrave the information deeper so you can pull information out easier.

Please come back and help others after you pass. Thank you very much in advance.
 
The SDN forums helped me out a lot in getting an idea of the NAPLEX and some posters were real helpful in reassuring. So I'll share my passing NAPLEX story to add further reassurance. Sorry for long post.

I was a lot like the OP, did average in class, procrastinated sometimes and wasn't a stellar student. Went on rotations feeling like the dumbest one sometimes. Felt like I learned nothing from 3 years of school and then going on rotation was like starting all over. Going into rotation I couldn't even tell you what the side effects of opioids were lol. Was told on rotations that my clinical pharmacy knowledge needed work on and I got vibes that I was pretty low compared to other students. 1 preceptor seemed pretty surprised at how much I was lacking in clinical pharmacy knowledge. I know for a fact also that compared to my peers, I knew much much less and felt embarassed for not knowing some things that most of my classmates seemed to know as basic knowledge. That knocked my confidence down a bit. And alot of these deficits were because I didn't retain anything I knew.

So I started NAPLEX prep early, much earlier than needed really. I focused on the middle part of the NAPLEX prep book, DM, HTN, cholesterol, ACS, antiarrhythmics, HF, and worked on those pretty intense in the beginning and after review I would go back and read it again, basically repetition. This was done 3 months before my test date. I started early because I felt I knew so little. I also went at a much slower pace of going through the RxPrep book than my classmates or SDN posters because I felt I had a lot of ground to catch up. I also wasn't always disciplined in my studying, taking frequent breaks and going ADD sometimes. I was shocked at how people say they needed only 3 days or 2-4 weeks before the exam because I felt like I needed much much more time. Eventually I realized I needed to pick up the pace on studying or else I would never finish. So I scheduled my test date and that gave me a deadline and more motivation to study. I had 4 weeks roughly to go through half the book so I thought I should be fine. I prioritized going through the book rather than remembering everything. Even at my pace I realized I might not finish the book. I had purchased the RxPrep QuizBank and after reviewing a chapter, would do the quiz. Even with looking up, I'd do 70-80% most of the time but my scores ranged from 50-80 on average. But the Quizbank really helped to lay a basic foundation for each topic. Less than a week left, I still had to go through psych, HIV, hepatitis, biostats, onco, IV fluids & calculations. I started freaking out now because everyone says calculations are important and I didn't feel like I retained all the info from the Quizzes and RxPrep. But I planned to finish the remaining impt chapters and skim through old chapters for quick refreshers. Now I was studying for 9-10 hours and not as much detail, just going through and taking the quizzes. I spread calculations out over 4 days and eventually got the hang of it, on calculation quizzes, always above 92%. Biostats I felt good in cause I knew RRR, ARR, RR which I thought was enough. At the end, I finished 67-70 of the RxPrep Quizbank quizzes. I was hoping going over more in the last week would keep me more fresh before the exam. I was pretty nervous the night before and tried studying more, got about 5 hours of sleep, (opposite of what everyone here says to do, so you know how nervous I was).

I tried studying while driving to the exam, (gave that up quick) and going in, I felt I would pass but I didn't know the risk of failing. I knew other posters (no offense) seemed to know less than I did and passed so that gave me confidence going in. Was nervous but not in a panic before and took the exam. 1st question was onco! I cursed silently and just put in a bs answer, thinking how does the NAPLEX know what you didn't go over?! Turns out I had few onco questions. Mostly HIV, psych, DM, HTN, some ID, and strangely smoking cessation, compounding, and weird questions on nonpharm stuff like medical procedures, surgeries, and diagnostic tools (scales, not like lab tests or values and not in RxPrep ). Despite feeling good on biostats, it was all interpretation or definition and no calculation so I bombed that. I had calculations at the end so definitely time the exam. I guess I was doing well enough where I had over an hour left and 30 questions and knew I could finish w/time to spare but took the time to be extra careful on each. Also strange was I had 2 questions appear twice on the exam near the end, 1 being a calculation asking for the exact same thing except 1 was multiple choice, the other fill-in which made me panic a bit I knew I was getting a fair amount of questions right though so I felt like I passed but you still want that final confirmation you passed.

And passed I did! With a 114! I think I got lucky with being asked HIV but overall I thought I did alright.

Looking back, you probably need a month of good studying before the exam if you know very little. Focus on big disease states and don't pray you get lucky like I did. Focus on the bold (though I know for a fact some things not bold did appear on exam) and focus on big topics. You won't know everything and I blindly guessed on about 1/4-1/3 of exam. Made good educated guess on half, rest I knew. I brought a snickers for the break too and had breakfast before exam. Some questions I thought were pretty basic and some were way out there like the nonpharm stuff. And leave time for some calculations at the end too.
 
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Hi all - I just wanted to make this thread to offer some reassurance to those who haven’t taken naplex yet and might be worried about not passing. I took the exam about a week ago, and found out that I passed with a 94 (not the highest score of course, but I’m happy with it).

I was the type of student that would study for a therapeutics exam in school, pass it with a low-to-moderate grade, and then forget a lot of the information right after the test. I tried to slow down on the cramming in my last year or two of classes and moderate my studying better, but still found myself not retaining much of the info for whatever reason.

So on rotations I basically had to re-learn most everything. Of course, some things came back pretty easily because I had already learned them once before. When it came time for naplex studying I even found myself forgetting a lot of the info that I had used daily on earlier rotations – even very basic pharm stuff that was embarrassing to not know after so many years of studying pharmacy.

I had read many threads on SDN and was excited to see so many people talk about how they thought they would fail but ended up passing, and how you really just need to know calculations and the rest you should know from pharm school. But like I said, I felt pretty certain that I had not retained as much info as the typical pharm student. I was also discouraged as I started finding multiple threads with multiple people saying they failed.

Anyways, I just wanted to give a little background info and mention that I was on the low end of my pharm class and I still passed with room to spare.

I used the RxPrep book for all of my studying, and there were multiple chapters that I didn’t even get a chance to glance over at all. I went over HTN, DM, dyslipidemia, and asthma a few times to try to get a decent handle on them, and I read through most other chapters once only, with some quick skimming review in the few days before the exam. For oncology, I only looked at the drugs that require supplementation with another drug (due to major toxicities etc). I didn’t even look over brand/generics for oncology or even read through the chapter because I didn’t manage my time well enough. I had studied HIV very early on, but forgot much of it around test time – I glanced over it before the test again to try to refresh myself and retain whatever I could.

I purchased the RxPrep quiz bank but only got around to doing 10 quizzes - I scored from 61-83% on all of them, barring one 93% on smoking cessation. I started late, and in the last 5 days before the test I figured it would be better for me to keep studying/reviewing from the book than to do practice questions on topics that I didn’t know very well.

I also went through the SDN 120 calc questions twice. This is one area where I did feel pretty confident. I always did pretty well in pharmaceutics class and with calculations in general. I think this is because calculations are something that once you figure out how to do them, it usually sticks. It’s not really memorization like most therapeutics stuff. I will admit that going through RxPrep’s calc chapter I felt pretty confident but ended up being surprised at how tough some of the questions on the SDN 120 calc questions list were. Many were simple, but some of the tough ones threw me. However, once I looked up and understood how to do them I realized they weren’t so bad. The second time around was much better, though I did get caught up on one or two questions but realized my errors after checking the answer.

I took pre-naplex twice. 12 days before the test I scored a 66. I took it again 4 days before and scored a 98. BUT, I looked up multiple things during the test lol. It started with some things that I felt “I would probably know this on the exam cause I do intend to review it again, so I’ll just look it up for now to get a more accurate score,” and just went from there. The 2nd pre-naplex was really tough for me, def tougher than the first, and I didn’t want to get a really low score and freak out a few days before the exam so I ended up looking up a few things. After receiving my score, which was higher than I expected, I wished I had not looked up anything to see what my actual score would have been. I would estimate maybe 70-80, though it’s impossible to tell. I felt that the questions on both pre-naplex exams were much tougher than those on my actual naplex.


My exam (everyone’s experience will of course vary):

The calculations that I got on the exam were much easier than the ones on SDN’s 120 calc list. I had time to double check them all, and honestly felt like I got them all correct. This was probably a huge part in helping me pass. Just like everybody else, I recommend you know your calculations – it will probably play a large part in your score.

I also felt like my non-calc questions were not all that hard. It is an adaptive test, so maybe I was getting easier questions if I got certain ones wrong, but either way I didn’t feel like I was bombarded with impossible stuff like I did on the 2nd pre-naplex. This was good, because it kept me in a good mood throughout the test (as opposed to feeling hopeless like I’ve heard others feel). There were many questions which I wasn’t sure of the answer to, but were not very tough questions, and I took educated guesses on.

After the test I was pretty happy, and actually felt like I passed (along with just being relieved to be finished). I know most people say they feel like they def did not pass and yet end up with a very good score, but this was not really the case for me. I think that my confidence with the math questions (of which I had a ton) helped me to feel good about how I did. There were multiple questions which I already knew I had missed, but I still felt like I would get a passing score because I knew that they grade the test somewhat leniently.

Also, as far as time – I had more than enough. I was trying to move somewhat quickly from the start, but about an hour in I realized I was doing well on time and made sure to slow down when necessary. I even took a 5 min unscheduled break about 20 min before my scheduled one to get some water and quickly eat a granola bar.

Sorry for the long post, but just wanted to let you guys know that you will probably be fine. Put in the effort to study of course, but there’s really no need to freak out about it. I certainly put in plenty of study time, but was not very quick with going through material so I didn’t get through everything I should have. I still passed though, so don’t worry too much.

Good luck!

Can anyone tell me if we need to memorize Dubois and Dubois equation for BSA or is it given? Thank you !
 
Can anyone tell me if we need to memorize Dubois and Dubois equation for BSA or is it given? Thank you !

I don't believe I saw that on the NAPLEX or SDN120/RxPrep questions. The math stuff on the Naplex is easier than the SDN120 questions.
 
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