I want to share my two cents!
I took NAPLEX on 7/29 and I passed first try!
I graduated in 2021 in North Carolina and spent the last five years in a non-licensed role, working from home. The job was easy, comfortable, and it allowed me to be present for my son, who was born during my first year of pharmacy school. My last year of school, combined with COVID and personal family issues, was extremely stressful. Although I always planned to get licensed “just in case,” life kept getting in the way.
During those years, I kept reading here and there and spent a lot of money on UWorld and NABP exam fees, always intending to sit for the NAPLEX. But the longer I stayed away from the pharmacy world, the more terrified I became of actually taking the exam. When I was laid off last year and found myself in Texas with no active license, I decided it was time to get serious and fully commit.
What helped me most:
Having a serious study partner and a clear schedule
Listening to lectures instead of reading the book cover to cover
Taking my own notes on concepts I didn’t fully understand or couldn’t quickly recall
Doing practice questions at the end of each study day (or the next day for longer topics). I used UWorld throughout and loved it. When I did quizzes, I always read every explanation, even when I got the question right.
I started my core studying in mid‑March, usually waking up around 6–7 a.m. to study and then do quizzes. Once I had gone through almost every chapter and quiz, I created a one‑month review schedule using only my notes and re‑did the quizzes. I also stopped meeting with my study partner during the last month prior to NAPLEX.
I ended up using about 80% of UWorld and still had around 600 questions left-mostly Oncology, HIV, and some Calculations. My quiz scores were generally in the 60-65% range, with some sets in the 80–90% range.
NAPLEX is intimidating, but if I can do it, many of you can too. I doubted myself so many times. I even felt embarrassed calling myself a pharmacist without a license, and many people assumed I had already taken the exam and failed-even though I hadn’t tried until two weeks ago.
Some people will encourage you and some won’t. My advice is to focus on your own goals and your own path.
NAPLEX isn’t overly complicated, but it is intimidating. If you have any questions about my experience or study approach, feel free to ask-I’d love to help in any way I can.