What You Need to Know for the Ptcb Exam
Every fourth dimension y'all pick upward a prescription at a drugstore, you might wonder about the career backside the counter. Y'all like the wait of the job. Pharmacy technicians work in clean, bright environments, in the centre of a growing and secure industry—and they assist connect people with the prescriptions they need for happier, healthier lives.
The counter that separates this role from chemist's customers is often just a bit of Formica®. Only recollect of it as a symbol of all the preparation that chemist's technicians take on to become certified pharmacy technicians (CPhTs).
To earn this credential, you'll starting time need to laissez passer the Pharmacy Technician Certification Lath's (PTCB)® Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE)®. If you could use a picayune extra insight into what this exam is similar and how you lot tin prepare for it, read on!
Is the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) required?
The answer to this question is most likely yes. While there are variances from state to land, most states require pharm techs to hold national certification or licensure every bit of 2020, according to the PTCB.1 Check out their map for a quick overview of the chemist's technician requirements in your country. It should be noted that while this article focuses specifically on the PTCB's examination, there'south also a national certification examination offered past the National Healthcareer Association® that, while patently not the aforementioned exam, covers many of the same subjects and is also widely recognized.
Fifty-fifty if your state does not crave chemist's techs to be certified, earning this credential may withal exist a expert thought. According to a PTCB survey, the public wants pharmacy technicians to exist certified, with 85 percent of those survey participants rated certification as "very important."2 Certification helps the public trust the professionals who handle their medications, prescriptions and vaccinations, and employers certainly like to encounter it also.
Some other factor worth considering is that while many pharmacy technicians will work in traditional clinics and commercial pharmacy settings, there are specialized roles within managed care, nuclear pharmacy, veterinary pharmacy and compounding pharmacies where existence certified tin be a big reward.
What to look when taking the PTCB exam
The format of the PTCB examination consists of ninety multiple-option questions. But there's a pocket-sized catch to go on in mind—only lxxx of the multiple-pick questions are scored, while 10 are not. Of class, as the test taker, you won't know which ones count and which ones don't, as they're spread randomly throughout the test. Test takers have i hr and 50 minutes to complete the exam, so with 90 questions to answer, that gives you a minute and 22 seconds per question on average.
To be on top of your game, yous need to know your material. Then what can you wait from the test? Permit's take a look.
Topics covered in the PTCB test
The PTCB exam tests applicants in four categories, which are referred to as "cognition domains" by the board. Inside each of the knowledge domains are more specific subdomains. Test takers can await to cover questions related to these topics:
- Pharmacology for technicians
- Pharmacy police and regulations
- Sterile and non-sterile compounding
- Medication prophylactic
- Pharmacy quality assurance
- Medication order entry and fill procedure
- Chemist's inventory management
- Pharmacy billing and reimbursement
- Pharmacy data system usage and application
For more detailed information about topics that are covered in the examination, prospective exam takers should look at the PTCE content outline.
PTCB exam prep resources
If you're going to take the PTCE, it volition help to get in some serious study fourth dimension. Fortunately, there are several adept resources for students, both from the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board and external sources. Here are some options to consider:
1. Official PTCB Practice Exam
Practice makes perfect—and what improve practice exam is out at that place than the one created by the PTCB itself? The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board offers a practice exam that mirrors the actual exam in both content and format. And then when you sit for the existent exam, you'll exist better prepared for the type of questioning and exam format. Just similar the official exam, the do version contains xc questions, allowing you to footstep yourself confronting the clock at home.
two. Official PTCB Calculations Practice App
Take some spare time while riding the bus or relaxing at dwelling? Just take out your phone and try out the Official PTCB Calculations Do Questions App—available for both Apple tree and Google Play®. The app gives users the opportunity to practice typical adding questions constitute on the test. These questions are actually pulled from earlier versions of the exam, giving students a very realistic look at what they will encounter during the real thing. Like the actual exam, the app includes xc questions. The app likewise contains detailed explanations of how the right answer was adamant.
three. Chemist's shop technician training
There are more than guided means to prepare for and take the exam besides. Some prefer to enroll in a program that teaches the essential PTCB exam material and assists with pharm tech certification. Rasmussen University, for case, offers a Pharmacy Technician Document plan that prepares students to take the Chemist's Technician Certification Exam. The coursework focuses on essential skills along with real-life scenarios for pharmacy technicians. This program can be completed in as few as nine months and includes reimbursement for PTCE application fees.3, 4
4. Library-based resources
Cheque your local library for books related to the PTCB exam. If you are part of a Chemist's shop Technician program at Rasmussen Academy, y'all can brand use of free library resources also. The Library and Learning Services team offers these pharmacy technician exam prep resources.
PTCB test advice
To prepare for the PTCE, Jared Leonard, a former pharmacy technician turned pharmacist, recommends do tests that resemble the actual exam. Additionally, Leonard says at that place are a couple of focus areas that test takers may struggle with.
"I retrieve the most challenging role of the test, and where I'd recommend students spend most of their time preparing, is with the calculations," Leonard said. "It's the highest-rated role of the exam. Y'all need to calculate things like going from grams to milliliters and fluid ounces to milliliters. You'll practice a lot of calculations from the majestic to metric systems of measurement."
Leonard also recommends spending some time studying pharmacy constabulary—know the major laws and regulations guiding pharmacy workers and what they do.
In addition to getting plenty of advance practice and review time in, there are steps you can take to go on test twenty-four hours anxiety in cheque. Little things like getting familiar with the test site, guided meditations and more can help you stay centered and focused solely on the task at hand.
Exist prepared to succeed
There's no denying the healthcare field is an attractive place to start a career. Becoming a pharmacy technician and earning certification is ane of many excellent lower barrier entryways to get started in healthcare.
While you could always try your hand at preparing for the PTCB examination on your own, y'all may desire to consider a structured educational program designed to assistance yous master the concepts and materials needed to pass. The Rasmussen Academy Pharmacy Technician Certificate program could exist the perfect starting signal for your healthcare career didactics.
1"State Regulations Map" Pharmacy Technician Certification Board, December 31, 2020. [Accessed January 2022] https://www.ptcb.org/resources/state-regulations-and-map
2"Survey Shows Three-Quarters of Americans Would Seek Out a Pharmacy Where Chemist's shop Technicians are Certified."Pharmacy Technician Certification Board, October 13, 2016. [Accessed January 2022] https://world wide web.ptcb.org/news/survey-shows-three-quarters-of-americans-would-seek-out-a-chemist's-where-chemist's shop-technicians-are-certified
3Completion time is dependent on the number of transfer credits accepted and the number of courses completed each term.
ivRasmussen University will reimburse the application fee for each qualified student's start endeavour of 1 of the post-obit industry certification exams: Pharmacy Technician Certification Examination® (PTCE®) or Exam for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians (ExCPT). Should you need to take an test more than than once to receive a passing class score, you lot will be responsible for all subsequent exam awarding fees.
Pharmacy Technician Certification Lath (PTCB) and Chemist's Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) are registered trademarks of National Healthcareer Association.
Formica is a registered trademark of The Diller Corporation.
Source: https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/health-sciences/blog/ptcb-exam-advice/#:~:text=Topics%20covered%20in%20the%20PTCB%20exam&text=Pharmacology%20for%20technicians,Medication%20safety
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