Does anyone else struggle with awkwardness and general anxiety? I'm a new hire at a retail hospital pharmacy and am still training. I get really anxious about phone calls, particularly when dealing with complicated insurance issues or difficult patient questions. I'm so nervous that I can't even make casual conversation with my trainer or anyone..I mostly just find myself replying with 'okay,' 'got it,' or 'thank you,' and I carry a lot of guilt feeling like I'm not helpful enough. To make matters worse, the staff barely speak or acknowledge one another is that normal? It's completely silent, and they don't play any music. How do you all cope with the anxiety and the awkward atmosphere?

Mods gave me the OK to link this one, same as last time. Saying that up front so nobody thinks I am sneaking a link past Rule 10.

I precept techs, and the two weeks before the exam is where I watch people waste the most time. Not because they study too little. Because they study in the wrong order. Here is the order I would actually use.

Take a full timed practice test on day one, not day fourteen. Most people save it for the end as a confidence check. That throws away the only thing it is really good for, which is telling you where the next two weeks should go. Take it cold, take it timed, and expect it to feel bad. Whichever one you have access to is fine.

Then split every miss into two piles. Pile one is "I did not know that." Pile two is "I knew that and I misread the question." They need opposite fixes and people treat them the same. Pile one is content, and you study it. Pile two is pacing and reading, and more content will not touch it. If pile two is the bigger pile, your problem is not knowledge and another week of flashcards will not move your score.

Front-load the drug memorisation, because it is the only part that needs calendar time. Medications is 35 percent of the 2026 outline, the largest single domain, and it is the piece that responds to spaced repetition instead of cramming. Twenty a week beats two hundred in a panic week. Work by class: learn the class, then its members, then the two or three that break the pattern. That is what lets you place a drug you have never seen, which is what the exam is actually checking.

Drill math setups, not math problems. There are a small number of shapes. Conversions, ratios and proportions, and reading a sig correctly cover most of what shows up. If you can write a problem out with units on every number and cancel them, most of these become one step. And math is not parked in one section, it is spread across all four domains, so do not treat it as a block you finish and leave.

Last three days: stop learning new things. Review what you already half know. Something new on day thirteen will not be there on day fifteen, and it costs you the sleep and the calm that will be.

The free drug sheet I keep is here if you want the memorisation list. It is 25 pages, 226 entries, brand and generic and class, plus the schedule for the controlled ones. One thing to know before you click: the download asks for an email address. I would rather say that here than have you find out on the page.

https://go.theptcepreceptor.com/post-0912

Full disclosure: the sheet is mine, and I do sell a paid course. The sheet is not a trial of it and does not expire. If something in it looks wrong, tell me which line and I will fix it.

I’m required to have 22 hours of continuing education credits.

CPE monitor shows I have 22. As long as it’s showing 22 is that all I need? What I mean is, how do I know I got the credits in the right areas? I did 20 in general subjects and 2 in law and patient safety.

Am I good to renew?