How accurate are the practice tests?

by Steven
(Los Angeles)

I was just wondering how accurate are the free practice tests on this site? I recently took a class for pharm tech and the practice exams in the course text book were kind of difficult and very extensive and the questions on here seem fairly simple and this is in regards to only the math questions


Reply
(by Keith)


By questioning if the math on the 24 free practice quizzes is accurate, I think you're asking if the questions are similar to the PTCB exam.

The pharmacy math questions you see in the practice exams are mostly word problems that involve several factors and variables. They are not taken from the PTCB or ExCPT exams or any book. They are all original content, and designed to make pharmacy technician students think on their feet. In my opinion, they are just as difficult as any you'll see in a 'store bought' book. The difference with the ones on here is mostly that they are often more tricky and less redundant. Authors of books have page minimum quotas, and are trying to make a book seem like a good value. This site is 100% free and I don't have to re-purpose any info. As such, I hope the questions cover ranges of topics and make you think about math from several different angles.

The feedback I have gotten from users who took the PTCB exam and then emailed me their thoughts about the site have all said that the math was just the right amount. A few even said that they were over-prepared with the math and should have studied the top 100 drugs more. Here's the thing; Everyone is different with their affinity for math. Then add in the fact that there are at least five different test batteries. So, the math side of the site is mostly dedicated to help people learn how to work out problems using basic algebra on scratch paper using a simple calculator.

No one can say whether or not they are the exact same level of difficulty as the PTCB, but you can be sure that they cover the same topics and require the same types of math maneuvers.