NAPLEX impressions

[CUPharmD2010]

Hello everyone. New graduate poster from Colorado here to commiserate with everyone who just took the exam and are waiting for their results... I took the NAPLEX yesterday, and as most of us have noted, I thought it was very difficult. I was amazed at the number of esoteric questions (e.g., diluents required to reconstitute select parenteral solutions) and fill-in-the-blank calculations questions I had during the nearly 4 hours I sat in the exam room.

Interestingly too, I seemed to have quite a few questions regarding HIV/AIDS and a probably a dozen questions over oncology-related topics. Although I did get a few questions on other disease states, most were just a smattering of "easier" questions. I even had a few questions on statistics, but most of them seemed pretty straight-forward.

I'm still befuddled about the adaptive format of this exam and how the types of questions I received are predictive of exam performance? It seems strange how some people seem to have a lot of easy questions and pass and others have very difficult ones and feel as if we failed or just squeaked by; I just hope I passed. Anyone have a similar experience?

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[aboveliquidice]

Hello everyone. New graduate poster from Colorado here to commiserate with everyone who just took the exam and are waiting for their results... I took the NAPLEX yesterday, and as most of us have noted, I thought it was very difficult. I was amazed at the number of esoteric questions (e.g., diluents required to reconstitute select parenteral solutions) and fill-in-the-blank calculations questions I had during the nearly 4 hours I sat in the exam room.

Interestingly too, I seemed to have quite a few questions regarding HIV/AIDS and a probably a dozen questions over oncology-related topics. Although I did get a few questions on other disease states, most were just a smattering of "easier" questions. I even had a few questions on statistics, but most of them seemed pretty straight-forward.

I'm still befuddled about the adaptive format of this exam and how the types of questions I received are predictive of exam performance? It seems strange how some people seem to have a lot of easy questions and pass and others have very difficult ones and feel as if we failed or just squeaked by; I just hope I passed. Anyone have a similar experience?

My questions were pretty evenly distributed - aside from transplant (which I didn't study). My HIV questions accounted for 1- 3 max. The same was true for cancer as well. I was definitely hoping for HIV and cancer, as I spent most of my hard studying on them.

The adaptive part really works to minimize your strengths and enhance your weaknesses... But because it has a weighted score (of which is not none), there is no way we can possibly evaluate our own performance.

Congrats on getting through it. Hopefully you are in a quick response state.

 

[CUPharmD2010]

Thanks. I'm definitely happy that it's over and hopefully I won't need a repeat exam. In terms of response time here in Colorado, I believe it to be about 7-10 business days. I envy those in states who were able to sit immediately for the exam and were able to obtain their test scores quickly.

Regarding the adaptive format...it was always explained to me (both in print and in course reviews) that the adaptive format varies the difficulty of each question based on previous responses. As I understand it, if you were to miss several difficult questions, then a less difficult question would follow. Conversely, if several easy questions were answered correctly, then more difficult questions would follow.

During my exam, I had quite a few calculations-based problems, which I honestly think I'm fairly competent at doing quickly and accurately. Given your statement that the adaptive format accentuates weaknesses, then I must have been bombing the calculations? I just find that hard to believe...

 

[aboveliquidice]

Thanks. I'm definitely happy that it's over and hopefully I won't need a repeat exam. In terms of response time here in Colorado, I believe it to be about 7-10 business days. I envy those in states who were able to sit immediately for the exam and were able to obtain their test scores quickly.

Regarding the adaptive format...it was always explained to me (both in print and in course reviews) that the adaptive format varies the difficulty of each question based on previous responses. As I understand it, if you were to miss several difficult questions, then a less difficult question would follow. Conversely, if several easy questions were answered correctly, then more difficult questions would follow.

During my exam, I had quite a few calculations-based problems, which I honestly think I'm fairly competent at doing quickly and accurately. Given your statement that the adaptive format accentuates weaknesses, then I must have been bombing the calculations? I just find that hard to believe...

I don't think you bombed the math - I think it's more likely that a certain portion of questions must be calculations...

Regardless - it's all conjecture at this point. It's typically 10 days by snail mail for Florida. Waiting blows - especially when you are supposed to be studying for the MPJE.

 

[rebith75]

My impressions on Naplex:
-lots of Pulmonary Qs (know the name brands and how they are supplied)
-very little HIV and Onc
-Know your calculation (duh)
-a majority of my questions were simple ADR types, I feel like I wasted a lot of study time on clinical algorithms, DOC, diagnostics etc
-KNOW brand names, I have never worked retail and found the brand name recognition and uncertainty to be my biggest barrier

 

[GamecockPharmD]

I took the NAPLEX this morning and I found it to be pretty difficult. It's really hard to assess how I did. I had a lot of HIV questions, which I knew nothing about. I had tons of asthma related questions, which I felt like I knew pretty well. The math was easy. Most of them were simple proportions. I had a few mEq questions here and there. I had a pretty involved dilution question that they threw at me at the end. I guessed at it because I didn't have time to solve it. I had a case on multiple sclerosis that I didn't know much about. I found the case based questions to be much easier than the standalone questions. I won't know my score for a while, but the SC BOP posts whether you passed or not on their website in approx. 3 business days, but it has taken some of my classmates up to a week to know. I'm pretty burned out considering I took the MPJE yesterday and NAPLEX today. One more MPJE in late August and I'm done. Hopefully. Don't want to jinx myself. I hope I did well enough.

 

[crossjb]

I got my NAPLEX results in the mail yesterday -- took the exam 7/19 -- and passed easily.

 

[khydroxide]

I took the NAPLEX this morning and I found it to be pretty difficult. It's really hard to assess how I did. I had a lot of HIV questions, which I knew nothing about. I had tons of asthma related questions, which I felt like I knew pretty well. The math was easy. Most of them were simple proportions. I had a few mEq questions here and there. I had a pretty involved dilution question that they threw at me at the end. I guessed at it because I didn't have time to solve it. I had a case on multiple sclerosis that I didn't know much about. I found the case based questions to be much easier than the standalone questions. I won't know my score for a while, but the SC BOP posts whether you passed or not on their website in approx. 3 business days, but it has taken some of my classmates up to a week to know. I'm pretty burned out considering I took the MPJE yesterday and NAPLEX today. One more MPJE in late August and I'm done. Hopefully. Don't want to jinx myself. I hope I did well enough.

what would be an example of a complicated dilution question? (other than C1V1 = C2V2)

 

[GamecockPharmD]

I shouldn't say complicated but it required more steps than the rest of my questions. It was the only calculation problem I wasn't sure about. It had components of #71 on the NAPLEX calculations review that's floating around on this board. If you could do that problem, you probably could have done this one that I had on the NAPLEX yesterday. I just simply did not have the time at the end. I had to take an unscheduled break, which obviously took away from my exam time. I finished with about 1 minute left. The rest of the math was ridiculously straight forward. If you can do the mEq problems, you have nothing to worry about. Just be careful because when you get around question 170, they may start throwing more math at you. That's what happened to me at least, and it forced me to rush at the end.

 

[aboveliquidice]

I shouldn't say complicated but it required more steps than the rest of my questions. It was the only calculation problem I wasn't sure about. It had components of #71 on the NAPLEX calculations review that's floating around on this board. If you could do that problem, you probably could have done this one that I had on the NAPLEX yesterday. I just simply did not have the time at the end. I had to take an unscheduled break, which obviously took away from my exam time. I finished with about 1 minute left. The rest of the math was ridiculously straight forward. If you can do the mEq problems, you have nothing to worry about. Just be careful because when you get around question 170, they may start throwing more math at you. That's what happened to me at least, and it forced me to rush at the end.

I definitely had one of those... They eat your time on the test because you have to go back and verify each step - regardless of how well you know you did it.

 

[vash1012]

I had a similar experience. I'll admit I'm a pretty fast test taker so I finished the naplex in about an hour and a half, so it didn't affect me too much but at least 5% of my whole time was spent on 1 math problem that has about 10-12 steps. The first 120 questions took me about 45 minutes and the last 65 were 80% math and some were pretty involved. I wouldn't call the test difficult really. Its just its a lot of very specific questions about a really broad array of topics. Some you'll know and some you won't. The math is where you can hurt yourself if you don't prepare enough for. You need to be 100% confident in your math because the knowledge based questions are impossible to study for.

 

[CUPharmD2010]

Vash2012, my exam sounded a lot like yours, but it was front-loaded with a lot of math problems. I had to rush through the last 60 or so problems on the exam because I spent a large amount of time working the calculations-based problems and then checking my work to make sure I was doing them correctly.

 

[CatSpam]

After having taken the test myself and speaking with several of my classmates about their experience, one thing is fairly certain: no two tests are alike.

I passed but did not cover myself with glory. My test did not have many calculations, but the ones that were there were very convoluted and nothing like what I had studied. No HIV or oncology questions. Lots of trivia.

Bottom line: do your best. Try to study everything at least once. Make certain you review your biostatistics (NNT, ARR, RRR, p-values, CI, etc.). Manage your time wisely...like several others here, I got slammed with several calculations questions very late in the test and am certain this is what dragged my score down.

Best of luck to everyone who has yet to sit through it. One thing is almost certain: you will feel that you failed it.

PB

 

[oh no dont stop]

I had about 4-6 long TPN problems, a few questions on trace elements and a question on TPN compounding. Little on oncology and HIV. Few max dosage questions. (enablex, amaryl, zocor, and a few others)

 

[GamecockPharmD]

Woo! Just found out that i passed this ****, both the NAPLEX and MPJE for SC. Gonna take the NC MPJE soon. I was shocked that I found out so soon. I took the MPJE Friday and NAPLEX Saturday and found out this morning. No idea what my scores were, but I guess it doesn't matter. All I know is that I passed. Good luck to you guys waiting on your results. I'm sure you did fine. I definitely felt like I failed coming out of the exams.