Tips to Successfully Schedule Your Pharmacist Licensure Exams
When you’re studying to take a pharmacy exam like the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination® (NAPLEX®) or the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination® (MPJE®), the last thing on your mind might be scheduling your testing appointment, but the process is more nuanced than you might think. In this blog post, I will discuss the main components […]
Read More ›Give Pharmacy Students the NAPLEX Advantage
Now available to purchase by colleges of pharmacy, NAPLEX AdvantageTM is a new service developed to help schools prepare students and assess their readiness to take the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX). NAPLEX Advantage includes 3 key features and an experience that can be customized by each school to meet its unique needs. NAPLEX […]
Read More ›Test Scores Have Been Falling. COVID-19 Is Just One Reason.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on the day-to-day lives of nearly all Americans, including students. An ongoing decline in nationwide test scores at all academic levels – from students in K-12 schools to graduates of professional doctoral programs – has largely been attributed to the challenges related to remote learning at the […]
Read More ›Why Pharmacy Law Knowledge is Essential to Patient Safety
Of the examinations that NABP offers to gauge candidates’ readiness for pharmacy practice, the MPJE is the only one that assesses knowledge of state and federal laws and the ability to apply that knowledge in practice. We’ve heard of a misperception that a number of states are considering eliminating or have eliminated jurisprudence examinations for […]
Read More ›Taking the NAPLEX: A Basic Guide
Hard to believe that the end of the 2021-2022 academic year is on the horizon. For many P4 students, it’s an emotional rollercoaster: After all these years of preparing, the finish line is in sight, and your pharmacy career is just beginning. Taking the NAPLEX is one of the final steps you need to take, […]
Read More ›Pharmacists, Here’s How We Develop the Exams You Take
This is the third in a series of posts that explore the rigorous process of building NABP’s examinations. Here, we explain how tests are developed. A previous blog post provided a primer on test validity; however, much of the validity evidence is collected throughout the test development process. Although there are several frameworks for principled assessment design systems, such as evidenced-centered design (eg, […]
Read More ›The Science Behind the Score: The New NAPLEX Candidate Performance Report
This is the second in a series of posts that explore the rigorous process of building NABP’s examinations. Here we explain the creation of the new NAPLEX candidate performance report. The Value of Subscores Before we describe our process of creating our new NAPLEX candidate performance report, it is important to discuss exactly how the […]
Read More ›A Brief Primer on Test Validity Theory
This is the first in a series of posts that explores the rigorous process of building NABP’s examinations. First up: Laying the foundation for an exam’s validity through the interpretation and use argument. The validity of an examination, or assessment, is the most fundamental consideration in the development and evaluation of assessments. Validity is the […]
Read More ›Rigorous process to set exam passing standard shows it’s more than just a number
In a previous blog post, we noted that the NAPLEX blueprint is changing in 2021 and a standard setting panel was conducted this past summer. The purpose of standard setting is to determine a point along a score scale that classifies individuals into specific proficiency categories. For example, a fourth-grade reading test may be designed […]
Read More ›NAPLEX Blueprint Improvements Coming in January 2021
The North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination® (NAPLEX®) is blossoming with changes, but fear not, these changes are only routine improvements to the exam. Every five years we reevaluate the competency statements using licensure testing best practices. Pursuant to our most recent review, new competency statements will go into effect in January 2021. In November 2019, […]
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