NAPLEX studying - love slides? Try this combo that isn't titled "RxPrep is awesome"

[doe_eyed]

DISCLAIMER: I have not retaken NAPLEX yet, so this is just how I feel thus far. I will obviously comment at a later date with a score update.

I believe my problem stems from applying information and connecting the dots. Classes at my college were taught higgledy-piggledy. Monday- PMS; Tuesday-bipolar. Like, really? Also, very fractured and with 30 foot high cement walls in between. Never a mention of other drugs that would interact...in passing. Usually just a slide devoted to "interactions" with a list of 4 pt font drugs that covered the entire slide (this slide was usually skipped over in class with a "you should know these.") Wow....and I wonder why I'm having a hard time feeling halfway intelligent. Now I realize I should have been spending my spare time immersed in pharmacy because it defined me and was my future....etc. But I'm sorry - that's not me and never will be me. I learned what I was taught and did not plan ahead. Now I'm facing the consequences.

I always learned well from slides. Probably because that's how classes were taught for the majority of the most recent years of my life. I was conditioned to do such. Anyways, I see slides and the information I wrote besides them in my head. I like to say I have faulty photographic memory. It's like 68% photographic. If only I was slightly smarter. Notice that RxPrep caters to people who ADORE TABLES. I despise tables. Slides with a table or two at the end - well, I dreaded them. I could memorize the 1 or 2....but an entire book worth? No. Now, yes I understand that I should be "reviewing" this information and know most of it already. Well I do know most of it...very very "vaguely." I need to refresh on the details. And the details in table or page length form just do not work for me. I also need to be taught overlap. I obviously am incapable of doing this myself and classes did not do a good job of it. Neither did rotations. On rotations it was noticed I was relatively smart and a good worker and I was used mainly to make the preceptors' workloads easier. I picked "challenging" rotations btw. Rotations are a joke most of the time, and anyone on here who really did "learn a lot" from them...well consider yourself lucky. I had two of those. The rest were a waste of my life.

If you are like me...and feel like none of these books/online quizzes/etc are the right "combination" in terms of learning style for you - then try this method I just stumbled upon.

I am using passNAPLEXnow online course w/ review book (the book and videos use SLIDES and are taught like a class. They constantly review previous topics/drugs and OVERLAP concepts) PLUS RxPrep TestBank - I purchased the 90 day account. IF YOU ARE WEAK W/ BRAND/GENERIC PASSNAPLEXNOW IS ALSO EXCELLENT.

Yes, this is pricy. Guess what....it all is pricy. I'd rather invest a little for something that works...then buy another variation of something I know DIDN'T WORK.

As of right now, I'm understanding concepts and digging up dusty information in my brain that had long been forgotten. I basically have been viewing studying as something I could never conquer....now things are looking up. I needed something familiar - and slides are familiar to me. The passNAPLEXnow online course appears to be very to the point and focusing on drugs, dosing, and clinical material. RxPrep goes into too much detail about everything (I don't know how their updated version will be.)

Anyways, I'm posting this because there is no variety in studying tool recommendations. It's a forum. I want variety. I hope I provided some.

Yours truly,
doe_eyed

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[monkieez]

I agree with you that lectures and classes are difficult to put everything together but that is what your rotations are for. That is the time when you applied what you learned (and most of the time have to re-learn but more quickly). When I remember stuff I can't ever go back in my head to a particular class but instead from practical experiences. I know you can't go back in time and redo rotations/approach things differently but as you study try to apply it back and remember scenarios you have seen to make those connections really stick! Best wishes on your NAPLEx studying .

 

[doe_eyed]

I agree with you that lectures and classes are difficult to put everything together but that is what your rotations are for. That is the time when you applied what you learned (and most of the time have to re-learn but more quickly). When I remember stuff I can't ever go back in my head to a particular class but instead from practical experiences. I know you can't go back in time and redo rotations/approach things differently but as you study try to apply it back and remember scenarios you have seen to make those connections really stick! Best wishes on your NAPLEx studying .

See, I'm odd. I remember details from class more vividly than I remember rotations. I do remember rotations, but I will do as you said and try to dig deep for practical experiences to relate it to. This worked better for me w/ retail memories.