If you’re a pharmacy student getting ready to take the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX), you’ve probably heard terms like “exam blueprint,” “competency statements,” and “content outline,” but what do these terms really mean? Well, put simply, these are tools that outline the areas of pharmacy practice knowledge that will be tested on the NAPLEX. An exam blueprint lays out the key elements of the exam, and competency statements and content outlines are 2 types of exam blueprints. Starting this year, we will transition the NAPLEX exam blueprint from the competency statement format to a content outline format. In this blog, we will breakdown the updated content outline to better understand the NAPLEX.
How the Content Outline is Created
To ensure the NAPLEX stays up to date with current pharmacy practices, NABP performs regularly scheduled exam blueprint updates. This process is called a practice analysis. This includes discussions with practicing pharmacists to determine the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) required to safely perform entry-level pharmacist tasks. Check out this blog post written by NABP Director of Psychometrics and Research Rob Brucia, PhD, ICE-CCP, for more detailed information about this process.
The most recent NAPLEX practice analysis began in May 2024 and resulted in the updated exam blueprint. The updated NAPLEX exam blueprint, the NAPLEX Content Outline was released on October 1, 2024. This is replacing the previous format from 2021, the Competency Statements. The NAPLEX Content Outline will take effect for NAPLEX exams administered on or after May 1, 2025.
Many of the content areas on the NAPLEX Content Outline correspond with topics found on the previous NAPLEX Competency Statements. As is typical with a practice analysis, some new content areas which are important to contemporary entry-level pharmacy practice were identified in the content outline development. You can see how each NAPLEX Competency Statement links to the 2025 update in this NAPLEX Domain Crosswalk table.
What’s In the Content Outline?
The content outline is composed of 5 content domains. The content domains are the areas of knowledge assessed on the exam. Each domain is weighted appropriately, meaning that one domain might have approximately 80 questions on the exam, while another has 10. Here are each of the content domains, their weight, and their purpose.
| Content Domain | Purpose | Exam Weight (Approximate Number of Questions) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Foundational Knowledge for Pharmacy Practice | Testing your pharmaceutical science knowledge, including compounding, drug development, and more. | 25% (50 questions) |
| 2. Medication Use Process (Prescribing, Transcribing and Documenting, Dispensing, Administering, and Monitoring) | Evaluating your understanding of medications, including drug names and therapeutic classes, substitutions, immunizations, and more. | 25% (50 questions) |
| 3. Person-Centered Assessment and Treatment Planning | Assessing your understanding of patient care, including health histories, patient health conditions, and more. | 40% (80 questions) |
| 4. Professional Practice | Examining your knowledge of public health initiatives, ethical concerns, and more. | 5% (10 questions) |
| 5. Pharmacy Management and Leadership | Showing your comprehension of pharmacy operations, supply management, and more. | 5% (10 questions) |
Each of the 5 major content domains contain subdomains detailing specific topics. Read the full detailed content outline to learn more.
Why is the Content Outline Important?
As a pharmacy student, you can use the NAPLEX Content Outline as a helpful study tool. As the content domains go into detail about each area of the test, you can use them to see what areas you may want to focus your studying on and what you feel confident about. We offer study tools like the Pre-NAPLEX and other practice exams to give your knowledge a trial-run before test day. Also, be sure to sign up for our NAPLEX email series to get application tips and reminders delivered to your inbox, and check out our NAPLEX Candidate Bulletin for guidance throughout every step of the examination process.
