Pharmacy Technician Exam – How To Prepare Yourself
The pharmacy technician exam is one that must be passed in order to become a licensed pharmacy technician (in a state which requires such a certification). There are many states that require such a certification, and even if you reside in a state that does not, it’s a very good idea to enter a program and get certified.
The best way to prepare yourself for the exam is to work hard throughout your course studies, for one.
It’s much easier to remember and retain information if your brain takes it in slowly over a period of time. If you try to cram it all in at the end, you will retain much less information. So take your course work seriously and you’ll be way ahead of the game.
Next, take a practice exam, in fact take a few practice exams in order to get a feel for the test and prepare for the all important day. The pharmacy technician examination is a test that consists of 140 (15 of the questions are pre-test questions that don’t count) multiple choice questions with 4 possible answers. The duration is 3 hours.
Remember, there is no penalty for guessing, so answer all of the questions. Narrow down the answers, excluding answers that you know are incorrect and you’ll have a much better chance at answering correctly, even if you’re not one hundred percent certain of the correct answer.
There are three sections to the exam – assisting pharmacists in serving patients, maintaining medication and inventory control systems, and participating in administration and management of pharmacy practice. So study accordingly. The first section accounts, for 2/3 of your score, so it is the most important do to well in that section.
Exam dates will be given throughout the year by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board or PTCB. If, by chance you do not pass the exam on the first try, you must wait a full 90 days to take the test again, which is a good idea because you’ll need some time to brush up on the material anyway.
You will receive the exam results shortly after taking the exam; it’s frustrating, but remain patient even though you’re dying to know if you passed or not. The pharmacy technician exam is the culmination of your studying, but if you’ve prepared yourself well throughout your program you’ll do just fine.