NAPLEX Exam

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) offers the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) to assess a candidate's capability in the field of pharmacy. You must pass the NAPLEX to find a pharmacist job.

The test is computer-adaptive. It has 185 multiple-choice items, but only 150 are used for the final score. The remaining 35 are used for pre-trial purposes and will be on future tests. Candidates will not know which questions are scored and which are not. Most of the items on the test are fashioned as particular patient profiles. Candidates must be able to read and understand the cases and answer pertinent questions. Some questions stand alone.

The NAPLEX test content is approximately broken down as follows:

• Assure Safe and Effective Pharmacotherapy and Optimize Therapeutic Outcomes - 54%
• Assure Safe and Accurate Preparation and Dispensing of Medications - 35%
• Provide Health Care Information and Promote Public Health - 11%

Candidates will not get a copy of their scores directly from NABP. Instead, the NAPLEX exam score is sent directly to the candidate's board of pharmacy, and they will send the score from there. If a candidate finishes less than 162 of the questions on the test, the test results will not be reported. If a candidate finishes more than 162 but less than 185, the candidate will receive a penalty and the score will be adjusted to the number of questions not finished. It is best to finish all of the questions. A minimum scaled score of at least 75 is needed to pass.