Dipti Desai, PharmD

For many pharmacy students, the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) is the final challenge standing between them and their careers as pharmacists. Although it may seem overwhelming to review all the material you have learned over the past few years at pharmacy school for 1 exam, it is important to focus on key learning points. Creating an effective studying plan early on to reinforce your strong subjects and brushing up on your weaker ones can make the difference in overcoming this last obstacle.

Before you start preparing for NAPLEX, familiarize yourself with what to expect for the exam. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy website provides information on what you can and cannot bring to the exam and details the structure of the exam itself. NAPLEX contains 250 questions; 200 are operational and count toward your score, whereas the remaining 50 are being evaluated as potential operations questions for future exams.

You will have 6 hours to complete the exam, so it is important to track how much time you have left as you are working. If you do not finish the exam, any unanswered questions will be scored as incorrect. Therefore, try not to waste too much time on 1 question if you are stumped, and make sure to provide an answer for all questions. However, do not rush either, because once you submit your answer, you will not be able to go back to it.

The scoring for the exam is on a scale of 0 to 150, with 75 being passing. It is based on a complex “item response theory” model that evaluates patterns of correct and incorrect answers and weighs scoring based on the content of the question. This scoring model makes it very difficult to predict your score, but you should still try your best. Completing practice exams, such as thePre-NAPLEX, can be a useful way to familiarize yourself with the types of questions that may appear on the exam.

There are various types of questions, including multiple choice, multiple response, fill in the blank, constructed response, ordered response, and hot spot. Calculation questions can be free throws, so be sure to specifically practice statistical questions and know your formulas. Another recommendation is to think through casebased questions that may provide you with unnecessary details as distractions.

Ensure you have an ample amount of time to review material at a speed at which you are comfortable. This is a comprehensive exam, and cramming all the material in over a few days would be tough for anyone. Consider identifying which therapeutic areas you feel are your weakest and tailoring your studying as appropriate. As with any exam, make sure you get plenty of sleep and eat nutritious meals; avoid too much caffeine and sugar.

These tips will also be invaluable when studying for your state’s Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination. This exam is shorter than NAPLEX, but it is still just as important for you to have a grasp of both federal and state laws. The exam questions may not specify which laws you should consider when answering the question, but it is important to always remember that the more stringent law prevails.

You might walk out of either exam feeling as if you failed; and many of your peers will likely share this sentiment. Don’t let this discourage you. As long as you properly prepare for the exam, you will likely do better than you think.

Remember, getting through pharmacy school was the tough part. If you’ve made it this far, you can conquer this exam! 

, is the senior director of scientific affairs for Pharmacy Times Continuing Education™ and a graduate of the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.

, is a director of scientific affairs for Pharmacy Times Continuing Education™ and a graduate of the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.

 is a manager of education for Pharmacy Times Continuing Education™ and a graduate of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy.

Articles

Before you start preparing for NAPLEX, familiarize yourself with what to expect for the exam.

NAPLEX Preparation: Tips for the Most Important Exam of Your Career

“Lights, camera, action!” These are 3 words you do not typically hear as a pharmacist, but they are not unusual among those of us who work for 

 Continuing Education™. Our 4000-square-foot in-house studio gives us the unique ability to film everything from Medical Crossfires

 composed of a multidisciplinary panel to patients who share their personal experience with a disease. Filming days are always high-energy occasions, with excitement radiating from those both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.

Although not every week includes a trip to the studio, our day-to-day experience is filled with just as much excitement at 

 Continuing Education™. As part of a health care communications company, we aim to create educational activities that facilitate self-directed learning to support the growth of pharmacists and enhance their professional practice. As directors of scientific affairs, we develop content with experts in the field and execute engaging continuing education (CE) programs, which ensures every day will be different. What many often do not realize is that this role encompasses much more than medical writing. Some days may include faculty calls and meetings to strategize and discuss current and future offerings, while others might be spent critically reviewing a first draft or a final layout of a manuscript or a slide deck. We also get to delve deeper into topics we do not typically encounter, such as von Willebrand disease, medical cannabis, and even human rabies. Not all days are spent at the office, however; we also have the opportunity to travel across the nation and network with both familiar and new professionals.

This position is unique not only because it provides opportunities to discover solutions to challenges you may face when educating patients and health care providers but also because it flames our creativity and motivates us to think outside the box to build resources that can make a difference. We are constantly working on different types of deliverables and are able to implement new ideas, such as an interactive simulation platform to enhance and assess decision making by using a virtual patient. To make our visions come to fruition, we work with individuals with various backgrounds, from business development to program management to marketing. In a traditional pharmacy setting, we might work with many other pharmacists and health care professionals, but here we are looked up to as the medical experts on the team.

We both come from a community pharmacy background, which has helped tremendously in our current roles. Who has better knowledge on what pharmacists look for in their CE activities than practicing pharmacists? Moreover, the organizational and management skills gained from working in a retail setting are key skills that translate well to a medical education setting. Touching the lives of individual patients is always meaningful for a pharmacist, and although there is limited patient interaction here, our influence is still profound. By educating pharmacists and physicians from a variety of settings—including health systems, specialty, and managed care&mdash;we affect patients on a much grander scale. The confidence health care professionals gain from our programs is valuable because they in turn use this knowledge to both personalize and optimize the care of their patients.

We always hear that pharmacy is a small world, but it is hard to visualize just how accurate this statement is until after graduation. We were both introduced to 

 Continuing Education™ through suggestions from other pharmacists in our alumni network. Now we often get the opportunity to not only work with our previous faculty but also meet other members of our graduating class when attending conferences. This role has enabled us to immerse ourselves in new and exciting ventures, from action-packed studio days to collaboration with health care professionals, to create impactful educational activities. Given our experiences working in CE, the most important advice we can offer to future graduates is to appreciate the nuances in the pharmacy world. You never know where your career path will take you. 

the senior director of scientific affairs for 

 and a graduate of the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. Liza Patel, PharmD, is a director of scientific affairs for 

 Continuing Education™ and a graduate of the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.

“Lights, camera, action!” These are 3 words you do not typically hear as a pharmacist, but they are not unusual among those of us who work for Pharmacy Times Continuing Education.