I'm taking naplex in 2 days & I was wondering if there's any helpful tips I can get from ppl who have already taken it???? I'm feeling anxious bc some people say it's easy but others find it difficult.. I took prenaplex 3 weeks ago and got 85.. 🙁 is that too low of a score?
Naplex in 2 days... Tips????
- Thread starter rhombo777
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Study your infectious disease really well.
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what r u following rxprep?.
I am freaking out also. I take mine in 2 days as well and I didn't get through like half of the RX prep book 🙁. I have been practicing calculations A LOT and did ID, HIV, top 200 and am skimming a lot of others. I am trying to decide if I should give myself more time. I can't afford to fail time wise 🙁
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I would refresh how to calculate mEq, and NNT. Most other calculations I had were fairly basic algebra or arithmetic. Definitely more HIV than I was expecting, know MoA and what's in the combination products. If I had infinite time I would've tried to memorize the brand names of drugs that have been generic since before I was born. I wouldn't stress too much over it, you'll feel like crap for a few days after you take it, but I studied less than for your average pharmacology exam and passed just fine.
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Most of my math wasn't terrible and if you've worked in a hospital or situation where you make lots of IVs, some of the mEq stuff you can answer from memory. I mean, if you know a 1000 mL bag of NS has 154 mEq of NaCl, you can pretty easily answer how many mEq are in a 500 mL bag or in a bag of 1/2NS or 1/4NS, etc.
On the calculations, really look for what units the question is asking for. I had lots of questions that were in mcg but they wanted answer in mg. Also, most of the calculations I had were fill in the blank format.
The biostats in RXPrep are a pretty good review for what's actually on the test. I know I had at least 3 biostats questions, maybe NNTT and ARR and RRR calculations?
I'd know HIV and ID and oncology, especially general MOAs of some of the drugs.
On the calculations, really look for what units the question is asking for. I had lots of questions that were in mcg but they wanted answer in mg. Also, most of the calculations I had were fill in the blank format.
The biostats in RXPrep are a pretty good review for what's actually on the test. I know I had at least 3 biostats questions, maybe NNTT and ARR and RRR calculations?
I'd know HIV and ID and oncology, especially general MOAs of some of the drugs.
took mine last month and passed it. I didn't study ID, skin conditions, chemo and HIV till 2 days before the test. I realized that I was wise to do this since I got quite a few on skin conditions and ID. 2 or 3 on HIV and chemo each. I think I got them correct. know well of pain medications. I got a question asking about opioids with around 8 choices. I got more on DM, thyroid and gout.
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I am sure you will pass, would you please share what important topic you got in Naplex, how many math questions , were they look alike of SDN or RXPREP? What about oncology , HIV , ID stuff , can you just give me a guess . Taking Naplex next week, I feel scared ..
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For those of you that took it recently, what do you think are the major topics to study? I did RxPrep, averaged 50-65% on quizzes, redoing calculations, but haven't started brand/generics. Freaking out since heard people have failed the exam... take it in less than five days!
I would say anything is fair game. AP I would probably just memorize the side effects/DI's
Majority of mine was ONC and HEP and HIV with some older people issues (Parks, Dementia). Calculations from RXPrep was decent enough to study, I didn't look at SDN. Some of my calculations (I cant remember) were just too much for me so I just skipped it, lol
I didn't get any CKD/CHF/HF/HTN/Lipids...which is crazy. And I have friends who did. So completely random exam in my opinion.
Majority of mine was ONC and HEP and HIV with some older people issues (Parks, Dementia). Calculations from RXPrep was decent enough to study, I didn't look at SDN. Some of my calculations (I cant remember) were just too much for me so I just skipped it, lol
I didn't get any CKD/CHF/HF/HTN/Lipids...which is crazy. And I have friends who did. So completely random exam in my opinion.
I had one statistics question at the very end similar to RR/ARR
I'm terrible at calculations, so I had like maybe 15ish? But my other friends said they had around 10ish.
Oh and I did have some compounding/biopharm type related questions. So don't skip studying those or at least skim that prior
I'm terrible at calculations, so I had like maybe 15ish? But my other friends said they had around 10ish.
Oh and I did have some compounding/biopharm type related questions. So don't skip studying those or at least skim that prior
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Took NAPLEX last Wednesday, will find out my results on Monday - the waiting is killing me, one thing that helped me out on a few questions is that the night before the exam I skimmed through the book and I had a few of those questions on the exam that I wouldn't have know unless I had skimmed the book the night before.
For the rest of you out there anxiously awaiting your results, I am right there with you. One minute I feel like I am going to pass and the next minute I feel like I am going to fail - on account of some silly mistakes that I had made. I have even started a list of questions I know I got wrong and a list I got correct and a unsure list.
For the rest of you out there anxiously awaiting your results, I am right there with you. One minute I feel like I am going to pass and the next minute I feel like I am going to fail - on account of some silly mistakes that I had made. I have even started a list of questions I know I got wrong and a list I got correct and a unsure list.
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btw...
Pre-Naplex
June 6th: 93
July 7th: 105 - was surprised I scored this high when I saw the results
NAPLEX July 8th: TBD (will fill you all in...)
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Mary,
I thought it was useful, in my opinion not a waste of time, especially since it gives you an explanation regarding the correct answer
I thought it was useful, in my opinion not a waste of time, especially since it gives you an explanation regarding the correct answer
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You will pass, that's great at least you took it. What you got the most , I mean how many calculations, what important topics were in the exams. I m feeling scared too.
I don't feel like I had too many calculations. A few in the beginning, some little things interspersed in the cases and then some stand alone at the end. Maybe total of 10-15 ish. Got a decent amount of ONC and HIV, some ID and the rest was just a bunch of random crap.
I hope so too. Unfortunately, my confidence is low.
Those plus others. I was surprised by the amount of herbal on there 🙁. Didn't look at that chapter. There seemed to be a question on something from every chapter of Rx prep in one way or another. It was all over the place.
ID- be able to identify organisms by their gram stain (i had some questions on this)
HIV- know brand/generics for the combo meds definitely, know first line treatment and CDC stuff for complications
ONC- definitely know the major side effects and tx (chemo man diagram is useful here), if you have RX PREP- read through ONC 1 and skim through Onc II
Math- I only used RxPrep calculations to study for this, just did the calculations over and over again
Cardio - I didn't really have many questions on this. Know first line agents for HTN/HF, how to treat stroke, primary/secondary prevention treatments
HIV- know brand/generics for the combo meds definitely, know first line treatment and CDC stuff for complications
ONC- definitely know the major side effects and tx (chemo man diagram is useful here), if you have RX PREP- read through ONC 1 and skim through Onc II
Math- I only used RxPrep calculations to study for this, just did the calculations over and over again
Cardio - I didn't really have many questions on this. Know first line agents for HTN/HF, how to treat stroke, primary/secondary prevention treatments
For stats, I thought the RXPrep stuff was enough, I only had 1 question and it was my last question (so I really didn't care to answer it...lol). Just know how to calculate and what the literal meaning of the answer is.
Compounding- I had a couple of questions, pretty sure none of them I knew. I had studied the RxPrep chapter on compounding like 4 weeks prior so I'm not 100% sure but I don't think it was anything that was covered in the book. That being said, this could have been questions that were thrown out because I honestly don't believe I learned it in school and I would need Remington's or one of those books to know how to make the stuff
Drug Refs- So this is one that is kind of hard to study for. In RXPrep they give you that chapter of multiple tables and stuff..but the exam can ask you anythiiiiing from that. I only had 2 questions and they were both ones I knew because they were references I had used at my rotation sites and for assignments. Throughout your studying just look at what references RxPrep used for each chapter and sometimes go back and look at the tables. But 1-2 questions on references...not sure how important I would allocate your studying time for just that.
OTC-I don't think I had much questions on this, other than some brand/generics thrown throughout the exam as an option for questions. I would probably know this info for the exam (I didn't study much into it as I already work retail)
Patches- I did have one question over this, so know the top 5-10 patches and their indication/brand-gen name/and dosing.
Pain- you dont need to memorize conversion factor, they will give you the conversions as needed. Definitely know the brand-gen for this topic.
Compounding- I had a couple of questions, pretty sure none of them I knew. I had studied the RxPrep chapter on compounding like 4 weeks prior so I'm not 100% sure but I don't think it was anything that was covered in the book. That being said, this could have been questions that were thrown out because I honestly don't believe I learned it in school and I would need Remington's or one of those books to know how to make the stuff
Drug Refs- So this is one that is kind of hard to study for. In RXPrep they give you that chapter of multiple tables and stuff..but the exam can ask you anythiiiiing from that. I only had 2 questions and they were both ones I knew because they were references I had used at my rotation sites and for assignments. Throughout your studying just look at what references RxPrep used for each chapter and sometimes go back and look at the tables. But 1-2 questions on references...not sure how important I would allocate your studying time for just that.
OTC-I don't think I had much questions on this, other than some brand/generics thrown throughout the exam as an option for questions. I would probably know this info for the exam (I didn't study much into it as I already work retail)
Patches- I did have one question over this, so know the top 5-10 patches and their indication/brand-gen name/and dosing.
Pain- you dont need to memorize conversion factor, they will give you the conversions as needed. Definitely know the brand-gen for this topic.
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Fancy, would you say Rx prep math is sufficient? I took a pre-naplex and some of the math problems were pretty hard. I also did the rx prep quiz bank math and that was very easy. But, I opened up the 120 SD questions and some are extremely hard. How did you prepare for math? and would you say the test ones were simple? Thanks.
Yeah I thought the RxPrep math was just enough (I didn't even look at the 120 SDN questions). My friends would agree as well (none of them looked at the 120Q's).
So I am REALLY terrible at math since I was a child (and yeah I still went into pharmacy hah) - and during school I would study for classes like kinetics and 'ceutics everyday when there were calculations involved because I am so bad at them.
For the Naplex, I studied the calculations from RxPrep 3 weeks prior to my exam for 3 days. Then went through the chapter again 1.5 weeks before my exam and then again the day before my exam (and did memorization of formulas I didn't know and random conversions like gallon--> ml, pints-->gallon, etc). I did the calculations quiz bank only once (they day before my exam).
The questions on the Naplex for me I thought were a little hard (likely due to pressure from taking the exam), but I spent my time going through them slowly, but they were pretty similar to RxPrep examples. If you have studied the SD questions, you are likely over prepared in the math
So I am REALLY terrible at math since I was a child (and yeah I still went into pharmacy hah) - and during school I would study for classes like kinetics and 'ceutics everyday when there were calculations involved because I am so bad at them.
For the Naplex, I studied the calculations from RxPrep 3 weeks prior to my exam for 3 days. Then went through the chapter again 1.5 weeks before my exam and then again the day before my exam (and did memorization of formulas I didn't know and random conversions like gallon--> ml, pints-->gallon, etc). I did the calculations quiz bank only once (they day before my exam).
The questions on the Naplex for me I thought were a little hard (likely due to pressure from taking the exam), but I spent my time going through them slowly, but they were pretty similar to RxPrep examples. If you have studied the SD questions, you are likely over prepared in the math
And I saw your other post on flow rates, and that was an area I struggled in as well. But I only used the RxPrep book and did those questions a couple of times especially if I got them wrong in the quiz bank. Just be super careful on your rounding/decimals/units.
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Thanks Fancy, really appreciate the feedback! I did them a few times and got comfortable with them and then did the rx prep bank question sets for calcs. Then got to the sd 120 and I was like wtfff lol. I'm just gonna keep reviewing. Thanks for the feedback again, definitely appreciate ppl like you. And I will also give feedback when I hopefully pass mine.
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As promised..here are my NAPLEX results: 107 score
For anyone who is nervous out there, let me tell you I left feeling like I bombed the exam.
I would say what I think that helped my score is that I was able to identify DDI's and make therapy changes.
I messed up on really silly stuff like brand names and other basic items - but I think they are weighted as much?
Good Luck to you all. You can do it
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The exam was all over the place and is for everyone.
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I am taking my test tomorrow...rather nervous for it.
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1) Was there k type questions which required knowledge of doses?
2) Was there more case based or stand alones?
2) Was there more case based or stand alones?
From what I read on the rxprep website they are really cracking down on using people's logins to access the banks. If they notice it is being used on a different computer from somewhere else (not exactly sure how this is tracked because I could have moved...) they will disconnect the service 🙁 Anyway....
Thought I would update that I passed! I thought there was no way I could have but I did so good luck everyone as you tackle the beast!
Thought I would update that I passed! I thought there was no way I could have but I did so good luck everyone as you tackle the beast!
I think there was an equal number of case based and stand alone.
Dosing wise, just memorize ones you think you would need to know off the top of your head if you were a pharmacist and someone asked you (patient, md, nurse, etc) about it. Topics like Oncology, memorizing doses is hard and you would always need to look it up for patient safety and patient specific needs. Pediatric dosing for IBU/APAP are essential to know, especially as a retail rph, so that's something you should memorize. That's how I went about studying doses for the exam. I don't think I had many dose specific questions but I really didn't spend much time going that in depth to my questions when I was taking the exam.
RxPrep bank's formatting and question depth is very similar to the Naplex
And yeah, if you're buying off from someone you might end up losing money if they catch you using someone else's account. So I would not purchase a "left over" account
Dosing wise, just memorize ones you think you would need to know off the top of your head if you were a pharmacist and someone asked you (patient, md, nurse, etc) about it. Topics like Oncology, memorizing doses is hard and you would always need to look it up for patient safety and patient specific needs. Pediatric dosing for IBU/APAP are essential to know, especially as a retail rph, so that's something you should memorize. That's how I went about studying doses for the exam. I don't think I had many dose specific questions but I really didn't spend much time going that in depth to my questions when I was taking the exam.
RxPrep bank's formatting and question depth is very similar to the Naplex
And yeah, if you're buying off from someone you might end up losing money if they catch you using someone else's account. So I would not purchase a "left over" account
