Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Practical Knowledge for Personal Development, or PKPD for short, a pharmacy podcast where we explore the various ways to grow as a person and pharmacist by discussing common questions asked by pharmacy learners.
Speaker: Our ambition is to see our listeners achieve their personal and professional goals.
Speaker: I'm your host, Hunter Rondo, and joining me today is my fantastic co-host and fellow NAPLEX survivor, Callan Blike.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: We're here to share our personal experiences, tips, and strategies that helped us not only pass a NAPLEX, but also excel in it.
Speaker: So we know firsthand the challenges and stress that you guys might be facing.
Speaker: So consider us your NAPLEX mentors for the duration of this episode.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Well, let's dive in.
Speaker: Callan, give us a good overview of what on earth is the NAPLEX?
Speaker: Many people know that it's the test that we take to get our pharmacist's license, but what is it composed of?
Speaker: How long are you sitting there taking the test?
Speaker: What even does this thing test us on?
Speaker: So I would say, first off, the NAPLEX is
Speaker: a competency exam, right, to become a pharmacist.
Speaker: So it's not going to ask you all these really tricky questions.
Speaker: It's a six-hour exam.
Speaker: It's 225 questions, and it's on a computer.
Speaker: And so you'll go to Pearson VUE and take the test on the computer.
Speaker: The exam is now reported as pass or fail, and there's about five attempts, I believe, to pass the exam.
Speaker: Yeah, so I've heard about people taking the pre-NAPLEX.
Speaker: I myself, I took it and I think I, if I remember right, I got a passing score with the pre-exam.
Speaker: So I was like, okay, I feel comfortable.
Speaker: I feel like I can take it.
Speaker: Did you take the pre-NAPLEX?
Speaker: I did.
Speaker: My school offered it.
Speaker: So we were actually lucky to take it for free, but I took it and I felt comfortable after it.
Speaker: And it was a pretty good gauge, I think.
Speaker: Now, a question I get asked a lot is, is there any utility in doing more than one pre-NAPLEX?
Speaker: That is a question.
Speaker: Personally, I feel like it's a waste unless you like if you I feel like if you pass it the first time, there's no reason you need to keep taking it.
Speaker: Well, I mean, looking back, right, you can say that.
Speaker: But when you're like scared and anxious, you're like, I think I need three different practice exams.
Speaker: So I don't know.
Speaker: I know I loaded up on like three different ones just because I was trying to practice everything I can.
Speaker: I don't know about you, when you look back or did you take a lot of pre-exams or did you practice?
Speaker: Like what was that study strategy like for you?
Speaker: I mean, for me, I took the pre-NAPLEX just to see if I was ready, like if I needed to push my exam back.
Speaker: But as far as like an actual testing strategy, I just use the Rx prep book.
Speaker: But that was, oh my gosh, that thing is so freaking expensive.
Speaker: And it's so much content.
Speaker: It's so detailed, which like I get, there's a lot of good information in there.
Speaker: But for a test of minimum competency, I'm
Speaker: Like I felt like I approached that test like I was trying to get like 100% on a pharmacotherapy exam where it's a pass fail test.
Speaker: It's a test of minimum competency.
Speaker: If you get 100% on the NAPLEX, no one cares.
Speaker: Mm hmm.
Speaker: And there's no way to know if you got 100, too.
Speaker: Or if you got 70.
Speaker: So that's the issue.
Speaker: It's not like you can even gauge how well you did.
Speaker: You just passed or you either failed.
Speaker: So you could be very close to passing or you could be you could exceed that.
Speaker: So you just really don't know.
Speaker: And, you know, just pass it.
Speaker: It's it's you don't have to get 100 percent on this.
Speaker: Now, that being said, everyone's experience will differ with how well of a test taker you are because every standardized exam, there are certain strategies that you can employ that kind of like how you would approach the SAT or even the
Speaker: now kind of outdated PCAT.
Speaker: Like if you see certain question or certain answers to the question, you're like, oh, this is obviously wrong.
Speaker: Well, then don't spend any more time thinking about it.
Speaker: Like, I mean, there's all this, whatever approach that you've taken to prior standardized exams, those strategies are likely still going to hold up against this exam.
Speaker: One thing I do remember that was pretty different over the last few years is historically, I remember the NAPLEX was more like very heavy calculations, but it's moving more towards these case based tests or case based questions.
Speaker: Did you experience that?
Speaker: Like, were you taught that in pharmacy school and then kind of saw that on the exam?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think my pharmacy school really prepared me well for the clinical portion.
Speaker: And so having rigorous appies and then going into the NAPLEX, I've almost felt like whatever I saw in my appies and I saw a case and also preparing for residency interviews and having different clinical cases too really prepared me for the NAPLEX.
Speaker: Yeah, so with that being said, I felt like going into the NAPLEX, I felt very confident and solid.
Speaker: So shout out to you or I.
Speaker: but the calculations definitely I needed to, you know, brush up on.
Speaker: I think that was a big part of it.
Speaker: You know, I felt so out of the clinical cases, but the math was definitely something that was hard to recall, I think, taking it my P1 year.
Speaker: So that's what I felt like was challenging to me, but I don't know about you.
Speaker: So you describe your pharmacy school did a lot to prepare you for the NAPLEX.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, we have a pretty high pass rate.
Speaker: Now, I don't know what it's looking like.
Speaker: I know a lot of pharmacy schools are, you know, we're seeing some changes in the pharmacy or the NAPLEX pass rate.
Speaker: But for the most part, they really did prepare us well.
Speaker: And, you know, I felt pretty solid, especially with my appies.
Speaker: I picked rigorous appies too to prepare me for residency.
Speaker: So, yeah, I mean, I felt like the clinical cases were pretty straightforward, at least.
Speaker: And really the only thing that
Speaker: I think that I really found difficulty in was the math.
Speaker: But what about you?
Speaker: But you said it wasn't that clinical heavy, because I felt like it was very calculation heavy.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, so I'll talk more about my experience later.
Speaker: But the reason why I asked that about your pharmacy school's experience, like really preparing you and really getting you to succeed, my pharmacy school kind of took the opposite approach.
Speaker: They were like, here's your coursework, here's the content, this is the type of stuff that's on the NAPLEX.
Speaker: But as far as like
Speaker: intensive experience or preparation for us to pass the exam.
Speaker: Oh no, we did not get practice NAPLEX exams.
Speaker: We didn't get practice or the RX prep book at the discount.
Speaker: I, I think the only way we got that was actually like one of my, if I remember right, one of my classmates like reached out to RX prep, facilitating the group code.
Speaker: They were very much like, Oh,
Speaker: You all are adults and you can do it.
Speaker: We trust that you know how to pass a test.
Speaker: And I think there's some truth to that because where I was at University of Kansas, they have had consistently one of the highest first pass and complete NAPLEX pass rates, like upper 90s, if not like, I'm pretty sure one year was like 99, 98.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: I've always been torn.
Speaker: Like, do you go to a school that like really handholds and helps you through that?
Speaker: Or do you get a school that says, we're going to give you the tools, but this is up like it's on you to pass the exam, which is, you know, in a way it's kind of risky because when you think about it, that's what some people look at for pharmacy school successes or pharmacy school success.
Speaker: How, what are their NAPLEX pass rates and what are their MPJE?
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: I know I kind of felt like, all right, if I'm going to pass the NAPLEX, I need to figure out a system to make sure I feel comfortable with the content.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, that's a good point.
Speaker: I think I wouldn't say you are really held our hands when it came to studying for the NAPLEX.
Speaker: I think throughout the four years, they were very hard on us and challenged us clinically in whatever we were studying.
Speaker: So I think by the end of it, we were so used to, you know,
Speaker: these complex questions that when we saw the NAPLEX, we're like, oh, this is a no-brainer.
Speaker: But they did.
Speaker: With that being said, we didn't have like a forced NAPLEX like prep.
Speaker: I think a lot of schools are now doing that where they make you do certain quizzes and stuff every so often in your last year.
Speaker: And I think that's great too to brush up on.
Speaker: I think looking back, I wish I sort of had that.
Speaker: But we did.
Speaker: I think the only one of the benefits was having the RX prep, now UWorld, and
Speaker: the RxPrep pre-Naplex for free.
Speaker: So we all got a code and we were able to have that for free for a certain amount of time.
Speaker: So that's really nice.
Speaker: Was it free or did it come out of your tuition?
Speaker: It probably came out of our tuition.
Speaker: Let's be real here.
Speaker: I'm just teasing you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: So, you know.
Speaker: So I guess the main point there is if your school offers it, it's probably coming out of your tuition.
Speaker: You should probably use it.
Speaker: Oh, I'm using it.
Speaker: Yeah, if I'm getting it for free, I'm sure I'm paying it somehow, some way.
Speaker: So let's talk a little bit about our experiences with the content that we saw.
Speaker: But full disclaimer, don't know where this is going to be at in the episode, but you're not going to get any freebies from the episode.
Speaker: We're going to talk about the things that are the strategies that we found helpful for taking the exam, but you're not going to get a, oh, I saw this specific question and this is how I answered it.
Speaker: I think I was right.
Speaker: That's not happening on this.
Speaker: Just like the MPJE episode, no freebies here.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So what was your experience like?
Speaker: Because I think we kind of had, I guess now listening to you, we sort of had a little bit of a different experience taking the NAPLEX.
Speaker: So I'm curious to what it was.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Wouldn't you take it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because I took mine, I took my exam a year before you because I graduated in 2021.
Speaker: And that was the year I was told, all right, there's, I can't remember if it was that year that the changes were going to be implemented, but they had said, you know, anticipate a lot more case-based clinical application questions.
Speaker: So that's really what I spent the majority on.
Speaker: I like really hit the RX prep book and the test bank questions really focusing on the pharmacotherapy.
Speaker: Like if I had a patient with this disease, what are my drug options?
Speaker: How, what are, what are the key considerations I need to have for each agent?
Speaker: So the other aspect was, you know, there's also the compounding, there's like some public health pieces, there's some less pharmacotherapy specific cases, and more of like the calculations, which is what I was told the NAPLEX used to be more of.
Speaker: So I made sure I was familiar enough with the calculations to where I could do them, but I didn't spend a significant amount of time.
Speaker: I did it enough to where I felt comfortable and I could approach a question like that.
Speaker: But I put my eggs in the basket of pharmacotherapy.
Speaker: And when it came test time, this is what's going to drive some people crazy.
Speaker: I know any calculations professor that I interacted with would be like, why would you do that?
Speaker: But the calculations questions, I was like, oh, I know how to do this.
Speaker: But I felt so confident and comfortable with the clinical application questions.
Speaker: I honestly skipped almost all the calculation questions.
Speaker: Like...
Speaker: I did a handful of them like, okay, yeah, this is where I feel like I got this right.
Speaker: This is good.
Speaker: This one's good.
Speaker: And I was like halfway through the exam, like I don't feel bad about any of the answers that I'm putting in.
Speaker: So I just skipped a lot of them.
Speaker: I still passed and I was my year of taking it.
Speaker: We could still see our scores before it switched over to the pass fail.
Speaker: And I got a really high NAPLIC score.
Speaker: So, I mean, there's some truth to that.
Speaker: Yeah, so I'm not telling everyone to completely gloss over the calculations and skip over it.
Speaker: But if you feel confident in your question or the answers that you're providing, don't like spend, because the thing is, when you think about the questions, and I don't know how they're ranked or scored or whatever, but you only have so much time to take the exam.
Speaker: Now, granted, I walked out of the exam with way too much time.
Speaker: I think I had like an hour and a half
Speaker: Oh, you're one of those.
Speaker: I'm sorry.
Speaker: I'm sorry.
Speaker: Yes, I'm one of those.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You're annoying.
Speaker: We are going to exclude you from this podcast episode now.
Speaker: I used up all the time and I still think I didn't have enough time.
Speaker: And yeah, I'm very jealous because I think I had a co-resident who just said the same.
Speaker: And like, yeah, I just walked out like with an hour left.
Speaker: I'm like, how did you do that?
Speaker: It was like, I couldn't even think.
Speaker: Can you tell I used to be bound for like emergency medicine?
Speaker: Like I know I like questions right away.
Speaker: I don't want to think too much.
Speaker: I was like, those people who finished an Apex early, there is something going on there because I am not that person.
Speaker: So if you're like me listening and you're scared, do not feel alone because I used up all the time and I still felt – and I was still rushing through the last maybe 30 questions.
Speaker: So if I could give any advice looking back, it's definitely to, you know, take your time but also don't spend so much time getting caught up in one question.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And just keep moving forward.
Speaker: And so I think that's something that I really struggled with.
Speaker: And, you know, looking back, I'm like, wow, I wish I had more.
Speaker: I took more time to really answer the questions effectively in a timely manner.
Speaker: And that's really important, too.
Speaker: Yeah, especially, I mean, it's a minimum competency exam.
Speaker: You only have to get so many right.
Speaker: If you skip everything, then of course you're going to fail.
Speaker: But knowing like, okay, this question, I can't remember right now.
Speaker: I just have that block.
Speaker: I've already spent this much time and I am not ringing any bells and I'm stuck here.
Speaker: Skip it.
Speaker: Yeah, you have a certain amount of time and it's just not worth it when you can really spend your time on another thing.
Speaker: I think I saw a couple of calculation questions.
Speaker: I'm like, I have no idea how to go about this and I just got to skip it.
Speaker: And I have to just trust myself and know that I can spend more time on another question.
Speaker: That's, you know, that's worth it for me.
Speaker: So, so yeah, I mean, I had a different, I think, experience, you know, from you where I thought it was more calculation heavy.
Speaker: And yeah, and I thought, I was like, man, I'm
Speaker: I wish I studied calculations a lot more.
Speaker: I underestimated it.
Speaker: And I think RxPrep did a really good job at highlighting the calculations portion.
Speaker: However, I think they did go in depth with the clinical portion.
Speaker: And I think there's a lot of things that you can emit from that, from that, you know, from that, from studying.
Speaker: So there's, you know, pros and cons.
Speaker: Agreed.
Speaker: I remember there were some practice questions on RxPrep that I was like, I didn't even know this was something to consider.
Speaker: And I'm asking all my preceptors if they've ever heard of this.
Speaker: And they're like, oh, no, I learned something today.
Speaker: I don't think it's applicable to my practice or ever will be.
Speaker: But cool fact.
Speaker: I mean, it's great if you want to get, you know, extra knowledge and extra clinical knowledge before you go into residency.
Speaker: I felt like very prepared.
Speaker: But when I took the exam and sat down, I'm like, wow, I wish I just made a quiz of the top 200 drugs, knew their indications and main adverse effects, and I would be good to go and study the calculations well.
Speaker: And I thought, you know, I thought that was sufficient enough to pass.
Speaker: But that's my experience, right?
Speaker: Everyone's going to have a different opinion.
Speaker: So, you know, maybe as time goes on, they're going to change in that place a little bit more.
Speaker: But that's kind of my thoughts to it.
Speaker: Yeah, I think we should build a little bit off of what we saw on rotation because I agree there's a great way to incorporate what we studied and prepared for the NAPLEX to what we saw in clinical practice.
Speaker: But like we said earlier, the NAPLEX is a test of minimum competency.
Speaker: What you're going to see on rotation is going to be
Speaker: somewhat similar, but there's going to be very big differences.
Speaker: I can say as now an almost graduated PGY2 ID resident, looking at some of the stuff on the RX prep book and what I can try and remember from my prior training, it's like, oh my gosh, no, I don't agree with this at all.
Speaker: And in fact, I would purposefully answer it wrong to prove a point, even though it wouldn't do anything.
Speaker: But you're going to see things on...
Speaker: the rx prep book and your other naplex prep resources that are different than what's on on the exam and when you think about it clinical practice is evolving a little bit faster than what's being covered in that material even we see that with like what you experience on rotation and in the classroom
Speaker: I mean, when we do our episode on like, you know, how to succeed and fail in a rotation, just referring to your school notes and not knowing how to look at PubMed in the latest and greatest clinical, clinical trials and evidence, you'll, you'll be behind.
Speaker: So,
Speaker: It is very important that when you go through your rotations, know that, yeah, what you see on a on the exam may be different than what is actually done in practice.
Speaker: That is OK.
Speaker: Just remember the difference of like, oh, this is how it's done in practice, but this is what I've learned from from pharmacy education and and all that stuff.
Speaker: So, I mean, we could talk about resources.
Speaker: I know we touched upon a little bit of RxPrep, and now it's actually UWorld.
Speaker: So I know we keep us old, old folks over here refer to it as RxPrep, but it's UWorld now.
Speaker: Calling it RxPrep makes my hair recede even more.
Speaker: Can we just give a shout out to that wonderful woman on RxPrep videos?
Speaker: Do you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker: I never watch the videos, so I don't-
Speaker: Oh my gosh.
Speaker: It's this queen.
Speaker: She's so great.
Speaker: I forget her name.
Speaker: But she's like all over all the like, Oh, all the Gen Z pharmacists are like Gen Z new grads are like posting about her.
Speaker: So she's great.
Speaker: She was so funny on the, I need to go and look at that then because I can remember there's the woman that's in the book and she just like portrays the guy in there as a complete idiot.
Speaker: And it's kind of funny.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker: Study tip gal or something.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: No, there's, if you get, you can get you world, but you also get access depending on what package I think you get.
Speaker: You can also get access to the videos if you're not really a person to read the book.
Speaker: So she actually taught certain topics and, uh, I just keep seeing a lot of funny memes about her and, and she's great.
Speaker: She's super funny.
Speaker: So she keeps the, she keeps the atmosphere, uh, bright and, uh,
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Vibrant, I guess I should say.
Speaker: But yeah, we'll come back to that.
Speaker: I'll have to look at that.
Speaker: I'm curious now.
Speaker: Yeah, that's funny.
Speaker: But yeah, so I mean, as far as resources go, what do you feel like helped you?
Speaker: What do you, I guess, what would you say looking back?
Speaker: What do you wish you did differently, maybe studying for the NAPA?
Speaker: So I think one of the things I was very glad I did was I started studying early, but not with the idea of like, I'm going to master this Rx prep book and get all through it in a certain time.
Speaker: It was, I just wanted to take my time.
Speaker: I didn't want to stress about it.
Speaker: Like when you think about, um,
Speaker: the time that you have on your rotations, you don't want to take away rotation time for NAPLEX prep time or MPJE prep time.
Speaker: If you're applying for residencies, you're already going to have a ton of time taken away from that.
Speaker: You could be investing in your rotations all for residency applications, or if you're also working a job on top of residency, which I did.
Speaker: And that was so time consuming.
Speaker: It was very hard to find any time for myself.
Speaker: So yeah,
Speaker: Planning out how you're going to prep for that exam long in advance and just really have a plan, a study plan that you can adhere to that really fits your, your needs and what you, well, what you need to pass.
Speaker: That question gets asked all the, all the time.
Speaker: How much do I, or how much do I need to study for the exam?
Speaker: It depends on how well you perform, perform on exams.
Speaker: How well do you retain information?
Speaker: how long do you need reading a chapter to absorb that information and how many times you need to do practice questions before you feel like you've really got the material down.
Speaker: Some people can do that in four days.
Speaker: Some people can do it in four months.
Speaker: I think looking back to, I wish I did what you did where I think I, you know, I wish I studied a lot earlier on in my P in my P four year or during my P four year, I should say.
Speaker: And yeah, I mean, I,
Speaker: I was kind of cramming at the end because I was so busy with appies and preparing for residency and getting and moving and stuff.
Speaker: So it was very hectic time.
Speaker: So I wish I took that time earlier on just to kind of space it out and not feel as stressed towards the end of it, which I think would have relieved a lot of anxiety and test anxiety when I went in to take the actual NAPLEX.
Speaker: Because, you know, the worst is just being super anxious for it and really being able to think straight just because you're anxious.
Speaker: You know, it doesn't mean that you're not smart or anything.
Speaker: But, you know, I think it would have definitely helped me.
Speaker: So I think studying early is a very, very good idea.
Speaker: And you don't have to master it in one day.
Speaker: Just read a couple pages a day, you know.
Speaker: Study calculations for one hour a day a couple months before the Netflix.
Speaker: And just hold yourself to it.
Speaker: And I think that's a big, big thing.
Speaker: Something too that I liked that I tell anyone that's preparing for the exam.
Speaker: And I was telling my mentee this actually today.
Speaker: One of my favorite things I did with the RX prep book to really help me understand the difference between clinical practice and what I learned in school, what's going to be on the test was depending on the rotation I had and what learning activities I had that week,
Speaker: I would try and overlay the, like use the RX prep book as a supplemental material to learn for it.
Speaker: So like, all right, we're going to do a topic discussion on community acquired pneumonia.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I would read the community acquired pneumonia guidelines.
Speaker: I would read any pre readings that my preceptor would give me, but I'd also look at the RX prep chapter and see, okay, what in here talks about pneumonia.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Why are there huge variations between the antibiotic that's recommended here?
Speaker: So I found that helpful because I learned, all right, this is how I'm going to answer a test question, but here's how I'm going to answer when I'm taking care of a patient when I have this other information.
Speaker: Because, you know, I have yet to have a situation where I was like, ah, I've seen this exact kind of patient on a test.
Speaker: You don't have that information.
Speaker: You can't put an entire electronic medical record into a single standardized exam question.
Speaker: I think another thing looking back too is I, you know, when reviewing the exam and taking the pre-naplex and seeing, you know, questions that I got wrong,
Speaker: I, you know, I started practicing things that I felt comfortable in and I would keep going back to those sections, right?
Speaker: So like infectious diseases, I felt very comfortable in and it almost felt like my comfort zone studying that material and I sort of avoided the material that I didn't like.
Speaker: And so I don't know if you have any advice on how to study the things that don't really interest you because I always feel like those are the parts that you might not do as well, you know, in.
Speaker: Yeah, so let's say it's an area that I've really tried to practice for all of my standardized exams is when I go through practice material, the stuff that I get wrong, I write on a piece of paper or write it on a Word document of what I got wrong.
Speaker: And so I'm taking note of where I suck so I know where I need to spend more time on.
Speaker: And until I feel confident in answering those types of questions in those domains, it stays on that priority sheet.
Speaker: So it's, I don't know, I call it, I originally called it the fishbowl method because I had like a bowl next to me and like not that kind of bowl, a like salad bowl or like it was a large glass and I was just writing down like, oh, okay.
Speaker: Cause I was actually studying for the PCAT.
Speaker: That archaic thing.
Speaker: If I got a question wrong, I was like, okay, what is this question assessing my knowledge of?
Speaker: Okay, this, this, and this.
Speaker: Wrote that on a piece of paper, threw it in the fishbowl.
Speaker: And so when I was like, all right, time to study.
Speaker: What do I want to study right now?
Speaker: Anything in that fishbowl was stuff I needed to work on.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Is it a way also forcing myself, like, I don't get to choose.
Speaker: I can't get around that.
Speaker: I just want to study what I like to study.
Speaker: Like, nope.
Speaker: What is in there is what I need to prioritize.
Speaker: I would study HIV very well and keep looking over it, and I'm like, I really got to go to oncology.
Speaker: There are certain sections to...
Speaker: When I was taking the exam, I'm like, all right, I should have focused a little bit more on this.
Speaker: And I had time to, but I was focusing more on other things.
Speaker: So designating that time and knowing which spots are your weak spots is really important.
Speaker: Can you give any advice on like when to take the NAPLEX?
Speaker: Because I feel like students are up in the air.
Speaker: You either are like, oh, I'm just going to keep pushing it back and pushing it back and everyone keeps rescheduling theirs.
Speaker: Or do you just take it and get it over with?
Speaker: I mean, I have mixed feelings about it.
Speaker: I think you're never going to truly feel ready for an exam like this until you actually sit down and take it.
Speaker: And then you're like, wow, I wish I took this two months ago.
Speaker: Um, yeah, I completely agree because that's the approach I do with the MPJE recently.
Speaker: Like as soon as I was able to take that Missouri MPJE, I just scheduled the earliest date that I could because I was like, I'm going to study as much as I feel to the point where I feel comfortable.
Speaker: Whether that's two months from now or in this case, it was like three weeks.
Speaker: Don't do that.
Speaker: Don't do that.
Speaker: So I'm not saying do that for your first exam like this.
Speaker: Don't, don't.
Speaker: Like I said, everybody's experience is going to be different.
Speaker: So pick a date that, you know, reasonably you're like, all right, I think I could get the amount of studying I need in that amount of time.
Speaker: And hold yourself to it.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: I felt like scheduling my NAPLEX was a really big thing for me because it held me to a date.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And I was sort of tight on money, so I couldn't schedule my NAPLEX like a regular, I don't know, like a regular person.
Speaker: So I had to keep waiting until I actually had the funds to pay for it because it's very expensive, as we know.
Speaker: And so I was still a resident, you know, doing orientation, but I, you know, just couldn't afford it.
Speaker: And I couldn't take it early, unfortunately.
Speaker: And so...
Speaker: I had to kind of postpone it, but, you know, if I could, I maybe I would have taken it a little bit early.
Speaker: Something we should highlight too, though, is if you can.
Speaker: Such like we should have said this in the like transition from student to PGY1 resident episode, but try and get this crap knocked out before you start residency.
Speaker: It's not always possible.
Speaker: It's not always possible.
Speaker: I would totally recommend that.
Speaker: Unfortunately, some people graduate like in July.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: There's one.
Speaker: My pharmacy school was like that.
Speaker: Mine.
Speaker: I couldn't take my exam until like two weeks in orientation.
Speaker: I was the same way.
Speaker: Plus on top of not financially being able to afford it.
Speaker: So it was like even more.
Speaker: And I'm like, where is my ATT at?
Speaker: So if you can relate, you're not alone.
Speaker: But if you are one of those lucky people that are able to take it early, you probably maybe have already taken it in May.
Speaker: Try to take it earlier.
Speaker: It will save you a lot of time.
Speaker: And especially too, if you're someone that thinks they're going to fail, you know, there's, it's different for everybody, but if you take it earlier, you have more time to retake it.
Speaker: You know, that's something you need to work with your employer, your RPD, that what would happen if you fail, how flexible can they be?
Speaker: Surprisingly, places are pretty flexible.
Speaker: You just have to ask and know how to read your residency manual and, you know,
Speaker: and working with your employers so it's not the end of the world if you fail so don't don't think that so don't do don't do that approach of like i'm just going to take it right now and then let's see if i pass it if i have to retake it oh well like don't don't go that crazy but
Speaker: That's an, that's, that's also very expensive because you get to pay all of the fees a second time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Take that into consideration too.
Speaker: Um, I also got a question.
Speaker: I think it was in one of my DMs.
Speaker: Um, it might've been on TikTok, but what do you recommend for some students that have failed the NAPLEX multiple times?
Speaker: What would you say would be your advice?
Speaker: Cause I was thinking about this question.
Speaker: I was like, how do I, how would I go about this?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I think it would depend right on which sections I got wrong.
Speaker: Is it consistent?
Speaker: Am I getting like the same calculations portion wrong every time or is it more like clinical pharmacotherapy stuff?
Speaker: So I think it would really depend and I'd sort of find my weak spot.
Speaker: If it's all of them, then that's totally fine too.
Speaker: I think then you have a different study approach.
Speaker: But I think it's a little bit easier when you can kind of pinpoint where your weak spots are.
Speaker: Yeah, I think there's a lot to unpack there because everyone has different reasons why they could be failing multiple times.
Speaker: I think at that point I would be looking into seeing if there's some non-clinical, non-test-taking issue.
Speaker: I'm thinking, is there some test-taking anxiety that needs to be addressed?
Speaker: Do you need to see a therapist or a psychiatrist?
Speaker: At that point I'd be wondering, you probably know the stuff,
Speaker: you probably like you can do it.
Speaker: You just need to request the reasonable accommodations or get the therapy that you need.
Speaker: I had a classmate that was like that, like she was really struggling with exams.
Speaker: And then once she like got the accommodations that she needed, now she was like beating many people in the class.
Speaker: Like it's not so much a, you are bad at taking the, like you don't know the content, like you just need the accommodations.
Speaker: So I think that's what I would be first thinking about.
Speaker: And if that's not been done,
Speaker: then I mean really doing a lot of self-reflection, like ask yourself, why are you failing so many times?
Speaker: Are you spending too much time on questions?
Speaker: Because that hangs a lot of people up.
Speaker: Are you not doing well in calculations?
Speaker: Is the clinical knowledge not there?
Speaker: Or is it a certain domain area?
Speaker: I feel like if you're failing at multiple times, it's probably not just one area.
Speaker: But again, this is just pure guessing or anecdotal information
Speaker: or anecdote, but I don't think it's so much not knowing the exam, just not knowing how to take the exam.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Or not having the resources you need to succeed taking the exam.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: I think it comes down to the resources.
Speaker: I don't think that somebody's just not capable or they're just not smart enough.
Speaker: I think there's probably something underlying perhaps.
Speaker: And I can't assume or anything, but yeah, definitely get those accommodations and see if it helps you.
Speaker: All right, so now I think it's time we highlight what I'm super excited about.
Speaker: The reason for us wearing our sweaters, but although full disclaimer, I have joined with Pearls as being a clinical content advisor, but we're not getting paid for how many people sign up or anything like that.
Speaker: We just, we, you know, we share the vision that they have of wanting to be, you know,
Speaker: equitable in people being able to, you know, take the exam, not because if you think about it, you know, there are a lot of companies that their business model is preying off of people like having anxiety about things.
Speaker: Like I can't tell you how many like test taking prep courses are like, oh, you are not going to fail if you take our stuff.
Speaker: Are you worried about failing?
Speaker: We'll just pay $1,300 and we'll make sure you won't fail.
Speaker: Like I hate that so much.
Speaker: Like people already have terrible test anxiety as is.
Speaker: So seeing someone like Pearls who has made a practice NAPLEX exam with the rationales to each question included for 225 questions free if you sign up.
Speaker: So by making an account with them, which they do have a free version, this free version gives you access to a bunch of their pharmacotherapy charts that are great for using on rotation.
Speaker: But also this free NAPLEX test, this free NAPLEX practice exam, 225 questions.
Speaker: I've gone through and looked at the questions and they're solid.
Speaker: They're not stupid questions that are like, which of the following is an antibiotic?
Speaker: Amoxicillin?
Speaker: a tour of a statin or Humira.
Speaker: Like it's not those kinds of questions.
Speaker: Like these are very well thought out questions.
Speaker: I wasn't even a part of making it.
Speaker: So I, I hope I get to at some point because, you know, writing those kinds of test questions can be a lot of fun.
Speaker: But looking at the questions, like they're solid.
Speaker: They, I, I'm impressed with it.
Speaker: I seriously wish I had something like that when I was a fourth year student going on to take my, my NAPLEX because test taking materials expensive.
Speaker: So to see a company like this saying, Hey,
Speaker: Here's something that we put a lot of effort into making a high quality product for free.
Speaker: That is some smart marketing.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, it's amazing.
Speaker: It's just that you're promoting the profession and you're also making it equitable for all these pharmacy students to access it.
Speaker: And I love it.
Speaker: I love Pearl's content in general.
Speaker: Even before I found out about this NAPLEX, I actually subscribed to their emails because I'm not doing so many clinical things.
Speaker: But I love seeing their charts and they always have updated charts.
Speaker: charts that they, you know, will update you on.
Speaker: So I love seeing their emails.
Speaker: I love seeing things pop through.
Speaker: It's super easy to read, very fun visual graphics.
Speaker: And I use them a lot on my Appy rotations and even just referring back to things for the NAPLEX too.
Speaker: So definitely take a look if you're an Appy student or pharmacy student in general too.
Speaker: You don't even have to be going into residency or taking the NAPLEX.
Speaker: Definitely subscribe and, you know, take a look at their content.
Speaker: It might help you.
Speaker: Yeah, something I didn't even realize looking at it, you know, I know they have some type of special pricing for pharmacy students, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker: But, you know, as someone who has moved into a specialist in the specialist realm, like I've done a PGY2 in ID.
Speaker: That's like all I've really seen for the last year.
Speaker: Yes, I'm trying to stay up to date on like my internal medicine topics.
Speaker: I'm still caring for patients that have non ID problems.
Speaker: But the charts on here have been pretty helpful of like, oh, there was a big update to COPD management recently.
Speaker: Oh, okay, here's a quick way to like brush myself up on any major changes.
Speaker: So I'm a big fan of pearls and I haven't even been using it that long.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I actually use it in pharmacy school a little bit, and I love their desktop widget.
Speaker: And this is not like an ad or anything, but I love seeing it.
Speaker: And they actually gave like fun pharmacy facts every day.
Speaker: You just pull up your computer and it would say some cool thing and some sort of tip.
Speaker: So it always – it could help you memorize things and study for the Netflix.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's just another cool thing they do.
Speaker: So I love that they're making it accessible for students.
Speaker: But yeah, okay.
Speaker: Well, that's our promo for pearls.
Speaker: Go check them out.
Speaker: There's no code you need to put in saying that you're from the podcast.
Speaker: Probably a good idea to do that next time though.
Speaker: Just go enjoy the free content that they have and just study.
Speaker: And I'm glad they have that out there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Let's dive into our peaks and troughs.
Speaker: I think I went first last time.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: are you ready or do I need to hit pause while we think about it for a second?
Speaker: No, I think I'm good actually.
Speaker: I had a, you know, I had a very rough week, but I also had a very good week if that makes sense.
Speaker: So, um, yeah, definitely a lot of peaks and troughs.
Speaker: So let's start with my peaks.
Speaker: I think my peak would definitely see my pharmacy students succeed in sort of
Speaker: come full circle, right?
Speaker: Like seeing her go from, you know, P like a P2 to P3 and just being able to mentor her.
Speaker: And I remember when I was in her situation and her shoes.
Speaker: So just seeing her like do very well and reach her goals and not only me acknowledging her, but like my boss acknowledging her and for her hard work.
Speaker: And it's been really great to see her grow, you know, as a young researcher.
Speaker: So that's what I love.
Speaker: Makes my job worth it.
Speaker: And
Speaker: this is why I go to work.
Speaker: So I absolutely love it.
Speaker: Just a good reminder of why I am where I am.
Speaker: We also have a couple other people, new students and new trainees.
Speaker: So it's great having them rotate through the lab.
Speaker: That's an awesome peak, and I think we have a theme this week because my peak is also about mentoring.
Speaker: I have a student that's from, or we're from, I cannot speak today, from where I went to pharmacy school.
Speaker: Shout out, hey, Roz.
Speaker: So, I mean, my peak is getting to see someone who is as passionate about infectious disease as I am, but also seeing that self-reflection happening this early.
Speaker: So we had talked a bit about how do we ask those questions?
Speaker: How do we figure out if residency is right for us?
Speaker: How do we look at the things that are going to help us become a future good resident, good pharmacist, and then eventually a good preceptor?
Speaker: And based off of what we had talked about in our last meeting, she had done it.
Speaker: She had employed it.
Speaker: She was like, yeah, I took that advice.
Speaker: I implemented it.
Speaker: And I realized this is what I'm going to want and what I don't want in a residency program.
Speaker: I'm like,
Speaker: The fact that you have this down in June is so far beyond your peers.
Speaker: This is fantastic.
Speaker: So, you know, seeing someone who is that motivated and also someone that takes advice, like,
Speaker: I feel like, you know, within this era of like so much information, so much knowledge out there that, you know, being an expert is not looked at as highly as it used to be.
Speaker: So I think having someone who's like, yeah, I'll take your advice.
Speaker: And then you see them do it and they have a great results.
Speaker: Like they're happy.
Speaker: You're happy.
Speaker: Like, this is good.
Speaker: I like this.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I can agree.
Speaker: It gives me all the warm fuzzies.
Speaker: So yeah, no, I, I, yeah, it just makes me happy.
Speaker: And
Speaker: Yeah, seeing someone so excited about like research and doing really well in it too and taking that advice is just awesome.
Speaker: So I love when students ask questions, they're inquisitive, they want to learn.
Speaker: That's like all I can ask for.
Speaker: And so I'm just super excited when I get a student like that.
Speaker: You know, you don't have to be the smartest, but when you're just curious and you're just genuinely, you know, you just want to learn and grow as a pharmacist in general, it's awesome to see stuff.
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker: Every, every preceptor will take someone who's willing to learn over someone who already knows everything like every single time.
Speaker: So my trough, I kind of had a rough weekend.
Speaker: I think, um, I had sort of a family emergency, had to fly out pretty abruptly and then, um, you know, had to deal with the death of one of my close family members.
Speaker: And so, uh, that's definitely my, my trough.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: But just sort of navigating that and work and having a lot of new things sort of come in and feel really anxious for that and also feel like I have this obligation, you know, for my family.
Speaker: It's really hard to kind of balance those two things.
Speaker: But I think at the end of the day, it's, you know, take that time for yourself.
Speaker: I look back.
Speaker: I'm like, you know what?
Speaker: It's okay.
Speaker: I can take an extra day or two off.
Speaker: It's not the end of the world.
Speaker: And people will live and people will survive in the lab without me.
Speaker: But, you know, you need this time to spend with your family and it's important.
Speaker: So, you know, if you're kind of in that situation, kind of maybe, I don't know, think –
Speaker: I don't know if you're in the same situation.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Do you have any advice Hunter?
Speaker: Do you have any other experience?
Speaker: No, I mean, even thinking about that, you know, whenever I, I was in a similar situation to you when I was an appy student, it was whenever mid-year was virtual and my grandfather had passed away of COVID and the funeral was going to be on the day of the showcase that had, I think it was like the morning and evening session.
Speaker: And I was like, mom and dad, like, I can't miss the showcase for grandpa's funeral.
Speaker: So my grandmother moves the funeral to the following Monday or when?
Speaker: No, was it Monday?
Speaker: Oh, gosh, I can't remember the dates now.
Speaker: But I remember the funeral got moved.
Speaker: So my family could accommodate me to attend the day of both showcases.
Speaker: Now, granted, the day that the funeral was moved to, there was the afternoon showcase, which
Speaker: Which, you know, looking back, looking in the moment, I was like, oh my gosh, my family's so awesome.
Speaker: They're being so accommodating for me.
Speaker: Now I look at it, it's like, holy crap.
Speaker: That was horrible.
Speaker: I can't believe I even asked that.
Speaker: Like, looking back, I should have messaged everyone I was interested in talking to saying, look, I really wanted to show up to your showcase today, but my grandfather passed away.
Speaker: Like,
Speaker: It was one of those eye-opening moments of, you know what, life events happen and you are going to have conflicting priorities, but being able to make the call of family is more important right now.
Speaker: It's hard.
Speaker: It is so hard.
Speaker: So I'm proud of you for taking that extra time because it's hard.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, looking back to I wish I took even more time as well.
Speaker: You know, I'm like, does it really matter?
Speaker: You know, looking back at my priorities and it's just really hard.
Speaker: You're a student, you think certain things or, you know, you're a new grad and, you know, you think of your priorities are just different.
Speaker: And so it's it's definitely a tough thing.
Speaker: But, you know, think about it for a second and see what the bigger picture is.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: I probably do the same thing, though, if I was a student case.
Speaker: Yeah, they're that those virtual cases were very important.
Speaker: So, you know, you think it's the end of the world when you're a student, but you're in this position, like doesn't even I didn't show up to the showcase to be quite honest with you to even match.
Speaker: But everyone puts that in your head.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: And you don't want to let anyone down.
Speaker: Everyone's overachiever to in pharmacies.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: Yeah, so anyways.
Speaker: My trough is not near as severe as yours.
Speaker: It was more lighthearted.
Speaker: It was more... One of the ways I have tried to stay consistent with exercise is I will use the VR.
Speaker: There's...
Speaker: So there's like the supernatural boxing.
Speaker: It's a ton of fun.
Speaker: But one of the ways, like if I'm really struggling to say like, am I going to work out today?
Speaker: Like I try to tell myself like, no, I want to have fun today.
Speaker: So I'll do a game called Blade and Sorcery, which is a gladiator arena.
Speaker: And let me tell you, it is so much fun to throw on that headset, be in the middle of an arena.
Speaker: Like the living room now is an arena and I am holding swords, pretty much reenacting 300.
Speaker: Does your wife get to play too?
Speaker: Oh yeah, she's played it too.
Speaker: She doesn't like the Blaine Sorcerer one.
Speaker: Can you guys play together though?
Speaker: We can't play together for that one, but there are other multiplayer games like that where we can be active.
Speaker: But this one, this is more single player, but it is so much fun because I will get so into it.
Speaker: That sounds so fun.
Speaker: I've always seen those and I'm like, I really want to do it.
Speaker: It's so much fun.
Speaker: Totally worth it.
Speaker: I mean, you know, the headsets are worth like $300 and the game itself is like $40 or $50.
Speaker: But oh my gosh, it is the best way for me to unleash like mad feelings, sad feelings.
Speaker: Like now the game can be very graphic.
Speaker: So like on the days where I'm like, I just had a terrible day at work and I'm like, come here.
Speaker: Like I take their head off.
Speaker: I'm like, oh, okay.
Speaker: Um, I don't know if this is a healthy way of getting rid of my emotions, but it's working and no one's getting harmed.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's, it's one way.
Speaker: Hey, it could be worse.
Speaker: You go to other coping skills.
Speaker: So I'm glad it's VR.
Speaker: I, you're not to give a drop that recommendation, maybe in the podcast, uh, like bio or blurb or whatever the comments.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like you recommend this VR, you know, I mean, I have so much fun with like when I get, whenever I get a long sword and a shield, um,
Speaker: I will be like, all right, what have I seen in movies before?
Speaker: Smack them with the shield.
Speaker: And then come down with the sword.
Speaker: Oh, I've got them on the ground.
Speaker: They're disoriented.
Speaker: Wham, wham.
Speaker: And I'm like, if someone is looking at me in the window, they think there is something wrong with me.
Speaker: But it's just me getting my stress out.
Speaker: Some people go to the gym.
Speaker: Some people play VR.
Speaker: And that's all you need to know.
Speaker: Well, hey, you have to learn how to like the VR and being indoors when you're in Minnesota because these winters keep you from going outside.
Speaker: You either learn the winter sports, which, you know, we're not staying up here.
Speaker: If you're not a winter sport, too.
Speaker: If you're not a winter sport person, then there's no need to, you know.
Speaker: Well, I mean, the winter sports are cool.
Speaker: The winter sports are awesome.
Speaker: I got to go skiing for that time in February, but it is so expensive to get into winter sports, to get good quality equipment.
Speaker: That's a high barrier to get into that.
Speaker: So VR is like, all right, here's 300 bucks in a video game.
Speaker: Go nuts.
Speaker: But all right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Thanks for everyone listening in.
Speaker: I hope you guys can take some of our NAPLEX tips and tricks and advice.
Speaker: And I hope it sort of helps some of you guys out there.
Speaker: And good luck taking your NAPLEX exams.
Speaker: Again, it's not the end of the world if you don't pass.
Speaker: But, you know, study hard, make us proud, and you're going to do our profession very well in the future.
Speaker: Anything else to add, Andrew?
Speaker: I mean, if anyone has questions, you can always message us on our on our website.
Speaker: You can if you have specific comments about the episode, if you found it helpful, if there are things that we missed and you'd like us to bring up in a future episode or do a whole episode on it, message us.
Speaker: We're on Twitter, we're on Instagram.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Well, we'll see everyone on the next episode.
