Question about NAPLEX

[Sparda29]

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The way I have been taught to take exams and how I've taken exams (from since I was like 10 years old) is to speed through it and never go back for a double check, it's worked out pretty good until I hit pharmacy school.

So for those who have taken the NAPLEX. On the exam, are test questions worded in a way to trick you or throw you off if you don't read the question completely.

Example:

The following is/are characteristics of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase, except:

1. Also reported in Staphylococcus aureus
2. Confers resistance to all beta-lactams but both flouroquinolone and glycopeptide have shown to retain activity
3. Most commonly reported in Klebsiella pneumonaie

A. 1 Only
B. 3 Only
C. 1 and 2 Only
D. 2 and 3 Only
E. None of the above

So here, #3 is the true statement. Most of the time, if I was rushing, I'd quickly read the question, look at the statements, find the true statement, and pick that. Thus, my answer most of the time would be B. 3 Only

However, there is a little word in the question that says "except", thus the answer is C. 1 and 2 only.

So yeah, for those who took the NAPLEX, should I expect to see a lot of these kinds of questions and change my test taking strategies?

 

[All4MyDaughter]

From the reviewing I've been doing (admittedly not a lot) I would say yes you need to slow down and read carefully. And who taught you that test taking strategy? That's crap.

 

[Sparda29]

From the reviewing I've been doing (admittedly not a lot) I would say yes you need to slow down and read carefully. And who taught you that test taking strategy? That's crap.

Elementary school teachers. Always encouraged trying to be the first person out of test room.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Much of it is comprised of Q-type questions like that.

Don't start studying now. It's a waste of your life. I'm pretty sure you have to be an idiot to not pass the Naplex. (No offense to those that did...but...uh...yeah...) I literally studied for like 5 hours and got either a 115 or a 125 (I forget which...) I just read through the APhA book once...took the pre-Naplex (got a 90-something on it)...and I felt I was prepared after listening to my friends tell me how easy it was. And they were correct. It's very, very easy to get a 75.

Now that MPJE stuff? That's tricky. Study for that. It's as craptastic as a driving test. Blind people with white tipped canes crossing the street and all...

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Elementary school teachers. Always encouraged trying to be the first person out of test room.

I don't remember that from elementary school but it has been a *cough* few *cough* years.

I agree with your advice not to study too much in advance. I also don't think it's needed. The only reason I've been reviewing at all is that my school forces us to take four 200 question NAPLEX review tests during our rotations. And we have to get 75% of the questions correct. The questions are a lot harder than what I've been told to expect on the NAPLEX too.

 

[Praziquantel86]

I don't remember that from elementary school but it has been a *cough* few *cough* years.

I agree with your advice not to study too much in advance. I also don't think it's needed. The only reason I've been reviewing at all is that my school forces us to take four 200 question NAPLEX review tests during our rotations. And we have to get 75% of the questions correct. The questions are a lot harder than what I've been told to expect on the NAPLEX too.

Do you use the ExamMaster questions? Those things are horrendous...way too many blatantly incorrect and/or misleading questions.

 

[browneyes021]

Do you use the ExamMaster questions? Those things are horrendous...way too many blatantly incorrect and/or misleading questions.

About the ExamMaster questions: Anybody know how accurate they are? Sometimes I'm not so sure, but I prefer using my RxPrep book

 

[PharmDstudent]

I READ APhA, state law book, and law notes twice.

 

[ancienbon]

Much of it is comprised of Q-type questions like that.

Don't start studying now. It's a waste of your life. I'm pretty sure you have to be an idiot to not pass the Naplex. (No offense to those that did...but...uh...yeah...) I literally studied for like 5 hours and got either a 115 or a 125 (I forget which...) I just read through the APhA book once...took the pre-Naplex (got a 90-something on it)...and I felt I was prepared after listening to my friends tell me how easy it was. And they were correct. It's very, very easy to get a 75.

Now that MPJE stuff? That's tricky. Study for that. It's as craptastic as a driving test. Blind people with white tipped canes crossing the street and all...

Even though i did very well on the naplex, i will never say that whoever fails it is an idiot.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Even though i did very well on the naplex, i will never say that whoever fails it is an idiot.

Well, I'm an ass and you clearly have couth.

 

[Quiksilver]

About the ExamMaster questions: Anybody know how accurate they are? Sometimes I'm not so sure, but I prefer using my RxPrep book

ExamMaster is terrible and it is clear that the questions are out of date and often are incorrect. They have been destroying my GPA all year long because of my "incorrect," responses.

 

[LaPharmD]

to wvupharm2007:
you are definitely an ass.
what you think this country is run by..idiots! idiot!
name calling pple idiot?! finger point right back at you. that is very offending to pple who are trying to get where they are at. if a "genius" like you think law is "tricky", ...hmmmm... no comments!

 

[rxblitzrx]

I used Kaplan notes for NAPLEX and I passed the first time through. They're excellent, concise notes and I highly recommend them.

I still have my notes.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Do the questions keep any sort of theme as you are going through them (e.g. asking a lot of diabetes questions, then moving on to HIV, etc) or is each question an entirely new situation?

 

[breeze2baby]

Do we use the ideal body weight or the actual body weight?

I was just working through that 120 calculation pdf document and in one of the answers to this problem type, it said that Naplex has not consistently demanded use of the actual body weight... so you have to work the problem both ways and see which answer is in the choices.

If anyone can clarify that would be nice???

I had about 2 CrCl questions. The first one in the beginning did not state what to use. I used both IBW and ABW but the one with the ABW was the only answer there. For the second one in the middle of the test, the question clearly stated to use IBW. Hope that clarify. My 2 cents is when not stated, use both to keep your mind at ease.

 

[aboveliquidice]

I READ APhA, state law book, and law notes twice.

I just copied off of her...

 

[janeno]

I took Naplex, and I would recommend to do questions in Lange Q&A; however, do only sections with pharmacology, math calculations, patient profiles, and pharmaceutical care. All other sections are overkill and waste of time. Naplex has a patient profile next to the question which is much nicer than what's in pre-Naplex.

 

[mfdf]

Great study tool & mimics NAPLEX style questions pretty well.

The screen is split...profile on the left & question on the right. Be aware that the test forces you to scroll down the entire profile before answering even if the question doesn't require you to actually read the profile. So, my advice when you get a profile question is to just scroll all the way down immediately, read the question on the right, then refer to the profile on the left if it's even necessary.

Good luck!

For those that have taken Naplex AND used Appleton and Lange Q and A to practice,

Are the profile questions similar to the profiles presented in Appleton and Lange Q and A?


Also, are the profiles presented in one screen... those who have taken pre- naplex know what I am talking about.... do you have to click a show profile button?


Thanks

 

[mfdf]

I heard some people say that the opening questions are to slow you down, is that true?

I highly doubt that. There are MANY, MANY questions in the test bank.....though it's adaptive, it's still pretty random, so everyone will have a different start to their exam. My opening questions were pretty easy.