Mass NAPLEX Score Mistake?

[pharm B]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Did anyone else see this?

 

[Gombrich12]

No one respects pharmacy as a profession, not even the organizations that manage it. That's why this keeps happening.

 

[WorthlessOxygen]

Didn't that happen last year too?

 

[projektreverb]

Did anyone else see this?

View attachment 361893

I actually know someone directly impacted by this. Luckily his job wasn’t jeopardized by it.

 

[projektreverb]

Didn't that happen last year too?

Reddit suggests it did.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

So they were told they failed, but in reality they'd passed? Whew lad

 

[pharm B]

So they were told they failed, but in reality they'd passed? Whew lad

And it happened two years in a row.

Happy hunting season for the attorneys involved.

 

[mentos]

That's pretty crazy. At best, someone lost 1 month of pharmacist income and repeated the test. At worst, they got terminated.

 

[AAL34]

I was forwarded this e-mail by a faculty member at a College of Pharmacy.

Nov 10, 2022 10:03 AM Lee Vermeulen

I have spoken with Al Carter from NABP about this situation. Briefly, recent exams had several calculation questions with fill-in-the-blank response that had multiple correct answers, generally related to leading or trailing zeros. For example, if a correct answer was "0.5", they wanted ".5" and "0.50" (etc) to be counted as correct, and they had submitted ALL of those correct responses to their vendor who manages the exam. Unfortunately, their vendor only submitted ONE correct response to those questions… not the full list… to Pearson, who set up the exam. That resulted in a number of candidates having responses scored as incorrect when they were in fact correct… and some candidates ended up with failing scores when they actually passed. Pearson found the problem as part of their routine Q&A process, and notified NABP of the error last Friday. NABP rescored all exams, and identified 222 candidates whose scores were raised from fail to pass when these scoring errors were corrected. They have notified all of the affected candidates and are working with all of them directly. They also notified ASHP, and found 23 of the 222 had been matched into residency programs, and ASHP is contacting programs and residents. This is truly and unfortunate situation and NABP is working to address the consequences of the error with individual candidates. More information will be provided as we receive it. Lee Vermeulen ------------------------------ Lee Vermeulen Executive Vice President and CEO American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

 

[projektreverb]

Wow.

 

[mentos]

I was forwarded this e-mail by a faculty member at a College of Pharmacy.

Nov 10, 2022 10:03 AM Lee Vermeulen

I have spoken with Al Carter from NABP about this situation. Briefly, recent exams had several calculation questions with fill-in-the-blank response that had multiple correct answers, generally related to leading or trailing zeros. For example, if a correct answer was "0.5", they wanted ".5" and "0.50" (etc) to be counted as correct, and they had submitted ALL of those correct responses to their vendor who manages the exam. Unfortunately, their vendor only submitted ONE correct response to those questions… not the full list… to Pearson, who set up the exam. That resulted in a number of candidates having responses scored as incorrect when they were in fact correct… and some candidates ended up with failing scores when they actually passed. Pearson found the problem as part of their routine Q&A process, and notified NABP of the error last Friday. NABP rescored all exams, and identified 222 candidates whose scores were raised from fail to pass when these scoring errors were corrected. They have notified all of the affected candidates and are working with all of them directly. They also notified ASHP, and found 23 of the 222 had been matched into residency programs, and ASHP is contacting programs and residents. This is truly and unfortunate situation and NABP is working to address the consequences of the error with individual candidates. More information will be provided as we receive it. Lee Vermeulen ------------------------------ Lee Vermeulen Executive Vice President and CEO American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

Okay but two years in a row??

 

[projektreverb]

Okay but two years in a row??

Exactly. Class action law suit may prevent it from becoming three. Wouldn’t be shocked if this happens again next year.

 

[owlegrad]

This is truly and unfortunate situation

Yikes can’t even proofread the email I guess.

 

[projektreverb]

Yikes can’t even proofread the email I guess.

Didn’t even notice that 😂

 

[Pronounce Doxazosin]

I’m curious who the “vendor” the NABP is referring to
I always assumed that the NAPLEX was managed by NABP and Pearson. Never knew there was another party involved in the process

 

[AAL34]

Okay but two years in a row??

I'm not agreeing with the explanation just passing along the e-mail which is actually not from the NABP, just relayed from the AACP to the deans of US colleges of pharmacy. Even more disturbing is that after last year's SNAFU, the NABP released a statement that, among other things assured the profession that To prevent this sort of situation from reoccurring, we have put into place additional system enhancements and scoring verification measures


Apparently they didn't, and it's absolutely unforgivable. Although this year's issue involves fewer people, the time frame for taking the exam is much longer (almost 3 months vs. a touch over a week) and may have affected jobs. When my company extends an offer to a PharmD candidate, there is a "60 days or out" rule to obtain home state licensure after graduation. We don't have time to play. Residency programs are, I believe, equally stringent. Thankfully, we didn't have this situation this year. Even if the residency program made amends to these 23 residency candidates, they have lost several months that can never be recovered.

 

[projektreverb]

Even if the residency program made amends to these 23 residency candidates, they have lost several months that can never be recovered.

Precisely. They’ve irreversible altered the course of these peoples lives. Merits a lawsuit in my opinion.

 

[pharm B]

Yikes can’t even proofread the email I guess.

It'll be addressed in a routine QA process in about four months.

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

One word....clowns

 

[Dred Pirate]

I am not the suing type, but if I lost my job because of this - someone has to pay

 

[sfachine]

I wonder if they at least were offered refunds.

 

[BenJammin]

A local pharmacist sued NABP as part of a class action lawsuit over this and won! Settlement is over $800,000. Here's the link being circulated

NABP Settlement

If you took the NAPLEX test administered by NABP during the period of August 31, 2021, through and including September 8, 2021, or during the period of July 30, 2022, through and including October 26, 2022, and that NABP subsequently sent you a notice informing you that your NAPLEX score was...

pharmacyexamsettlement.com

 

[RXDOC1986]

Let me try to understand, 222 candidates were, very close to the pass/fail point. Where 1 or 2 or 3 wrongly scored answers failed them? At the same time, the other 10,000 candidates passed, in spite of this error! What does this say about these candidate's competency for residencies and other jobs?
Not discounting the whole disaster that is NAPLEX.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Good for her.

Cue NABP announcing an increase in exam fees...