I took the MD MPJE recently and just barely passed, thanks to gods grace and some of the old posts on this forum. Just felt it was only fair to pass along my advice for future test takers as well.
My study sources:
MPHA Pharmacy Laws and Regulations for the state of Maryland (or as i refer to in this post "the MD book"). When i first got this book, i felt overwhelmed. Lots of pages, i didn't know how i was going to be able to read the whole thing and retain it all. But i sat myself down and just attacked it. The first time i read it, i don't know how much of it was retained. The 2nd time i read it (which was after going over all my other sources), i was able to understand it easily like it was plain english- mostly because i was just reinforcing what i already knew. I made notes on hard to remember stuff in a notebook and studied that more. The first 100 pages or so are the actual laws in the back of the book explained very nicely. Someone had said to go read the laws in the back of the book as well, and i tried, but i only went half way through before i decided the first 100 pages were enough.
Pharmacyexam.com/mpje MD MPJE downloadable exam. It has 5 sections, 30 questions each. At $60, its definitely overpriced, but it did help alot- not because the questions were the same, but it prepares you for taking the MPJE with good questions and explanations using the actual law. After studying, i took this test. Helped me understand certain laws better, and even had some questions about laws that i didnt remember/know about. I would definitely recommend this.
Old slides from my Law Professor covering fed and state law- which included some review slides he gave out before i graduated. This is what i started off with.
Notes/handout from the MD Law review at UMD from a friend. This was initially a good source for introduction to MD law, but it never got into specifics like the MD book, although it had some fed law at the end. After i read the MD book and went back to these notes, i found 80% of it to be a useless summary of stuff. Perhaps people that actually attended the review might've found it helpful. This is what i started off with early as well- it was a good study guide.
Slides from a friends employer covering MD law for MPJE. It was good too, helped reinforce some info and explained a few things better.
Guide to federal pharmacy law from Reiss and Hall - which covered federal law, very easy to read and understand. i tackled this early to get down laws that werent covered in my law notes from school, made notes on stuff i needed to go over again and re-reviewed it. I didn't do any of the questions in the book, they seemed weak.
My test experience:
In my opinion, whats more difficult than the MD MPJE exam, is finding sources that cover (or at least help you learn) EVERYTHING you need to know.
I studied for about a month, just about every day for the exam. I know a lot of people spend maybe a week or two, but the stories and reputation of the MD MPJE scared me into waiting longer. With that said, I didnt think it was that much tougher than the Naplex. But then again, everyone is different. While i was taking the exam i found myself thinking about the laws as they were written in the MD book. A number of times, i felt that all the answer choices were correct (or incorrect if it said which one was TRUE). A few times i was able to rule out an answer choice that looked correct- but some word or something about it made it incorrect- they really try to trick you, and you could really make a case that the question show be thrown out. There were alot of questions (maybe a third of the exam) where i had to narrow the answer choices to 2 answers and make a guess.
It didn't really feel like they tested you on a lot of little things in the law like I was lead to believe, they asked reasonable questions too imo. The issue really was that the answer choices were tricky, so I think i mightve got a number questions on basic things wrong. Eventually i started to think the answer in my head first before looking at the answer choice so I didnt get thrown off by the answer choices. I had went into the exam memorizing the DEA forms, requirements, the years valid/re-apply etc. Memorized lots of numbers. I maybe I saw 2 or 3 questions related to that stuff. Thats not to say you shouldnt study that, your test might be different, since that kind of stuff is what most study sources stress. But I would also say about 10-20% of the test had questions i had never thought about or saw in my study sources. That part is just frustrating.
I didn't walk out of the exam thinking i failed either. I did think there was a chance I failed, but I just wasnt sure what the end result would be. Embarrassingly enough, i thought there was an equal chance i could score really high. Ultimately I scored just enough to pass.
Last thing- my experience may end up different from yours. I didnt agree with everything people said about this exam, so don't just go by just what I say here. And in my opinion, the most important thing aside from studying for your boards is daily communication with god, if he wills it anything is possible. Wish you all best of luck!
My study sources:
MPHA Pharmacy Laws and Regulations for the state of Maryland (or as i refer to in this post "the MD book"). When i first got this book, i felt overwhelmed. Lots of pages, i didn't know how i was going to be able to read the whole thing and retain it all. But i sat myself down and just attacked it. The first time i read it, i don't know how much of it was retained. The 2nd time i read it (which was after going over all my other sources), i was able to understand it easily like it was plain english- mostly because i was just reinforcing what i already knew. I made notes on hard to remember stuff in a notebook and studied that more. The first 100 pages or so are the actual laws in the back of the book explained very nicely. Someone had said to go read the laws in the back of the book as well, and i tried, but i only went half way through before i decided the first 100 pages were enough.
Pharmacyexam.com/mpje MD MPJE downloadable exam. It has 5 sections, 30 questions each. At $60, its definitely overpriced, but it did help alot- not because the questions were the same, but it prepares you for taking the MPJE with good questions and explanations using the actual law. After studying, i took this test. Helped me understand certain laws better, and even had some questions about laws that i didnt remember/know about. I would definitely recommend this.
Old slides from my Law Professor covering fed and state law- which included some review slides he gave out before i graduated. This is what i started off with.
Notes/handout from the MD Law review at UMD from a friend. This was initially a good source for introduction to MD law, but it never got into specifics like the MD book, although it had some fed law at the end. After i read the MD book and went back to these notes, i found 80% of it to be a useless summary of stuff. Perhaps people that actually attended the review might've found it helpful. This is what i started off with early as well- it was a good study guide.
Slides from a friends employer covering MD law for MPJE. It was good too, helped reinforce some info and explained a few things better.
Guide to federal pharmacy law from Reiss and Hall - which covered federal law, very easy to read and understand. i tackled this early to get down laws that werent covered in my law notes from school, made notes on stuff i needed to go over again and re-reviewed it. I didn't do any of the questions in the book, they seemed weak.
My test experience:
In my opinion, whats more difficult than the MD MPJE exam, is finding sources that cover (or at least help you learn) EVERYTHING you need to know.
I studied for about a month, just about every day for the exam. I know a lot of people spend maybe a week or two, but the stories and reputation of the MD MPJE scared me into waiting longer. With that said, I didnt think it was that much tougher than the Naplex. But then again, everyone is different. While i was taking the exam i found myself thinking about the laws as they were written in the MD book. A number of times, i felt that all the answer choices were correct (or incorrect if it said which one was TRUE). A few times i was able to rule out an answer choice that looked correct- but some word or something about it made it incorrect- they really try to trick you, and you could really make a case that the question show be thrown out. There were alot of questions (maybe a third of the exam) where i had to narrow the answer choices to 2 answers and make a guess.
It didn't really feel like they tested you on a lot of little things in the law like I was lead to believe, they asked reasonable questions too imo. The issue really was that the answer choices were tricky, so I think i mightve got a number questions on basic things wrong. Eventually i started to think the answer in my head first before looking at the answer choice so I didnt get thrown off by the answer choices. I had went into the exam memorizing the DEA forms, requirements, the years valid/re-apply etc. Memorized lots of numbers. I maybe I saw 2 or 3 questions related to that stuff. Thats not to say you shouldnt study that, your test might be different, since that kind of stuff is what most study sources stress. But I would also say about 10-20% of the test had questions i had never thought about or saw in my study sources. That part is just frustrating.
I didn't walk out of the exam thinking i failed either. I did think there was a chance I failed, but I just wasnt sure what the end result would be. Embarrassingly enough, i thought there was an equal chance i could score really high. Ultimately I scored just enough to pass.
Last thing- my experience may end up different from yours. I didnt agree with everything people said about this exam, so don't just go by just what I say here. And in my opinion, the most important thing aside from studying for your boards is daily communication with god, if he wills it anything is possible. Wish you all best of luck!
