The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board says that the latest pass rate for the PTCE is 70%. But it doesn’t say how many times the applicants had to take it before they passed. Or how close the average score was to a pass or fail.
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The passing scaled score is 1,400 and the range of possible scores is 1,000 to 1,600. Read on for three strategies from Pharmaccel Online™ to pass and get certified.
Get into the Kitchen
The PTCE Content Outline states that formulas, calculations, ratios, proportions, and conversions are on the exam. We think that following recipes which use measurements such as teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, quarts, or gallons can be a great way to remember how to convert drug amounts and dosages when you take the test.
First, find a few recipes. We prefer ones with a lot of ingredients such as several different seasonings or several different sauces or liquids which require you to measure them out. Read through the recipe and note the parts where they talk about measurements including teaspoons, tablespoons, or cups. Now get out your measuring spoons and measuring cups. Try to find the kind that has two different types of measurements on the same spoon or cup so you can see how many ounces and mL something is at the same time.
Related: The Beginner’s Guide for Technicians to Pass the PTCE
Start scooping, pouring, and measuring various liquids and dry ingredients. This gives your brain a chance to learn from your hands while they are actually working with the materials. Practice doubling or tripling the recipe. Try to calculate the ingredient amounts with and without a calculator and without or without a pen and paper.
Visit Your Local OTC Aisle
Books and flashcards can be difficult to understand or stay interested in. Instead, head to your nearest grocery store or store with a bunch of vitamins or over the counter medications. Take your time looking through the different bottles, lotions, boxes, and pills. Notice the small numbers usually near the bottom of the bottle which say how much the package weighs or contains.
How many fluid ounces are in the bottle of medicine? Then how many tablespoons would that be? If the dose is 2 tablespoons twice a day, how many days could you use that bottle for before you run out? That’s one type of pharmacy calculations question you can practice doing as you study for the PTCE.
Most students will fall into one or more of four categories of learners: visual, auditory, reading and writing, or tactile. These first two strategies will touch on visual, reading, and tactile learning styles. Try to incorporate the other learning styles as you continue studying.
Take a Prep Course
Did you know the PTCB doesn’t have an official prep course? The organization that administers the test and credential doesn’t have any modules or textbooks for you to study. So what is the best way to study for something that doesn’t even have a course to study from?
Pharmaccel Online™ offers self-paced, digital courses written by an associate professor of pharmacy with 20+ years of experience and a proven record of helping students and technicians simplify studying and pass exams the first time. Enroll in our signature PTCE Prep Pro Course for Pharmacy Technicians here.
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