NABP exams are designed and built using an exam blueprint, which provides the content areas and the approximate number of questions for each content area that will be asked on the exam. NABP uses the exam blueprint to develop exams, and external stakeholders such as prospective examinees, colleges of pharmacy, state boards of pharmacy, and the public uses the blueprint to understand what the exam will assess.
The current NAPLEX exam blueprint is called the NAPLEX Competency Statements, which outlines 6 major competency areas, and each area contains sub-competencies. Each of the 6 competency areas has an attached weight, which indicates the approximate number of scored questions for that competency that the NAPLEX will assess.
NABP performs regularly scheduled exam blueprint updates to ensure the NAPLEX continues to assess content reflective of current pharmacy practice. A practice analysis is conducted to update an exam blueprint. Practice analyses have several phases:
Phase 1: A panel of practicing pharmacists determines the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) required to safely perform entry-level pharmacist tasks.
Phase 2: The panel determines the testable KSAs and organizes them in a way that supports test design, allows for quality question writing, and logically groups topics for NAPLEX stakeholders.
Phase 3: A survey is administered to a representative sample of practicing pharmacists to collect feedback on the updated exam blueprint.
Phase 4: The panel of practicing pharmacists and NABP committees finalize the updated exam blueprint using the survey feedback.
Recent Updates to the Content Outline
The most recent NAPLEX practice analysis began in May 2024 and was recently completed, resulting in an updated exam blueprint. The updated NAPLEX exam blueprint is titled the NAPLEX Content Outline and was released on October 1, 2024. The NAPLEX Content Outline will take effect for NAPLEX exams administered on or after May 1, 2025.
The NAPLEX Content Outline organizes the content assessed on the NAPLEX in a different way than the current NAPLEX Competency Statements. During phase 2 of the recent practice analysis, the panel determined that an outline approach, with content areas rather than statements, will allow for the best exam design while also providing item writers flexibility to write the most important and relevant questions within any given content area. The feedback collected from the survey in phase 3 provided evidence that the new outline format addressed all relevant content areas that should be assessed on the NAPLEX.
It is important to note that while the look and feel of the NAPLEX Content Outline is different from past NAPLEX Competency Statements, many current exam questions will be comparable to future exam questions that will be developed using the NAPLEX Content Outline.
Current Competency Statements
All the current NAPLEX Competency Statements correspond with areas on the NAPLEX Content Outline, so all the same information is included in the new format. In the case of the current competency area 4, Perform Calculations, there is a one-to-one mapping to the new content outline area 1.C, Pharmaceutical Calculations. In other cases, current sub-competencies may link to several areas in the new content outline.
Future NAPLEX Updates
Additional information on the NAPLEX Content Outline development, exam question development, and sample exam questions, which demonstrate how exam questions will be classified in the new outline format, can be found in the introductory pages of the NAPLEX Content Outline.
For future exam blueprint updates, the format and structure of the NAPLEX Content Outline will likely be retained, while content areas within the content outline may be updated or reorganized to reflect current pharmacy practice. If you have any questions on the NAPLEX Content Outline, email research@nabp.pharmacy.