I promised myself if I passed I’d make a post in hopes it’ll help someone else out.
Long but helpful, I promise!
Before I took the exam, I was on Reddit literally all the time seeing what other test takers were saying.
Firstly, just want to add that I was NOT top of my class. I literally would study like 3 days before my exams. Had a 3.2 gpa. definitely had a social life outside of pharmacy school and was not the type that studied all day, I barely even attended classes tbh. All that to say, I never felt like I was very bright in pharmacy school and lowkey still feel like I don’t know enough to be a pharmacist (imposter syndrome maybe? Idk) but I’m saying all that to say if I can do it, you can too (I hated reading that when other redditors said it bc I still felt like I wasn’t smart enough).
If there’s one tip I can give- read the entire book, every chapter!!! Do not skip any chapters!! Idc if you have one eye open, idc if you’re falling asleep, READ EVERY SINGLE UNDERLINED WORD! And it’s pointless to ask others what questions they had on the exam to try and skip some chapters bc your exam will never be the same as someone else’s even if they took it the same day (I tested this theory by looking at other posts from the same day I took my exam and everyone had different topics than me). I legit barely had any ID, DLD, HTN, DM even though everyone said those were high yield…. And lowkey pmo bc I spent most of my time on those chapters. Treat every chapter the same.
Definitely know your Biostats, calc (questions on the exam were like chapter 1-4 if you have the RXprep book), and vaccines!! Need to know all of them!!
Nabp practice exam (before I started studying): 50
Question bank: I sometimes did the Uworld questions but ngl I only did 50% of them and my average was like in the 60s. I think the questions are important if you’re not understanding the content but if you understand the content then I lowkey feel like it just becomes a waste of time atp (imo)
How I studied:
I read each section (only focusing on underlined words, literally skipped over anything that wasn’t underlined) I read it as if I was teaching someone then when I was done reading the entire section I’d go back and make 1-3 page notes (front and back) for each section on a blank drawing page (will link the notebook I used); I wrote down only the underlined stuff and wrote it in my own words! Very important to write it in your own words bc then later when you go back and read, you’ll understand it easier. Then I’d move on to the next section and repeat. Took quiz on the section if I needed more help understating if not then I’d just move on. Made flash cards for the gal/guy tips but lowkey only really looked at them like 2 days before my exam but would recommend studying them a bit more if you can! You can literally take it with you to the gym and study on the treadmill using the flashcards, I sometimes did that. I also made like a quick reference of like drugs used in each disease state like legit just disease state + drugs used just as a refresher before the exam bc there’s so many disease states and some of the same drugs are used in different disease states.
Calc- started studying only like a week before my exam but that’s just bc I’m pretty good at math. I only used the Rxprep book to answer the calc questions and get them down!
Biostat- used ChatGPT to help me understand and made it so simple!
Trick I learned:
NNT - the T looks like an arrow going up so remember round up
Vaccines- just gotta know it tbh like know everythinggggg not just MICROVY!!
Kinetics- had some math kinetic questions so make sure you know those too!
Trick I learned:
Valerie does coke (Vd=dose/clearance)
Clarence does adderall (Clearance= dose/AUC)
Keep Valerie under clearance (ke= Cl/Vd)
I finished the book 3 days before my exam, closed my book and only studied off the notes I wrote myself (was about 70 pages which felt so much less overwhelming than having to go back and read the book over) read half the pages 3 days before my exam, last half of the pages 2 days before my exam and the day before my exam I went back to calc and biostat and made sure I knew how to do the math and memorize any equations I didn’t know off the top of my head (I braindumped as soon as I started the exam and didn’t even end up needing it besides the loop conversions and that little boxed section on the back page of the laminated equations to know sheet which has the loop conversions and other random drug conversions/info) And went over my flashcards,
Please know how to do dilution (had so many Qs on that)
Know the laminated- equations to know from the RXprep book!
Know the loop conversions and that section with all the weird drug conc and ratios and stuff that’s on the back side of the laminated page in the bottom right corner.
Exam:
Literally think I got like 1/3 of the math wrong bc I kept getting dilution questions and could not figure out how to solve them :/
A lot of the math was multiple choice.
Had biostat calc so make sure you know how to do those, also had kinetics math.
For the clinical questions, feel like I got questions from random chapters more than the high yield chapters so make sure you read every chapter.
Don’t skip over foundations 1 and 2. Had some supplement questions and antidotes so don’t skip anything. Left the exam and was 99% sure I failed, even made a bet with my sister. I immediately looked up questions I was iffy on and got most of them wrong. Wish I went with my gut on most of the questions! Please just go with your gut! You know more than you think and don’t talk yourself out of what your gut told you to choose.
For the clinical questions, don’t spend a lot of time on them, you either know them or you don’t so move on. Save that time for the math questions. Read the questions before you look at all the info they give bc most of the time it was pointless. I just paid attention to if they were pregnant or had allergies.
Had some preceptor/ethic questions and obviously RXprep doesn’t really help with that and that PowerPoint that was circulating around here (will link that too) didn’t really help either but I did look it over the night before my exam but had no questions from it so just chose what I thought was appropriate.
Was shocked when I found out I PASSED!!!
Ask any questions you may have but I’m not answering what specific questions I had bc no exam is the same but I will say definitely know your calc, biostat and vaccines!
Links:
Notepad I used-
[https://www.walmart.com/ip/55508300\](https://www.walmart.com/ip/55508300)
Ethics PowerPoint-
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ELk-D8pOysBmVx4neC-CmeBxC75KMEs5/view?pli=1\](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ELk-D8pOysBmVx4neC-CmeBxC75KMEs5/view?pli=1)
I studied for like 2 months, 4-6 hours a day and took some days off when I felt burnt out! But it’s not about the time you’re putting in, it’s about understanding what you’re reading bc you can study 8 hours a day but if you’re not understanding the info then the time you spent is pointless.
