- Joined
- Feb 8, 2013
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 2
Hello SDN!! Today is a good day, today I found out I passed the NAPLEX with a triple digit score. As with others, I looked to SDN for tips and motivation before and comfort directly after taking this beast of an exam!!
First off, yes this exam is a basic competency exam but by no means does it mean that it is "easy". Also, some people happen to be better test takers than others, and I personally fall in the category of "others" and tend to overthink, I mean REALLY overthink questions I'm unsure of which, during school, often led to the wrong answer. During school I was much more of an average student, with my GPA hovering around 3.0.
I took the pre-NAPLEX twice (79 and 106) and my actual NAPLEX score was 105. Don't get too comfortable with the Pre-NAPLEX and stop studying, they are just predictors, not guarantees.
My personal anxiety level before the test was pretty high. I am married with kids and really felt a great deal of pressure to pass, along with the fact that my job offer also depended on my passing the NAPLEX.
On to the exam....
Make sure that you have a good night sleep and a good breakfast before the exam. Give yourself an extra 30 minutes driving because the last thing you need is rushing to avoid being late. MENTAL prep is just as important as actually studying.
Again like most others, calculations, biostats, sterile and non-sterile compounding, drug references and drug interactions was an easy third of my exam. If you are unsure of calculations then you SHOULD NOT take the exam until you can be woken up out of a dead sleep to do a calculation. I did double and triple check all my calculations (except the last two, my questions 248 and 249).
I feel like the rest of my exam was pretty all over the place. I did have several ID cases and all I can say is be familiar with bolded and underlined parts from RxPrep. Also, I would strongly recommend re-visiting ID IV: opportunistic infections. I also had questions on smoking cessation, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Contraception, RA, HIV, oncology, immunizations, DM, HF, Anticoag, and skin conditions. I also had quite a few critical care related questions - all from bolded/underlined parts of RxPrep. Be comfortable with brand/generic HIV and HepC drugs. I didn't get any HepC cases but several of my friends have had them.
Every exam is different so please DO NOT depend on one post more than another.
I did not complete all the practice exams on RxPrep but I did watch a good majority of the videos, most more than once because I also went to sleep to them. I did find the videos helpful because I am much more of a visual and active learner - just reading alone has never been enough for me.
Lastly, WATCH YOUR TIME, 6 hours feels like a long time but it goes by quicker than you anticipate! Because I heard a lot people that didn't pass was more of a result of not finishing rather than not knowing. What helped me tremendously was that I wrote a quick case checklist, when I went in to the test and first sat down, I wrote my quick case quicklist down and followed it: check name, age, sex, read question, confirm allergies and diagnosis/PMH, read patient complaints or notes, check labs related to question and then answer the question. I know I spent too much time on a few questions "trying to remember" the answer which led me to being extremely close to running out of time and the reason I didn't double check my last two calculations. I finished the exam with about 30 seconds to spare (which was a little too close for comfort).
When I left, I felt exhausted and thought there was a good chance that I didn't pass. I did try to stay positive but I accepted that it may be possible to have to retake this beastly exam. I realized the reason I thought that it didn't pass was because I remembered the questions I thought about for a long time and when I looked those answers up, I was only getting about 50% correct. There is also no way to tell which 50 questions don't count so I was very nervous and even more anxious than before the exam.
Now that it's over, I can anxiously await taking the MPJE.
I do have 59 days remaining on my RxPrep NAPLEX subscription (video lectures and question banks) that is for sale for $150.00 (please DM me for details)
Good Luck to all of you still awaiting your test date.
Godspeed
First off, yes this exam is a basic competency exam but by no means does it mean that it is "easy". Also, some people happen to be better test takers than others, and I personally fall in the category of "others" and tend to overthink, I mean REALLY overthink questions I'm unsure of which, during school, often led to the wrong answer. During school I was much more of an average student, with my GPA hovering around 3.0.
I took the pre-NAPLEX twice (79 and 106) and my actual NAPLEX score was 105. Don't get too comfortable with the Pre-NAPLEX and stop studying, they are just predictors, not guarantees.
My personal anxiety level before the test was pretty high. I am married with kids and really felt a great deal of pressure to pass, along with the fact that my job offer also depended on my passing the NAPLEX.
On to the exam....
Make sure that you have a good night sleep and a good breakfast before the exam. Give yourself an extra 30 minutes driving because the last thing you need is rushing to avoid being late. MENTAL prep is just as important as actually studying.
Again like most others, calculations, biostats, sterile and non-sterile compounding, drug references and drug interactions was an easy third of my exam. If you are unsure of calculations then you SHOULD NOT take the exam until you can be woken up out of a dead sleep to do a calculation. I did double and triple check all my calculations (except the last two, my questions 248 and 249).
I feel like the rest of my exam was pretty all over the place. I did have several ID cases and all I can say is be familiar with bolded and underlined parts from RxPrep. Also, I would strongly recommend re-visiting ID IV: opportunistic infections. I also had questions on smoking cessation, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Contraception, RA, HIV, oncology, immunizations, DM, HF, Anticoag, and skin conditions. I also had quite a few critical care related questions - all from bolded/underlined parts of RxPrep. Be comfortable with brand/generic HIV and HepC drugs. I didn't get any HepC cases but several of my friends have had them.
Every exam is different so please DO NOT depend on one post more than another.
I did not complete all the practice exams on RxPrep but I did watch a good majority of the videos, most more than once because I also went to sleep to them. I did find the videos helpful because I am much more of a visual and active learner - just reading alone has never been enough for me.
Lastly, WATCH YOUR TIME, 6 hours feels like a long time but it goes by quicker than you anticipate! Because I heard a lot people that didn't pass was more of a result of not finishing rather than not knowing. What helped me tremendously was that I wrote a quick case checklist, when I went in to the test and first sat down, I wrote my quick case quicklist down and followed it: check name, age, sex, read question, confirm allergies and diagnosis/PMH, read patient complaints or notes, check labs related to question and then answer the question. I know I spent too much time on a few questions "trying to remember" the answer which led me to being extremely close to running out of time and the reason I didn't double check my last two calculations. I finished the exam with about 30 seconds to spare (which was a little too close for comfort).
When I left, I felt exhausted and thought there was a good chance that I didn't pass. I did try to stay positive but I accepted that it may be possible to have to retake this beastly exam. I realized the reason I thought that it didn't pass was because I remembered the questions I thought about for a long time and when I looked those answers up, I was only getting about 50% correct. There is also no way to tell which 50 questions don't count so I was very nervous and even more anxious than before the exam.
Now that it's over, I can anxiously await taking the MPJE.
I do have 59 days remaining on my RxPrep NAPLEX subscription (video lectures and question banks) that is for sale for $150.00 (please DM me for details)
Good Luck to all of you still awaiting your test date.
Godspeed
