RxPrep helps PharmD students prep for NAPLEX

Binghamton University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SOPPS) P4 students are doing more than their APPEs during the year prior to graduation. They’re also studying for their NAPLEX exam in their off hours, completing a board review course called RxPrep.

RxPrep, the number-one NAPLEX preparation program in the country, is in addition to the two-course sequence of professional development courses students take in the evenings during their P4 year, when they address topics including CV/resume development, residency and fellowship preparation and interviewing skills.

RxPrep is an online course that utilizes a book of about 80 chapters of information, divided into sections including disease states, non-prescription drugs, medical terminology and how to answer case-based questions. Students are expected to spend a minimum of three to four hours each week on RxPrep, according to Sarah Spinler, professor and chair of the SOPPS Department of Pharmacy Practice.

“During a six-week APPE, students are working on six to 12 of these chapters and have to take at least two 45-minutes quizzes of 30 questions on the material they are studying. They cover the entire RxPrep book over the course of their P4 year,” she said.

All students review the same chapters at the same time, which may or may not relate directly to their current APPE assignment, Spinler said, but preceptors can give the students extra discussion on the topics they are studying as appropriate. There are also video lectures and practice quizzes should students want to take advantage of them.

A 100-question exam at is given at mid-year. All quizzes and exams are taken remotely, except for the final exam.

“After the eighth APPE module, students take a 150-question NAPLEX practice exam on campus,” Spinler said. “Students end their final APPE on a Tuesday and travel on Wednesday to take the text on campus. They’ll have a board review course for the board exam, and will be here on campus taking an actual three-day RxPrep review course for nine hours a day, then take another practice 150-question test.”

All of the study materials remain available to the students through August.