PTCB, Pharm tech.

[UICpremed]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi,
I realize that questions about tech and PTCB-E have been posted before, but this is a more specific question, for those of you who have taken the PTCE and/or are a current tech.

I have no experience, but I have material I bought online to prepare for the PTCE. The thing is I only have 2 weeks to prepare because of summer school. Its after summer school.

So is 2 weeks enough to learn everything and pass? I got the review book from this website: http://pharmacytrainer.com/

My exam is in July.

thanks...

 

[pAwSN]

Hi,
I realize that questions about tech and PTCB-E have been posted before, but this is a more specific question, for those of you who have taken the PTCE and/or are a current tech.

I have no experience, but I have material I bought online to prepare for the PTCE. The thing is I only have 2 weeks to prepare because of summer school. Its after summer school.

So is 2 weeks enough to learn everything and pass? I got the review book from this website: http://pharmacytrainer.com/

My exam is in July.

thanks...

did you pay that much for those books...it doesn't seem like you would have much time to go over all of it. my advice is, a couple days before the test, do the practice test on the PTCB website. it's $20 i think and it may help. there are a lot of calculations so focus on that. as many drugs as you may know may not be helpful because there are so many that they can put on the test. 2 weeks is not bad you can do it

 

[UICpremed]

did you pay that much for those books...it doesn't seem like you would have much time to go over all of it. my advice is, a couple days before the test, do the practice test on the PTCB website. it's $20 i think and it may help. there are a lot of calculations so focus on that. as many drugs as you may know may not be helpful because there are so many that they can put on the test. 2 weeks is not bad you can do it

hey, thanks for the reply!

 

[DownonthePharm]

The book is pretty thin. I think if you commit to a few hours a day you can do it in two weeks. Thats really all the time I spent with them.

Make sure you know how to set up ALL the math equations, know all the laws and administrative stuff. Because your time is limited I would say to skip all the drug/generic/class stuff. You can still pass without knowing any of it.

Just buckle down. You can do it. 🙂

 

[SCCpharm]

I just took the PTCE and passed with a 750ish out of 900 (650 is passing). I only studied two days before the exam and I have no pharm tech experience. The exam was not that hard. It test mainly math, mainly dimensional analysis type problems, such as:

A machine has a drop rate of 10 drops per minute. A doctor wants 5000 drops administered. How many hours do you run the machine?

Remember, to keep units on all your calculations. If you know you want hours, hours should be on the numerator, so:

(1 hour/ 60 minutes)* (1 minute / 10 drops)* (5000 drops)

Also, knowing how to read a prescription is very important on the exam. Know what bid, tid, qid, po, au, os, etc means.

I used this book mainly to study:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/14...f=pd_bbs_1/002-3730228-4399241?_encoding=UTF8

The beginning chapters with the basics and the math section were helpful.

The practice test on the ptcb website was helpful, but harder than the actual exam.

I also bought the PTCB secrets (http://www.mo-media.com/ptcb/) and it was a COMPLETE waste of money. Basically, someone google'd "pharmacy technician" and copied and pasted all the results. It even advised to guess randomly as opposed to eliminating answers you know are probably wrong. Why? because if you elimate the right answer, you have 100% chance of getting the question wrong! lol

 

[Poland]

I just took the PTCE and passed with a 750ish out of 900 (650 is passing). I only studied two days before the exam and I have no pharm tech experience. The exam was not that hard. It test mainly math, mainly dimensional analysis type problems, such as:

A machine has a drop rate of 10 drops per minute. A doctor wants 5000 drops administered. How many hours do you run the machine?

Remember, to keep units on all your calculations. If you know you want hours, hours should be on the numerator, so:

(1 hour/ 60 minutes)* (1 minute / 10 drops)* (5000 drops)

Also, knowing how to read a prescription is very important on the exam. Know what bid, tid, qid, po, au, os, etc means.

I used this book mainly to study:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/14...f=pd_bbs_1/002-3730228-4399241?_encoding=UTF8

The beginning chapters with the basics and the math section were helpful.

The practice test on the ptcb website was helpful, but harder than the actual exam.

I also bought the PTCB secrets (http://www.mo-media.com/ptcb/) and it was a COMPLETE waste of money. Basically, someone google'd "pharmacy technician" and copied and pasted all the results. It even advised to guess randomly as opposed to eliminating answers you know are probably wrong. Why? because if you elimate the right answer, you have 100% chance of getting the question wrong! lol

Thanks, your encouragement was helpful. I'm not the original poster, I am taking the PTCB test in July, however. I have studied from the same book you mentioned. I've also purchased that PTCB Secrets guide. Honestly, I haven't heard anyone mention it on any forum or anything. I am not impressed with the math. Infact, I haven't looked over it very much yet but I did recognize that the math wasn't looking helpful. I just had to buy it. The certification exam will really expand my job opportunities, not to mention that the results may land me a particular position this summer. Also, my employer does actually give a pay raise from what I gathered. I could really use this. Nervous!

Anyway, congrats for your success on the test. Did you ask for a refund on the Secrets guide? The page did say that you have a year for a refund.

Thanks.