95% sure I failed naplex

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ThrowAWAY0101

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Hello everyone,

I took the NAPLEX a few days ago and I absolutely bombed it. I knew roughly 20 questions with 100% confidence, at most 25. The entire weekend I had no appetite, I couldn't sleep, and all I could think about was how bad I performed. There were questions all over the place with majority on the major topics (inf, onco, hiv). I read over the entire RxPrep Book once and then read over some of the major topics to brush up on but it felt overwhelming. It's impossible to memorize everything in that book. During the exam I anticipated that I would get a few check all that apply questions but no more than 15, I had about 30! In addition the math was much harder than the math in the book. Do not expect straight forward questions. Every question requires you to think and all the answers are fairly similar therefore, you have to know the EXACT answer.

The way I studied for the exam was not efficient. I would read 2-3 chapters a day without reviewing them. I did not take the the pre-naplex nor did I do the practice questions in the RxPrep Book/Online (even though I had access to them from my job). Furthermore, I only reviewed everything for a second time 4 days before the exam.

I was BLESSED to pass the exam and received my score today of 84

I strongly advise everyone reading this to ignore every post about how easy NAPLEX is and anticipate some of the hardest questions possible. It's also luck. Five of my friends took the exam on the same day as me and only 3 of them passed the other two failed. Expect the worse and hope for the best.

How to study:

- Read RxPrep once and highlight all the important notes.
- Do all of the math in one day and write down all the formulas. Focus on the main ones: ANC, CrCl (usually IBW, also Adj and TBW), meq, mmol, moles, TPN (in and out). MUST know these well.
- Get some form of review sheet of the RxPrep where somebody wrote out all the important information and review that. If you cant find one for free BUY it amazon/ebay - theres many out there. Do this after you finish the book.
- Days before exam go over the math AGAIN, must do the entire 200 calculations without looking at any formulas. Go over biostat (DO AS MANY QUESTIONS AS POSSIBLE) you will see them on the exam. I went over this chapter for a whole day and did the practice questions from the RxPrep test bank. ~100 qs. Expect charts on exam.
- Go over Oncology - memorize generic + class + side effects
- Go over HIV - memorize BRAND + GENERIC + side effects ( )
- Go over sterile + non-sterile compounding VERY important - will see on exam
- Go over inf - mem bacteria = treatment

I got about 25 questions on infectious and I didn't know any of them. Some people got one or two.

Best of luck and hope you do better than I did and don't freak out. I was certain I failed.

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Thanks for posting this and congratulations on passing. I have my exam coming up in two weeks and did all of the calculations questions already. Went over most of what you mentioned but still have to cover compounding, HIV, and oncology. My school had us go through the entire RxPrep book and do the online quizzes during our rotations but I have gone back and done some of the more mentioned chapters over. Most of my friends have passed it on their first attempt. Also, my school paid for us to take the pre-naplex so I am going to do that this Friday to help me gauge myself.
 
This sounds very similar to my experience. Do you guys know if it's true that if your state doesn't participate in online scoring, you can tell you passed if it says "registration closed" on nabp and the add score transfer button is still available?
 
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@zamir, you should be fine then. Expect questions on topics you have no idea about, i would advise you to skip these. I wasted a lot of time on the hard questions which showed up early into my exam which resulted in less time for the easier questions in the end about (30). I had only 30 minutes to do 40 questions (30 were easier than the prev 140) and at qs #178 I ran out of time.
 
This sounds very similar to my experience. Do you guys know if it's true that if your state doesn't participate in online scoring, you can tell you passed if it says "registration closed" on nabp and the add score transfer button is still available?

My state participates in it so I cannot confirm. However, I have heard from many that if the registration is closed and the transfer scores is available you have passed. My status is as such on the NABP website. If you failed it will say null (I think).
 
My state participates in it so I cannot confirm. However, I have heard from many that if the registration is closed and the transfer scores is available you have passed. My status is as such on the NABP website. If you failed it will say null (I think).
Thank you for replying! That's what I've heard as well. I just don't know of anyone that has failed to confirm that theirs says null
 
any tips on compounding questions? I am curious as to what kind of things they might ask about as RX prep doesn't really have anything that seems too specific in the book.

Also, the RX prep book is the first time that I've seen the Cockroft Gault used the way it is with ideal body weight used at times. Is that because we're not gonna use salazar?
 
any tips on compounding questions? I am curious as to what kind of things they might ask about as RX prep doesn't really have anything that seems too specific in the book.

Also, the RX prep book is the first time that I've seen the Cockroft Gault used the way it is with ideal body weight used at times. Is that because we're not gonna use salazar?

The compounding questions aren't too bad but maybe bc my state is one of the few that still requires us to pass the compounding exam (which I have already studied for and passed). Although, I can't tell you the questions. I would make sure you're familiar with viscosity (how it works), levigating agents, HLB values/agents which to use for emulsions, trituration, mineral oil/glycerine, flocculation. Whatever is in a chart or underlined I would be familiar with.

For my calculations with CrCl they told me which weight to use. Ideally, they will probably ask u for adj or ibw since tbw/abw is the actual pt weight. I think common sense will tell u if a patient is 5'2 weight 230 pounds they are prob overweight/obese.
 
Hello everyone,

I took the NAPLEX a few days ago and I absolutely bombed it. I knew roughly 20 questions with 100% confidence, at most 25. The entire weekend I had no appetite, I couldn't sleep, and all I could think about was how bad I performed. There were questions all over the place with majority on the major topics (inf, onco, hiv). I read over the entire RxPrep Book once and then read over some of the major topics to brush up on but it felt overwhelming. It's impossible to memorize everything in that book. During the exam I anticipated that I would get a few check all that apply questions but no more than 15, I had about 30! In addition the math was much harder than the math in the book. Do not expect straight forward questions. Every question requires you to think and all the answers are fairly similar therefore, you have to know the EXACT answer.

The way I studied for the exam was not efficient. I would read 2-3 chapters a day without reviewing them. I did not take the the pre-naplex nor did I do the practice questions in the RxPrep Book/Online (even though I had access to them from my job). Furthermore, I only reviewed everything for a second time 4 days before the exam.

I was BLESSED to pass the exam and received my score today of 84

I strongly advise everyone reading this to ignore every post about how easy NAPLEX is and anticipate some of the hardest questions possible. It's also luck. Five of my friends took the exam on the same day as me and only 3 of them passed the other two failed. Expect the worse and hope for the best.

How to study:

- Read RxPrep once and highlight all the important notes.
- Do all of the math in one day and write down all the formulas. Focus on the main ones: ANC, CrCl (usually IBW, also Adj and TBW), meq, mmol, moles, TPN (in and out). MUST know these well.
- Get some form of review sheet of the RxPrep where somebody wrote out all the important information and review that. If you cant find one for free BUY it amazon/ebay - theres many out there. Do this after you finish the book.
- Days before exam go over the math AGAIN, must do the entire 200 calculations without looking at any formulas. Go over biostat (DO AS MANY QUESTIONS AS POSSIBLE) you will see them on the exam. I went over this chapter for a whole day and did the practice questions from the RxPrep test bank. ~100 qs. Expect charts on exam.
- Go over Oncology - memorize generic + class + side effects
- Go over HIV - memorize BRAND + GENERIC + side effects ( )
- Go over sterile + non-sterile compounding VERY important - will see on exam
- Go over inf - mem bacteria = treatment

I got about 25 questions on infectious and I didn't know any of them. Some people got one or two.

Best of luck and hope you do better than I did and don't freak out. I was certain I failed.


Congrats on passing! I took the Naplex on 7/30. Whew! So glad that's over and done with..for now. I walked out of there feeling ok about it and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. I really hope I passed!! The exam was definitely doable and wasn't as hard as it was cracked up to be in my opinion. I'm scheduled to sit for the CPJE in 11 days so I'm not particularly happy about hitting the books again lol.
I didn't keep track on how many questions I felt I didn't know because my brain couldn't handle any more tasks other than taking the exam and not freaking out. :confused:
Anyway, here are the topics I encountered on my exam:

- HTN: I came across a lot of HTN questions in the beginning; I think there must've been about 15 questions straight and I thought I was getting them all wrong and the computer kept throwing these questions at me so I could at least get a couple right. -_-
- HLD: Know side effects and different drug classes
- ID: Actually, I didn't get a lot (THANK GOODNESS), maybe no more than 5. It's one of my least favorite topics because I tended to struggle with remembering the spectrum of these meds.
- Cancer: Probably one of my favorite topics, but didn't get a lot..10 questions tops. Know how to calculate BSA, side effects, CINV management and whatnot. A couple of the cancer questions were totally oddball-types and threw me off a little bit, but I don't think it was enough to hurt my overall performance...at least that's what I am hoping for.
-Math: I hate math. I really do. I think RxPrep math practice questions (in the book and online quizz banks) are the bare minimum. I did some of the SDN 120 questions the night before the exam and felt that it was a bit of an overkill for me; however, I would not completely disregard it as it is definitely good practice. I got a lot of flow rates, dilutions, insulin days supply (which my brain totally farted for each question), CrCl, and the like. I don't remember much about converting to mEq, e values, or alligation though. The math questions were littered throughout the exam. I'd say a bulk of them (~10 questions) were thrown at me in the first third of the exam. I think I encountered about 20 math-based questions in al.
-Biostats: Definitely focus on ARR, RR, RRR, NNT, CI, and significance. They will show up on the exam. I got about 15 of these.
- Compounding: I got a bunch of compounding questions towards the end of my exam. I'd go over the concept of equations involved in compounding, as well as the purposes of specific compounding ingredients.
-Others: Dosage forms. Ugh. Gotta know them. My last question was about what dosage forms was available for a specific medication.

Overall, I thought the Naplex was pretty straightforward. I was having anxiety attacks the night before. I was mellow the morning of the exam until I arrived at the testing center--that's when my nerves kicked in and I was shaking in my seat while I waited to be called in.
All I used was RxPrep and skimmed through the 2016 pharmacy charts you can purchase from eBay.
Good luck to everyone else planning on taking the Naplex soon!! :)
 
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Congrats on passing! I took the Naplex on 7/30. Whew! So glad that's over and done with..for now. I walked out of there feeling ok about it and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. I really hope I passed!! The exam was definitely doable and wasn't as hard as it was cracked up to be in my opinion. I'm scheduled to sit for the CPJE in 11 days so I'm not particularly happy about hitting the books again lol.
I didn't keep track on how many questions I felt I didn't know because my brain couldn't handle any more tasks other than taking the exam and not freaking out. :confused:
Anyway, here are the topics I encountered on my exam:

- HTN: I came across a lot of HTN questions in the beginning; I think there must've been about 15 questions straight and I thought I was getting them all wrong and the computer kept throwing these questions at me so I could at least get a couple right. -_-
- HLD: Know side effects and different drug classes
- ID: Actually, I didn't get a lot (THANK GOODNESS), maybe no more than 5. It's one of my least favorite topics because I tended to struggle with remembering the spectrum of these meds.
- Cancer: Probably one of my favorite topics, but didn't get a lot..10 questions tops. Know how to calculate BSA, side effects, CINV management and whatnot. A couple of the cancer questions were totally oddball-types and threw me off a little bit, but I don't think it was enough to hurt my overall performance...at least that's what I am hoping for.
-Math: I hate math. I really do. I think RxPrep math practice questions (in the book and online quizz banks) are the bare minimum. I did some of the SDN 120 questions the night before the exam and felt that it was a bit of an overkill for me; however, I would not completely disregard it as it is definitely good practice. I got a lot of flow rates, dilutions, insulin days supply (which my brain totally farted for each question), CrCl, and the like. I don't remember much about converting to mEq, e values, or alligation though. The math questions were littered throughout the exam. I'd say a bulk of them (~10 questions) were thrown at me in the first third of the exam. I think I encountered about 20 math-based questions in al.
-Biostats: Definitely focus on ARR, RR, RRR, NNT, CI, and significance. They will show up on the exam. I got about 15 of these.
- Compounding: I got a bunch of compounding questions towards the end of my exam. I'd go over the concept of equations involved in compounding, as well as the purposes of specific compounding ingredients.
-Others: Dosage forms. Ugh. Gotta know them. My last question was about what dosage forms was available for a specific medication.

Overall, I thought the Naplex was pretty straightforward. I was having anxiety attacks the night before. I was mellow the morning of the exam until I arrived at the testing center--that's when my nerves kicked in and I was shaking in my seat while I waited to be called in.
All I used was RxPrep and skimmed through the 2016 pharmacy charts you can purchase from eBay.
Good luck to everyone else planning on taking the Naplex soon!! :)
Hi elcie, thanks for sharing your experience! Did you get your results back yet? I took mine on Tues and still waiting...;(
 
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Read Rxprep only one time? I read a chapter one time and could barely recall what I read lol. It takes me like 2 and 3 runs to jot the information into my brain.
 
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Got my results. I passed!! Yayayayayayay. Now, on to the CPJE...in 3 days :nailbiting:
 
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I'm based in CA. I went to an out-of-state school so my primary jurisdiction is with that state and received my ATT and NAPLEX score relatively quickly (within 2 weeks). I am going to transfer my license over to CA, though. I know CA is notorious for long wait times!
 
Just wanted to say, my situation pretty much mirrored yours and I passed with a very similar score of 82. xD

The test asked me a ton of questions that I did not study for. I studied DM, HTN, Depression, Anticoagulation, CHF, Immunizations, along with all the other stuff that you deal with on a regular basis...only to find that I got about 5-10 questions total between all of these subjects, and to add insult to injury they were extremely easy questions ("Which of these is a long- acting insulin?" REALLY?!). I swear about 1/3 of my test was ID and Oncology, which I didn't even touch. I felt really bad about it after leaving.

I'm convinced that what saved my ass was the fact that I was good at the calculation problems and biostatistics.

For anyone else who is studying for the NAPLEX, I would say RxPrep is a very good study source. But if I was going to study for it again, I would say that a cursory review of all the topics in the book is better than going extremely in-depth for only a handful of topics, like I did. But if I had to pick one or two topics to study above everything else, it would be the calculations and biostatistics. Make SURE you know how to do these. Do not make the same mistake as I did and try to predict what will be on the test - it is impossible.
 
This sounds very similar to my experience. Do you guys know if it's true that if your state doesn't participate in online scoring, you can tell you passed if it says "registration closed" on nabp and the add score transfer button is still available?

That is the rumor on SDN. I am not exactly sure if it is accurate tho
 
This sounds very similar to my experience. Do you guys know if it's true that if your state doesn't participate in online scoring, you can tell you passed if it says "registration closed" on nabp and the add score transfer button is still available?
I would like to know this as well.
 
Hi elcie, thanks for sharing your experience! Did you get your results back yet? I took mine on Tues and still waiting...;(
My compounding were mainly at end of exam too. However, I thought they were getting MORE difficult and I knew my answers were correct. I'm very confused about this adaptive thing. I totally screwed up a dosage forms one....so wouldn't you think I'd get MORE of those? Nope....
 
I would like to know this as well.

So I did a bit of research on this topic through SDN. From the responses that I have read, everyone that has "Registration Closed", Register for Naplex (orange/brown), and "Add score transfer (under available actions)" has passed the Naplex. Everyone that had "NULL" under available actions has either failed or has not followed up with an update if they passed or not.

Basically from what I can rationalize from this theory is that the NABP are not allowed to post up our score for California. However, because CA still participates in Naplex score transfer, NABP must allow the CA students the availability of transferring their scores right after NABP submits the score to CA BOP (This is when the status from ATT generated changes to Registration Closed).

So although NABP can't post that CA scores they have to give us the ability to transfer the score because our 90 days decision to transfer begins on the day we sit for the exam. Basically if you get a "NULL" instead of "Add score transfer", it is to prevent you from unnecessarily transferring a failed score. I believe this is to avoid frustrated phone calls after students find out that they failed but already tried to transfer a score which costs 75 dollars. It also makes sense that for some students who take the MPJE they also have the null for score transfer because you can't transfer that score from state to state.

I can't say with 100% probability that you will pass but a very high chance just given the amount of data/responses we have gathered throughout the years. I have found 1-2 posts where the poster claims to have seen "NULL" but still passed. I think that might have been a mistake or maybe its because the 90 day limit passed up or they got confused with there MPJE status instead of Naplex. I can't say for sure.
 
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Just wanted to say, my situation pretty much mirrored yours and I passed with a very similar score of 82. xD

The test asked me a ton of questions that I did not study for. I studied DM, HTN, Depression, Anticoagulation, CHF, Immunizations, along with all the other stuff that you deal with on a regular basis...only to find that I got about 5-10 questions total between all of these subjects, and to add insult to injury they were extremely easy questions ("Which of these is a long- acting insulin?" REALLY?!). I swear about 1/3 of my test was ID and Oncology, which I didn't even touch. I felt really bad about it after leaving.

I'm convinced that what saved my ass was the fact that I was good at the calculation problems and biostatistics.

For anyone else who is studying for the NAPLEX, I would say RxPrep is a very good study source. But if I was going to study for it again, I would say that a cursory review of all the topics in the book is better than going extremely in-depth for only a handful of topics, like I did. But if I had to pick one or two topics to study above everything else, it would be the calculations and biostatistics. Make SURE you know how to do these. Do not make the same mistake as I did and try to predict what will be on the test - it is impossible.

I do somewhat agree but not entirely. haha. I had calculations and stats down. Had about 30 questions total of both. Rest was scattered around random topics. I know NABP is trying to move towards making the exam more balanced (based on what I read from their site and email conversations I had with them) which is why I think they're making it non-adaptive. I ended up failing it. But my best guess is that I failed b/c I mainly focused on cal/stats. I was literally making educated guesses on most of the questions. Granted, I had personal issues and was only able to study for a couple of weeks. Very unmotivated, unfocused..

For those who have not taken the exam, I suggest that you not to listen to those people who say they spent a week or two cramming but take time (I mean months) to go over the rxprep book entirely and thoroughly. Do not risk the chance of failing. It sucks since you have to wait 3 months for a retake. I was not a bad student in school. Had a decent GPA. That does not mean anything when it comes to naplex it seems.
 
I do somewhat agree but not entirely. haha. I had calculations and stats down. Had about 30 questions total of both. Rest was scattered around random topics. I know NABP is trying to move towards making the exam more balanced (based on what I read from their site and email conversations I had with them) which is why I think they're making it non-adaptive. I ended up failing it. But my best guess is that I failed b/c I mainly focused on cal/stats. I was literally making educated guesses on most of the questions. Granted, I had personal issues and was only able to study for a couple of weeks. Very unmotivated, unfocused..

For those who have not taken the exam, I suggest that you not to listen to those people who say they spent a week or two cramming but take time (I mean months) to go over the rxprep book entirely and thoroughly. Do not risk the chance of failing. It sucks since you have to wait 3 months for a retake. I was not a bad student in school. Had a decent GPA. That does not mean anything when it comes to naplex it seems.

do you think the upcoming new Naples will be more clinical?
 
do you think the upcoming new Naples will be more clinical?

There is no way knowing until someone takes it haha but based on what I read and my own experience, the exam is already very clinical. I believe they changed the blue print last year to where they added much more clinical topics. So again, the content stays the same. I suppose what we all want to know is how theyre going to didtribute the topics and the questions. If its anything like the prenaplex, which is non-adaptive, then itll be awesome haha
 
There is no way knowing until someone takes it haha but based on what I read and my own experience, the exam is already very clinical. I believe they changed the blue print last year to where they added much more clinical topics. So again, the content stays the same. I suppose what we all want to know is how theyre going to didtribute the topics and the questions. If its anything like the prenaplex, which is non-adaptive, then itll be awesome haha

Have you taken the prenaplex? is it similar to the actual Naplex?
 
Have you taken the prenaplex? is it similar to the actual Naplex?

Yes. My school bought it for us but i barely tried and breezed thru it so dont remember much haha. But i do think it does help you to prepare mentally since you can see how the questions are asked.
 
That is an excellent point. Supposedly these are recycled questions from the actual naplex

My friends and I just got together and took the pre-naplex together...just to get a feel of the actual Naples. We figure the NABP probably got all of the questions out there and made sure the actual NAPLEX questions are different.
 
Overall, I thought the Naplex was pretty straightforward. I was having anxiety attacks the night before. I was mellow the morning of the exam until I arrived at the testing center--that's when my nerves kicked in and I was shaking in my seat while I waited to be called in.
All I used was RxPrep and skimmed through the 2016 pharmacy charts you can purchase from eBay.
Good luck to everyone else planning on taking the Naplex soon!! :)

I know what you mean! I was so nervous on the day of the exam and the Starbucks coffee didn't help!
 
So I did a bit of research on this topic through SDN. From the responses that I have read, everyone that has "Registration Closed", Register for Naplex (orange/brown), and "Add score transfer (under available actions)" has passed the Naplex. Everyone that had "NULL" under available actions has either failed or has not followed up with an update if they passed or not.

Basically from what I can rationalize from this theory is that the NABP are not allowed to post up our score for California. However, because CA still participates in Naplex score transfer, NABP must allow the CA students the availability of transferring their scores right after NABP submits the score to CA BOP (This is when the status from ATT generated changes to Registration Closed).

So although NABP can't post that CA scores they have to give us the ability to transfer the score because our 90 days decision to transfer begins on the day we sit for the exam. Basically if you get a "NULL" instead of "Add score transfer", it is to prevent you from unnecessarily transferring a failed score. I believe this is to avoid frustrated phone calls after students find out that they failed but already tried to transfer a score which costs 75 dollars. It also makes sense that for some students who take the MPJE they also have the null for score transfer because you can't transfer that score from state to state.

I can't say with 100% probability that you will pass but a very high chance just given the amount of data/responses we have gathered throughout the years. I have found 1-2 posts where the poster claims to have seen "NULL" but still passed. I think that might have been a mistake or maybe its because the 90 day limit passed up or they got confused with there MPJE status instead of Naplex. I can't say for sure.

Thank you for this info! How long does it take for the status to change?
 
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