Well, if your looking to a career in Pharmacy - it's a qualification you have to get - full stop! The Naplex forms part of the process to gain your Pharmacy certification. (California is the only state that does not currently recognize the NAPLEX exam. The Office of Examination Resources (OER) recently determined that the NAPLEX exam is equivalent to the current state administered exam so there is no risk of lowering the skill level practiced in California.)

The licensing process is comprised of 2 exams - the North American Pharmacist Licensure Exam, otherwise known as NAPLEX and the Pharmacist Licensure and Examination which is tagged the CPJE. Applications for the NAPLEX and the CPJE are submitted separately, but in parallel.

The NAPLEX exam is a computer based exam, administered and controlled by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (the NABP) which is a non-profit association of pharmacy licensing boards.

Candidates in the NAPLEX exam have to show their ability to perform the following services competently:- assure safe and effective pharmacotherapy and optimize therapeutic outcomes (this consists of 54% of the total exam) - assure the safe and accurate preparation/dispensing of all medications (which covers a further 35% of exam total) and the remaining 11% of the body of the exam is taken in showing you can provide health care information as well as promoting public health.

Now as I said at the beginning of this lens, the NAPLEX exam is taken on computer. It's run by Thomson Prometric all year long at various sites around the country - except Sundays and holidays. (You'll need to visit the Prometric website to register. As it currently stands the fee for the NAPLEX exam is $430)

The NAPLEX is a 185-question, 5 option multiple choice answer examination designed to determine whether candidates have the knowledge, judgment and skill necessary to practice pharmacy at entry-level competence. The NAPLEX follows the one-best-answer rule, in which several choices may be plausible, but only one answer choice is the best.

The vast majority of the 185 questions in the Naplex exam face the student with a hypothetical, patient specific scenario and then provide a series of questions, scenario based questions.

It's important to note that 35 out of the 185 questions are there to actually assess the exam itself - helping to further develop future exams and keep the NAPLEX up to date and specific.

But don't worry - these "test effective" questions are indistinguishable from the other 150 questions that will actually determine your score. (Also bear in mind that the NAPLEX exam is what is called 'an adaptive exam' This means that the difficulty level of the exam will change depending on how successful you are answering the various questions.

Once you have finished the exam your total score is calculated by comparing your performance against the minimum acceptable performance on the NAPLEX.

Exam scores are not given directly to the candidate; instead, they are forwarded by the NABP to the board of pharmacy from which the candidate is seeking licensure.

After you successfully complete the NAPLEX, you will be sent forms to apply for a pharmacist license. However, if you fail (apart from feeling dog sick and fed up!!) you'll have to wait a minimum of 90 days before you can retake the exam!

1. In preparing yourself for the NAPLEX exam, it is wise to use a combination of comprehensive study guide materials, including books, CD Roms, practice tests, and flashcards for review.

2. Trying to cram for the exam in just a few days just isn't going to work - you need to have proper Naplex preparation guides and a structured timetable for review and practise testing.

3. Naplex flashcards will help you greatly as they are one of the better methods of encouraging memory through exposure!

4. Try and create a revision schedule that allocates the same level of importance and time to the various sections of the naplex as detailed above. So, for instance, if you are spending an afternoon revising (4 hours) 54% of that 4 hours is to be spent on safe and effective pharmacotherapy and optimize therapeutic outcomes, 35% on safe and accurate preparation/dispensing of all medications and so on.

5. Look to use revision material that is created by people with actual, hands on knowledge of the Naplex - naplex study guides should be created by those who have taken, who create or who administer the Naplex in some form or another! Otherwise - you are trying to learn and revise based on hearsay information - which is NOT a good foundation!

In fact, one of the best comprehensive study guide systems for the NAPLEX exam is the NAPLEX Secrets study guide, made up of 4 comprehensive review categories, which includes:- general strategy, a medical review, a pharmacology review, and a nutrition review. These Naplex exam preparation guides are developed by Peter Morrison covering the "5 essential skills necessary to do well on the NAPLEX exam" plus comprehensive reviews covering all the essential test sections individually.

The guides are written to help you not only improve your current level of Pharmacy knowledge but also to help you learn how best to approach the specific, adaptive nature of this computer based exam. It's one reason why I recommend it here - it's the only product on the market that I know of to date that addresses the difference between merely knowing the material and knowing how to use the material to perform on test day.

You can see and read more at his Naplex Exam Secrets site.