I'm a pharmacist in out of state (3 years so far) and I passed the NC MPJE with an 82. Yay! I took the test on Wednesday and got results back the next Tuesday. I promised myself that if I passed I would give back to the SDN community on this topic because there was so little I found on SDN for the NC MPJE, especially for pharmacists looking for reciprocity. I was a little lost since I had no clue where to start since I didn't go to pharmacy school or ever work in NC. Here's what I used to pass:
-Federal Pharmacy Law, Barry Reiss 9th edition. An older edition of the booked helped me with the LA MPJE and this newest edition was also helpful for the NC MPJE. There are typos but the test questions were really helpful in gauging knowledge. I only practiced about 100 of the the 300 questions in the back of the book because I ran out of time before the test.
-North Carolina MPJE study guide published by the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists (North Carolina Association of Pharmacists) . This was a little pricey, but since I had never work in North Carolina as a pharmacist or studied in North Carolina as a student, it was exactly what I needed. The question bank at the end is very important. The questions are tough (I was averaging a 65%ish on the test bank, so needless to say I was a little worried walking into into the real test but I passed) Understand why your wrong answers are wrong when you study. This will help alot for the test.
-Read ALL of the Pharmacist FAQs in the NC Board of Pharmacy Website. The FAQs really make the NC pharmacy laws come to life and easier to remember. Read the Board's response to this FAQ question " Q: May a pharmacy transfer an “on file” prescription for a controlled substance that the pharmacy never dispensed?" for a good chuckle, lol. Reading interesting responses written by the Board like this one, really helped me retain information
-I think Reading the actual Rules, Laws, and Practice act would help too but honestly I didn't. I read about 25% of it and then I became super bored with it and couldn't finish about three weeks before my exam. This is the primary reason I decided to spend $100 on the study guide mentioned above. Boy am I glad I did.
The test itself was tough! I, like so many others thought that I had failed. I didn't study as much as I did when I took the MPJE straight after graduating pharmacy school (because now I have a child and a full time job taking most of my free time). But it worked out. To practicing pharmacists: Don't underestimate the exam thinking that your experience will be enough. I've heard of practicing pharmacists failing this exam because they thought that they didn't need to study. I think that having 3 years if experience in Retail and Hospital (even if it is out of state) did help with the test though. I studied about 1-2 hours a day for five days a week for about 2-3 weeks, and crammed during the three days before. I don't think that would have been enough studying to pass without my past experience.
-Federal Pharmacy Law, Barry Reiss 9th edition. An older edition of the booked helped me with the LA MPJE and this newest edition was also helpful for the NC MPJE. There are typos but the test questions were really helpful in gauging knowledge. I only practiced about 100 of the the 300 questions in the back of the book because I ran out of time before the test.
-North Carolina MPJE study guide published by the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists (North Carolina Association of Pharmacists) . This was a little pricey, but since I had never work in North Carolina as a pharmacist or studied in North Carolina as a student, it was exactly what I needed. The question bank at the end is very important. The questions are tough (I was averaging a 65%ish on the test bank, so needless to say I was a little worried walking into into the real test but I passed) Understand why your wrong answers are wrong when you study. This will help alot for the test.
-Read ALL of the Pharmacist FAQs in the NC Board of Pharmacy Website. The FAQs really make the NC pharmacy laws come to life and easier to remember. Read the Board's response to this FAQ question " Q: May a pharmacy transfer an “on file” prescription for a controlled substance that the pharmacy never dispensed?" for a good chuckle, lol. Reading interesting responses written by the Board like this one, really helped me retain information
-I think Reading the actual Rules, Laws, and Practice act would help too but honestly I didn't. I read about 25% of it and then I became super bored with it and couldn't finish about three weeks before my exam. This is the primary reason I decided to spend $100 on the study guide mentioned above. Boy am I glad I did.
The test itself was tough! I, like so many others thought that I had failed. I didn't study as much as I did when I took the MPJE straight after graduating pharmacy school (because now I have a child and a full time job taking most of my free time). But it worked out. To practicing pharmacists: Don't underestimate the exam thinking that your experience will be enough. I've heard of practicing pharmacists failing this exam because they thought that they didn't need to study. I think that having 3 years if experience in Retail and Hospital (even if it is out of state) did help with the test though. I studied about 1-2 hours a day for five days a week for about 2-3 weeks, and crammed during the three days before. I don't think that would have been enough studying to pass without my past experience.
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