I passed my Naplex. Dec 2017

[veee2819]

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Hi Y'all...
I just decided to create an account even though i have been coming on SDN for years so that i can share my story. Anyways i finally took my Naplex Dec 28th and i passed it on the first try. I had some personal things happen in my life that did not enable me to start studying for my Naplex until November 6th 2017. It started with me studying 2 to 3 chapters everyday, and at some point i gained so much momentum that i was studying 4 chapters a day. Since i have not been working, i was able to study like it was my job. 2 weeks before the test, i took the prenaplex and i felt dumber than before i took it. i got a 99 on the prenaplex and even though that is considered passing, i felt like all i did was guess on the questions and i couldn't understand how i managed to pass. so that made me study some more and definitely raised my anxiety level. Anyways come test day i couldn't sleep the night before but i managed to get about 4 hours of sleep and that was it. i was alert and ready to go. I got to PearsonVue 1 hr before my test, and the lady hurriedly checked me in even though i had told her i wasn't ready to go in to start taking the test. the first few questions i had on the test were like greek and i started to panic which messed with my thinking process. i had to meditate right there in the testing center. i centered my energy and told myself regardless of what happened, i was going to take this test to the best of my ability. i finished the exam with only 30 minutes to spare and i came out of the hall almost in tears. i was convinced i failed the test. Waiting for my results was torture so i turned up for new year and told myself regardless of what happens, i was lucky to see the new year and failing the naplex wouldn't kill me. i got my result today and i passed, i prayed a lot, my parents prayed for me as well as my friends. I just wanted to inspire people that have to retake it, or those that haven't taken it yet, it will be fine. don't let your anxiety get the best of you. Good luck!

 

[Highly favored]

Hi Y'all...
I just decided to create an account even though i have been coming on SDN for years so that i can share my story. Anyways i finally took my Naplex Dec 28th and i passed it on the first try. I had some personal things happen in my life that did not enable me to start studying for my Naplex until November 6th 2017. It started with me studying 2 to 3 chapters everyday, and at some point i gained so much momentum that i was studying 4 chapters a day. Since i have not been working, i was able to study like it was my job. 2 weeks before the test, i took the prenaplex and i felt dumber than before i took it. i got a 99 on the prenaplex and even though that is considered passing, i felt like all i did was guess on the questions and i couldn't understand how i managed to pass. so that made me study some more and definitely raised my anxiety level. Anyways come test day i couldn't sleep the night before but i managed to get about 4 hours of sleep and that was it. i was alert and ready to go. I got to PearsonVue 1 hr before my test, and the lady hurriedly checked me in even though i had told her i wasn't ready to go in to start taking the test. the first few questions i had on the test were like greek and i started to panic which messed with my thinking process. i had to meditate right there in the testing center. i centered my energy and told myself regardless of what happened, i was going to take this test to the best of my ability. i finished the exam with only 30 minutes to spare and i came out of the hall almost in tears. i was convinced i failed the test. Waiting for my results was torture so i turned up for new year and told myself regardless of what happens, i was lucky to see the new year and failing the naplex wouldn't kill me. i got my result today and i passed, i prayed a lot, my parents prayed for me as well as my friends. I just wanted to inspire people that have to retake it, or those that haven't taken it yet, it will be fine. don't let your anxiety get the best of you. Good luck!

We thank God you passed. Happy for you. It always lift up my spirit when I hear somebody say they passed. It gives me hope too.. lol.. Can you please share with us what materials you used for studying and which ones helped you most? How was the calculations section? How many were they? I heard it is all short answers, no multiple choices. For the therapeutics part, how was the question distribution? ID, onco, HIV, DM, etc. Please educate us. Thank you. And congrats again

 

[veee2819]

We thank God you passed. Happy for you. It always lift up my spirit when I hear somebody say they passed. It gives me hope too.. lol.. Can you please share with us what materials you used for studying and which ones helped you most? How was the calculations section? How many were they? I heard it is all short answers, no multiple choices. For the therapeutics part, how was the question distribution? ID, onco, HIV, DM, etc. Please educate us. Thank you. And congrats again

Thank you! I only used RXPrep to study. The school provided us with the online course, question bank as well as the review book. RxPrep was very helpful to me. After i was done with a chapter i would quiz myself, that way if i didn't get it right on the first try i went back and reviewed why i got the question wrong. Majority of my exam was compounding (sterile and non sterile), biostats and calculations. I had a few HIV, Onco, DM questions. My HIV questions were being able to identify the drugs in combo medicine. Calculations 85% of them were short answer, but i did have some multiple choice questions. My biostats were mainly calculations based as well so if you know how to do OR,HR, RR, RRR, ARR, NNT you should do well. Overall my exam was weird because i had a lot of side effect questions, references, and boxed warnings.

 

[Rx Maz]

I took the Naplex in December. Just got my results today and I passed!

I used only the Rxprep 2017 book and SDN 120 calculations - no other materials like Qbank or anything - and no other references. No pre-naplex. Just Rxprep for me.

I went through most of the book only once. I started studying from mid-end October up until mid December

Focus on the math. Don't have much to add to the above other than really you should just go through the material since I found the exam to be quite comprehensive.

Out of exam tips: Take it easy the day before - plan to review your most weakest points and formulas. If you have somebody to drive you to the exam it is a good way to talk to somebody before to get your mind off of things (I uber'd in and got like the most chill guy who really made my morning). I took both of my breaks: It is a good way to get out of the super quiet room inside. Take a sandwich you will get hungry and unless you work super fast its unlikely you will finish ahead of 4 hours. On the subject of time pace yourself well. I finished in 5 hours and I consider myself a fast test taker. Being good at the math will help you with this. If there is something you really have no idea what it is just carry on. Don't come up with some wild analysis of the problems, the answers are usually "just that simple" (I only have the questions at the end of Rxprep chapter to compare to and with respect to that the NAPLEX questions were more "direct" in my opinion)

Best of luck.

EDIT: I also used the tl;dr pharmacy posts on HIV and Oncology as sources of info for study - well worth your time and those posts were more than enough material prep for the exam. Definately worth your time.

 

[littlepharmacygirl]

I took the Naplex in December. Just got my results today and I passed!

I used only the Rxprep 2017 book and SDN 120 calculations - no other materials like Qbank or anything - and no other references. No pre-naplex. Just Rxprep for me.

I went through most of the book only once. I started studying from mid-end October up until mid December

Focus on the math. Don't have much to add to the above other than really you should just go through the material since I found the exam to be quite comprehensive.

Out of exam tips: Take it easy the day before - plan to review your most weakest points and formulas. If you have somebody to drive you to the exam it is a good way to talk to somebody before to get your mind off of things (I uber'd in and got like the most chill guy who really made my morning). I took both of my breaks: It is a good way to get out of the super quiet room inside. Take a sandwich you will get hungry and unless you work super fast its unlikely you will finish ahead of 4 hours. On the subject of time pace yourself well. I finished in 5 hours and I consider myself a fast test taker. Being good at the math will help you with this. If there is something you really have no idea what it is just carry on. Don't come up with some wild analysis of the problems, the answers are usually "just that simple" (I only have the questions at the end of Rxprep chapter to compare to and with respect to that the NAPLEX questions were more "direct" in my opinion)

Best of luck.

EDIT: I also used the tl;dr pharmacy posts on HIV and Oncology as sources of info for study - well worth your time and those posts were more than enough material prep for the exam. Definately worth your time.

I am taking my exam March 3rd and recently started studying. I’ve done about 12 chapters (asthma, copd, smoking cessation, dm, dyslipidemia, drug reference, htn to name a few) and find it difficult to remember chapters once i move to another section. I’m on a work visa so I have to pass the first time otherwise it will be put me in a pretty bad spot financial. Did you have a strong base knowedge? is that why you only had to go through it once? How did u remember all the sections you had done prior to moving to another section? I wanted to do all heart chapters, all psych chapters and ID, Onco, HIv this month then cram the smaller chapters (NS, Sterile, biostates, etc) first two weeks in feb . Then by feb 13 take my prenaplex and start reviewing before my exam, does this seem like an effective way to study?

 

[Rx Maz]

I am taking my exam March 3rd and recently started studying. I’ve done about 12 chapters (asthma, copd, smoking cessation, dm, dyslipidemia, drug reference, htn to name a few) and find it difficult to remember chapters once i move to another section. I’m on a work visa so I have to pass the first time otherwise it will be put me in a pretty bad spot financial. Did you have a strong base knowedge? is that why you only had to go through it once? How did u remember all the sections you had done prior to moving to another section? I wanted to do all heart chapters, all psych chapters and ID, Onco, HIv this month then cram the smaller chapters (NS, Sterile, biostates, etc) first two weeks in feb . Then by feb 13 take my prenaplex and start reviewing before my exam, does this seem like an effective way to study?

I understand the stress, I had to get it right the first time too - plus I started my residency late so things have been crammed in and condensed and I was on rotation when I was preparing for all this. My first word of advice is to breath; it isn't as hard as you make it out to be. I wouldn't consider I had a strong base knowledge - I just work well under stress and was able to get through most of what I wanted to study.

The following was my study strategy:

1. I started with the math; I suck at it so I made this my priority and honestly had I not done well in this part I would have bombed the exam. I would make stats and the calculations related to it a priority as well. When your studying make sure to understand rather than memorize (of course memorize the formulas though!) I would come back to it every 2 weeks and quiz myself on certain problems and at one point I went through it all again.

2. I grouped disease states - I would do all things cardiology related as one and I added dyslipidemia in there. For these sets of chapters, I wrote down the brand names I didn't remember (pretty much all of them) and quizzed myself from time to time on them. The psych stuff I grouped together, and the infectious stuff is already grouped. That will then just leave you with the bits and pieces to fill in. Of course focus on the big topics first then narrow down. I also would try to make sense of the first line therapies and evidently the main SE and DDI's I needed to remember. Have fun with it, make a story out of it if you have to. When you recall info just think logically - what is this drug - what does It do - where is its place in practice - what is unique to it. Ironically you will find each one has something unique about it and although we already know all of this that book does a good job of highlighting things and where you should be focusing. Don't stress on remembering it since if you study seriously enough you will remember it. As far as Rxprep goes I really focused on the underlined stuff. Whatever else I tried to retain.

3. I skipped on some of the chapters - I didn't do skin disorders, cystic fibrosis, transplant, Weight loss and some other chapters - I sort out of ran out of time so I just read the "things you should know" boxes from these chapters. I felt like I wasted time with the beginning few chapters I would not focus on much other than the Sterile and NS compouding and the Immunizations of course.

4. TL;DR pharmacy posts about HIV and Onco are very very helpful. I can't stress this enough.

5. Just for the sake of emphasizing my point: the math. Make sure you are comfortable with this. If you are it will get you through the exam faster and it really is essential for you to know.

You wil be fine, I made a big deal out of it and honestly it wasn't the hardest thing I've had to do.

 

[Highly favored]

I understand the stress, I had to get it right the first time too - plus I started my residency late so things have been crammed in and condensed and I was on rotation when I was preparing for all this. My first word of advice is to breath; it isn't as hard as you make it out to be. I wouldn't consider I had a strong base knowledge - I just work well under stress and was able to get through most of what I wanted to study.

The following was my study strategy:

1. I started with the math; I suck at it so I made this my priority and honestly had I not done well in this part I would have bombed the exam. I would make stats and the calculations related to it a priority as well. When your studying make sure to understand rather than memorize (of course memorize the formulas though!) I would come back to it every 2 weeks and quiz myself on certain problems and at one point I went through it all again.

2. I grouped disease states - I would do all things cardiology related as one and I added dyslipidemia in there. For these sets of chapters, I wrote down the brand names I didn't remember (pretty much all of them) and quizzed myself from time to time on them. The psych stuff I grouped together, and the infectious stuff is already grouped. That will then just leave you with the bits and pieces to fill in. Of course focus on the big topics first then narrow down. I also would try to make sense of the first line therapies and evidently the main SE and DDI's I needed to remember. Have fun with it, make a story out of it if you have to. When you recall info just think logically - what is this drug - what does It do - where is its place in practice - what is unique to it. Ironically you will find each one has something unique about it and although we already know all of this that book does a good job of highlighting things and where you should be focusing. Don't stress on remembering it since if you study seriously enough you will remember it. As far as Rxprep goes I really focused on the underlined stuff. Whatever else I tried to retain.

3. I skipped on some of the chapters - I didn't do skin disorders, cystic fibrosis, transplant, Weight loss and some other chapters - I sort out of ran out of time so I just read the "things you should know" boxes from these chapters. I felt like I wasted time with the beginning few chapters I would not focus on much other than the Sterile and NS compouding and the Immunizations of course.

4. TL;DR pharmacy posts about HIV and Onco are very very helpful. I can't stress this enough.

5. Just for the sake of emphasizing my point: the math. Make sure you are comfortable with this. If you are it will get you through the exam faster and it really is essential for you to know.

You wil be fine, I made a big deal out of it and honestly it wasn't the hardest thing I've had to do.

Thanks for your advice. Can you pls tell me what TL;DR pharmacy posts about HIV and Onco is? Is it a website or books source? Thanks in advance

 

[Rx Maz]

Thanks for your advice. Can you pls tell me what TL;DR pharmacy posts about HIV and Onco is? Is it a website or books source? Thanks in advance

The Ultimate Guide to HIV for Pharmacists

The Ultimate Guide to Oncology Pharmacy for the Non-Oncologist

 

[Highly favored]

The Ultimate Guide to HIV for Pharmacists

The Ultimate Guide to Oncology Pharmacy for the Non-Oncologist

Thank you!

 

[littlepharmacygirl]

I understand the stress, I had to get it right the first time too - plus I started my residency late so things have been crammed in and condensed and I was on rotation when I was preparing for all this. My first word of advice is to breath; it isn't as hard as you make it out to be. I wouldn't consider I had a strong base knowledge - I just work well under stress and was able to get through most of what I wanted to study.

The following was my study strategy:

1. I started with the math; I suck at it so I made this my priority and honestly had I not done well in this part I would have bombed the exam. I would make stats and the calculations related to it a priority as well. When your studying make sure to understand rather than memorize (of course memorize the formulas though!) I would come back to it every 2 weeks and quiz myself on certain problems and at one point I went through it all again.

2. I grouped disease states - I would do all things cardiology related as one and I added dyslipidemia in there. For these sets of chapters, I wrote down the brand names I didn't remember (pretty much all of them) and quizzed myself from time to time on them. The psych stuff I grouped together, and the infectious stuff is already grouped. That will then just leave you with the bits and pieces to fill in. Of course focus on the big topics first then narrow down. I also would try to make sense of the first line therapies and evidently the main SE and DDI's I needed to remember. Have fun with it, make a story out of it if you have to. When you recall info just think logically - what is this drug - what does It do - where is its place in practice - what is unique to it. Ironically you will find each one has something unique about it and although we already know all of this that book does a good job of highlighting things and where you should be focusing. Don't stress on remembering it since if you study seriously enough you will remember it. As far as Rxprep goes I really focused on the underlined stuff. Whatever else I tried to retain.

3. I skipped on some of the chapters - I didn't do skin disorders, cystic fibrosis, transplant, Weight loss and some other chapters - I sort out of ran out of time so I just read the "things you should know" boxes from these chapters. I felt like I wasted time with the beginning few chapters I would not focus on much other than the Sterile and NS compouding and the Immunizations of course.

4. TL;DR pharmacy posts about HIV and Onco are very very helpful. I can't stress this enough.

5. Just for the sake of emphasizing my point: the math. Make sure you are comfortable with this. If you are it will get you through the exam faster and it really is essential for you to know.

You wil be fine, I made a big deal out of it and honestly it wasn't the hardest thing I've had to do.

Thank you for taking the time to reply! I really appreciate it! I think im spending too much time on one chapter and learning nitty gritty.