Passed 2020 NAPLEX advice, score turnaround

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carefreecali

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Passed the 2020 NAPLEX. Just wanted to let others know, take a deep breathe. You’ll be fine.


Sent NABP a transcript per new requirement Monday before exam.
Took exam on Saturday - took 5 hours and 58 minutes.
NABP finally retrieved and processed e-transcript, Monday after exam.
Got the online score back Thursday.

Took a month off, said I “studied” but just watched a lot of netflix.

Logged in Pearson Vue after graduation, all the exams were taken until September unless I took something mid-June, with only 25 days to serious study. Not ideal, but I’m a gambling girl...

Still only studied 1-2 hours then buckled down to about 4 hours a day for 2.5 weeks.

For reference, my school typically has >95% pass rates.
3.1 pharm school GPA, got a D in kinetics.
B and Cs in therapy.
End of third year PCOA 59 percentile.
(I’m bad at taking tests.)

Used RX prep book, videos and quizzes. Only got around to taking half of the available quizzes. Typically scored 50-60% on their quizzes. Sometimes as bad as 20%. Except top sellers, calculations, biostats got to a point of getting greater than 80%

Took the RX prep 3.5h practice exam 7 days before got a 71%. Even though RX prep says. Reschedule if you don’t get an 80%, I’m still a gambling girl.

Just brushed up on calculations, biostats, ID, HIV, compounding, and drug interactions from then on.

Passed with TRIPLE digit score. So I hope this helps whoever is reading this. Stop panicking.


***add ***
scheduled the MPJE for six days later

Studied for 2.5 days and one all-nighter.
Got low 80s
Took it on a Monday. Got results on Friday. The state board verified my new pharmacist status online that day. Got the hard copy in the mail the next Thursday.

My school typically has 96% pass rate.

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Congratulations on passing the test. Would you say that all/most topics were equally represented on the test? Some people have remarked that the vast majority of their questions were on calculations/biostats/drug references with hardly any clinical questions, while others have reported the exact opposite.
 
I feel like there was a good spread of disease states, but not too detailed.

I numbered my math questions. I did 48 on the scratch paper, some of those were biostats calculations. In addition, there were biostats questions that weren’t math based, more about the theories.

But yes, there were maybe 5 drug reference questions. A good amount (10 or more) of compounding too. Both more than I was expecting. I studied for hot spots but there weren’t any.
 
I feel like there was a good spread of disease states, but not too detailed.

I numbered my math questions. I did 48 on the scratch paper, some of those were biostats calculations. In addition, there were biostats questions that weren’t math based, more about the theories.

But yes, there were maybe 5 drug reference questions. A good amount (10 or more) of compounding too. Both more than I was expecting. I studied for hot spots but there weren’t any.

Thanks; so overall, it sounds like traditional non-math/biostats pharmacy topics comprised the majority of the questions (probably 190 - 200)?
 
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Yes. A few were as easy as just the generic name of something. But some obviously presented in a case and more difficult, trying to be convoluted. Sometimes the case was there just to throw you off and wasn’t needed to answer.
 
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Yes. A few were as easy as just the generic name of something. But some obviously presented in a case and more difficult, trying to be convoluted. Sometimes the case was there just to throw you off and wasn’t needed to answer.

It's interesting to hear about different test-takers' experiences, especially since some people report that the majority of their questions were based on math/biostats/drug reference topics with hardly any medication or clinical questions, while others report the opposite.
 
Just wanted to add to this post and hopefully its helpful to anyone who is taking the NAPLEX.
The resources I used were Rxprep book, question bank and quizlet. My school was kind enough to buy us the question bank and PRE-NAPLEX.

I studied for a total of 1.5 months for the NAPLEX, started off slow and spent a week to really knock out calculations.
Made flashcards for all the study tip gal / study key guy materials. Would recite a flashcard to myself during my daily run.
I would take the question bank quiz for each chapter to test my baseline knowledge and help guide my studying on areas of weakness and focusing on important key points. If I missed a question after I studied the chapter, I would write it down and reason out why the answer was correct. I also re-wrote alot of key concepts in my notebook into tables. It's how I learn best. During the quiz questions, I would write out the formulas or specific flashcards before answering the question.

I started out studying about 4-8 hours non-stop in the first 2-3 weeks but it was hard to keep that pace up. Then switched to studying 1-2 hours at a time and taking 30-45 minute breaks, but the total time spent studying would still be about 4-8 hours daily.

Some background info on me: I have always been a B student throughout pharmacy school, terrible test taker, graduated with a 3.49 gpa.
Rxprep practice exam: 84%
Pre-NAPLEX: 108
NAPLEX: 112

The version of the NAPLEX I took was super random. It didn't have as much calculations or biostatistics as I was expecting, but still a fair amount. I had tons of HIV and COPD questions. However, I call the exam random because my classmates had completely different topics tested on their versions. Some didn't have a single HIV question and got hit hard with compounding and IV compatibility questions. I also didn't have a single oncology question, while some of my classmates did. From the feedback of my classmates and my experience, it seems the exam was VERY random and every topic is fair game. I also had some obscure questions, so for many who ask if its okay to skip chapters, I would advise against that.

Happy Studying & BEST OF LUCK!
 
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