Pharm. D. to Rph

Cheesy picture I know, but it's the most beautiful picture I've ever seen in my life!

Whew, I PASSED the NAPLEX!! Four years of pharmacy school seemed like a piece of cake compared to the "THOUGHT" of taking the naplex. In hindsight, much emphasis on hindsight, it's actually pretty funny. I was stressed beyond belief about a single exam, which was standing directly in front of my future.

I gained so much weight, shed so many tears, and experienced so many breakouts. Fortunately, I didn't have to do it alone. My best friend stuck by me through it all, well we stuck by each other. We got on each other nerves, argued, and most certainly had lots of fun in the process. Everyone at my church dealt with my constant emotional crisis. For their prayers, I am most thankful. I'm most appreciative for their unwavering support and confidence in me even when I didn't have it in myself.

It didn't take long after graduating to realize that my Pharm. D. didn't mean much wihtout being followed by Rph. Quick rewind, I took a 2 week vacation after graduating, which may not have been the smartest idea. I think altogether, I ended up studying mid- May, June, July, and August. Nearly  4 months. Which was absolutely aggravating.

My advice...

Start early, I know after working for free on rotation and then working for money, you are tired. However, if you could commit to going through 3-4 chapters of rxprep a week (during your P4 year) you would really be doing yourself a favor.

I like rxprep. Notice I didn't say love. I feel like rxprep is a good review, very comprehensive, but I'm not sure I feel that's all you need to pass.  Take that with a grain of salt considering all I used was rxprep, and I passed. During the prenaplex, there were questions I felt, if I had the time and resources, I wouldn't have picked the correct answer.

Definitely, utilize the entire rxprep course when that time comes: the videos, the book, and the quizzes. Then if you get down on time just the quizzes. I personally feel as though rotations are close to the best resource, especially if you have good preceptors. I know the thought at that point is to basically, get it done and graduate. From personal experiences, I met a lot of knowledgable people who were willing to help prepare me for the Naplex for FREE, so if you find yourself in a similar situation, use it to your advantage.

Take the prenaplex. It helped to familiarize me with the Naplex format and scoring. Remember, napb says the score isn't a representation of the number of questions you answer correctly. I took the prenaplex twice, my first score was a 96 and my second score was a 87. While my overall score was a 110.  I felt as though both of the pre-tests I took were much more difficult than the actual exam. I'm not sure how accuratley prenaplex scores correspond with the real naplex scores, I've talked to several people who scored in the low 60's both times they took the prenaplex, some passed the naplex and some didn't. So, I'm not sure.

Each exam is supposedly different.

I think considering all of the questions that required some sort of math I only had maybe 10-12 calculations.

It was very random.

I didn't get too many questions from anyone subject.

I don't know how adaptive the exam is, I didn't feel as though it got any easier or harder. There were questions I thought were easy and I knew, some that I had no idea and had never seen before, and then others I simply couldn't remember.

Timing is extremely important. I'm a fast test taker, so that wasn't an issue for me. I would say it's important to remember the exam isn't scored in a way that you have to get every question correct in order to pass. You need to be able to determine in a matter of seconds if you are able to get the question at hand correct, if you can go for it. However, if you can't let it go, don't waste your time...literally...

Lastly, I didn't think the exam was impossible. I thought it was fair. I was nervous because so many people said they felt terrible about the exam and later found out they passed. I didn't feel terrible, I was feeling neutral, which later made me nervous. So, if you are preparing to take the Naplex fret not, study smart and hard. Pray, have faith, and don't let it consume your life like I did. You got this!