Initial Results Demonstrate Moderately Strong Relationship Between NAPLEX Advantage and Future NAPLEX Performance

In January 2024, NABP launched the NAPLEX Advantage™ assessment tool which provides colleges of pharmacy and students with a testing experience that mimics the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination® (NAPLEX®). Like the NAPLEX, the NAPLEX Advantage is administered in a secure and proctored environment. Comprised of 100 questions that were previously used on the NAPLEX, the NAPLEX Advantage is built using the same examination blueprint as the NAPLEX. It also uses the same item types (multiple choice, multiple response, and fill in the blank) and has a comparable overall difficulty level to the NAPLEX. Finally, the same scoring methods are used for both exams.

Along with providing a comparable testing experience, the NAPLEX Advantage was designed to provide information to students and colleges to understand student strengths and weaknesses prior to taking the NAPLEX. Unlike the NAPLEX, the NAPLEX Advantage provides individual score reports to students who both meet and do not meet the passing threshold. These score reports provide scaled scores (overall and competency level) which demonstrate how close the student is to meeting the passing threshold.

Determining the Performance Correlation

With the initial administration of the NAPLEX Advantage closing in August 2024, NABP was able to begin examining performance from those students taking both the NAPLEX Advantage and NAPLEX to determine if there was a relationship between performance on the NAPLEX Advantage and future performance on the NAPLEX.  

A Pearson correlation coefficient was computed to examine the linear relationship between performance on the NAPLEX Advantage and performance on the NAPLEX. The Pearson correlation between NAPLEX Advantage scaled score (overall) and NAPLEX scaled scores (overall) was r=0.687. Pearson’s correlation coefficient can range from negative one (perfect negative linear relationship) to positive one (perfect positive linear relationship) with a 0.6 to 0.79 seen as moderately strong relationship.¹  

A scatterplot of NAPLEX and NAPLEX Advantage scaled scores was generated for this analysis and is shown below. While some students may have taken the NAPLEX more than once (if they failed their initial attempt), only the first attempt on the NAPLEX was used in this analysis.

Analyzing the Correlation

There are several important takeaways from the correlation of NAPLEX Advantage scaled scores and NAPLEX scaled scores.  

1. Through the first administration, NAPLEX Advantage scaled scores had a moderately strong linear relationship with NAPLEX scaled scores. The benefits of this finding may be realized in the college and student performance reports. Students will be able to use their performance reports and scaled scores to determine areas that may need improvement before taking the NAPLEX. Colleges will be able to use the college level performance reports to determine areas that may require more emphasis in the curricula. 

2. It is likely that the correlation in performance on the 2 exams will continue to increase as students and colleges experience the usefulness of the NAPLEX Advantage in understanding performance (strengths and weaknesses) in the different competency areas. Because the NAPLEX Advantage is administered in a proctored environment that models that of the high-stakes NAPLEX, students sit for the practice exam with similar levels of motivation and confidence, providing more accurate performance data.  

The NAPLEX Advantage also benefits students who will not be graduating in the same academic year that they take the NAPLEX Advantage. Regardless of a student’s graduation year, the NAPLEX Advantage provides information on current strengths and weaknesses, and that data can be leveraged to focus studying. When the NAPLEX Advantage is administered multiple times over the course of a student’s enrollment, colleges are also able to track improvement over time for individual students and cohorts of students. 

The Pre-NAPLEX® is an additional resource that enables students to prepare for the NAPLEX. Students may opt to purchase the Pre-NAPLEX as a self-preparation tool. For those students whose schools use the NAPLEX Advantage, the Pre-NAPLEX can serve as a supplemental practice resource that provides immediate performance results. Like the NAPLEX Advantage, the Pre-NAPLEX is composed of real NAPLEX questions used on previous exam iterations, but it differs in that the exam is taken on a student’s own time in a non-proctored environment. Additionally, the Pre-NAPLEX uses the same scoring methods as the high-stakes NAPLEX, which can provide students with the information they need to inform their studying before, between, or following the NAPLEX Advantage or NAPLEX. 

NABP will continue to monitor and report on the predictive nature of the NAPLEX Advantage. If you have any questions or feedback on the NAPLEX Advantage, please send them to advantage@nabp.pharmacy. 

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References

1. Faizi, N, Alvi, Y. Biostatistics Manual for Health Research: A Practical Guide to Data Analysis. Elsevier; 2023.