The NAPLEX, MPJE, FPGEE, and PCOA travel a long road before they reach a test taker’s desk. Our examination development committees meticulously write and then scrupulously edit each question, hoping to create a group of exams that prepare future pharmacists for any situation they might encounter on the job.
“I think that is our core existence here at NABP – the testing of these pharmacists to be sure that their skill level is at that point where we can safely put them out there in the real world and say, ‘Go practice and take care of your patients,’” says Reginald B. “Reggie” Dilliard, DPh, executive director of the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy and a former NABP Executive Committee member. Dr Dilliard was also the 2017-2018 Executive Committee liaison to the Advisory Committee on Examinations, which reviews the work of the exam-writing committees to ensure quality.
The exam writing groups meet regularly throughout the year. Members are pharmacists from across the country who specialize in all areas of the practice. Writers are split into groups based upon their specialty, such as pharmacology, and write questions for those specialties.
In this 2018 video, Dilliard further explains the exam writing process and how bringing together diverse pharmacy perspectives strengthens the tests.