Myths about Canadian Pharmacy exams

Hi Folks ! I know  whats going on  in brain of all IPGs .Yes I know You guys all are  excellent pharmacist back home and have years of experience behind  and its hurting  when  some asks you to prove your skills again . Its very disappointing . I remember ,When were preparing for first exam and one of my friend   was looking for a petty job in Pharmacy , so that he can make some money to run his daily affairs. In this regard , we decided to  go door  to door  and we were targeting  pharmacies specially  owned by International Pharmacy graduates. We had very embarrassing moment , when  my friend told one pharmacist that  he is a international Pharaoh graduates and if he can get job in this pharmacy . This Pharmacy owner , looked us  with glaring eyes and said . Oh so you guys are pharmacist , I can not believe . OK I will give you  a Job in this pharmacy , if you will open this  vial and  he handed over   a vial . It was very  embarrassing. I  was very up set and lost my temper . I snatched the bottle from my friends  hand  , opened it and gave that to pharmacist back and said here is and  I am not going to piss in your pharmacy .Even if you give me 40 $ per hour  then also i wont work in your pharmacy . But that day I decided to become pharmacist , and I was pharmacist in 13  months . From that  day I decided to  help all new grads . Though, My English might not be that impressive , but I can give you some hints time to time , which will help you to prepare for the exam .First off all , I would like to congratulate  to all those who have passed PEBC exams , but at same time I will request every body that they  should help their fellow friends, who are still struggling with  these exams . Folks , who are not lucky keep your chin up , for sure you guys will also make up 



First off, congratulations to all those who passed the PEBC exams. Your hard work and perseverance did not go unrewarded. For those, who are not as lucky, keep your chin up; keep striving and you will get there. 

I want to begin by saying that I am a Canadian pharmacy grad and I failed Part1 of the exam in May. So ANYONE can fail. The exam is VERY UNFORGIVING to those who did not prepare or those who did not prepare correctly. 

The following is what I consider important in preparation for the PEBC Qualifying Exam. This sharing is BY NO MEANS “the method” to pass!!! I am sharing with you my experience and I may have forgotten something important. If this is the case, then please forgive me. I tried. 
DISCLAIMER: This sharing does not contain actual questions or sample questions. I am only sharing with you how I prepared for the exam. 

Evaluation Exam  : OK Guys , if you  live in Toronto , then you have a  sure shot to pass this exam . Just Join Dr Misba,s classes . It called as Tips . Once you join the Dr Misaba ,s classes 80 % work is done , now all you have to do study every day 2-3 hours   consistently , and just trust what ever Dr says . Follow his notes and in his two day/ week  classes just make some notes on the books he gives you . That is the   Mantra to pass this exam . If You can not afford these classes , then I can  help you . 

Buy a latest version of CPR ( comprehensive Pharmacy review )Just by heart first 18 chapters of this books . Which are followed by question answers . Make sure that you are studying the explanation of the answers as well .
Folks remember , this exam is just evaluating exam , you are not writing any specialization exam .I  wont read all those big wig books , people will tell you to read . If You are in classes then read notes if you are not then CPR .




Qualifying Exam Part 1 MCQ


1. Read Therapeutic Choices VERY, VERY well

- go through EACH topic at least once. Yes, from Chapter 1 to the very end. 

 .Make sure you are reading and heartrending the charts given at the end of each chapter  Your goal is not having to go back to TC and read the book again unless you are looking for something very specific (ie. dosages). Think about the pain, the confusion and the ugliness when you have to study/review from the TC book 2 days before the exam. I think you got the idea. 


- DO NOT stress over dosages. But try to get an idea of the dosages. For example, dosages for treating otitis media and gonorrhea/chylamdia with the same antibiotics are VERY different. 

- Know a bit of pathophysiology but do not go crazy with that. 

- Know when to refer (this is quite important) for each condition. 

- Know important diagnostic parameters for the various conditions. For example: do you know the LDL and TC/HDL targets for high risk patients? 

- Know the antibiotics very  well (ie. infectious diseases at the end of TC). Keep at it. It is not easy. Repetition is the mother of learning. 

- Know special populations (eg. pregnant women, children). The back of the TC has an appendix that is a very good review. 

2. Review  Appendix A of the CPS (Don’t know what I am talking about? Don't know what a CPS is? Don't know what information it contains or what kinds of question you can answer with it? Time to find out!). By review I mean memorize it. There are a good number of questions that you can answer by knowing Appendix A well. This section concerns the narcotics, controlled and targeted substances. You WILL face questions that ask you things like could narcotics be transferred? Could a certain controlled substance be refilled? 

3. KNOW ethical principles, for example, Nonmalefience, Justice, Beneficience, Autonomy, Veracity. You could be given scenarios that may involve multiple principles. The PEBC is not asking you to think deeply, but the ethical principles in the most literal sense. So don't spend too much time on the principles. Know what they are (ie. definitions) and the differences between them. 

4. KNOW calculations. Off my head, some IMPORTANT calculation topics that you should know include: dilutions, percentage by weight or by volume, dosages (eg. how much more tablets would you need to add to a therapeutic regimen if the dose is increased from X to Y), calculations involving mEq or different pharmaceutical units (eg. ounzes, lbs, etc), how to calculate creatinine clearance, scenarios that one may see at a typical dispensary are important (I know this may not be specific enough. But really there could be too many situations). A good study guide will be doing practice questions from the book “Pharmaceutical Calculations” by Ansel and Stoklosa. 

5. KNOW references. This is a tough one because there are references listed on the answer choices that you may have no clue what they are. Word of advice, know the basic references and what kind of information they contain and what type of questions they could help answer (eg. CPS, TC, Pediatric Handbook, AHFS, what type of information do product monographs contain, etc). Know or try to think about how you would look and provide answers to questions that you don’t immediately have answers, say in a typical dispensary. For example, for a newly marketed drug, where would you likely find dosage information for a patient? This patient could be less than 2 years old, could be a pregnant woman, could be someone with diabetes, heart diseaseas, etc (hint: the answer is not the CPS). When would you use PubMed to find information? 

6. Drug interactions. Know important ones. If you have studied the infectious disease section and paid attention to the drug charts, you would know that clarithromycin interacts nearly with everything. 

7. Herbal products. General rule: lack of evidence, not recommended. 

8. Drug charts and tables at the end of each TC chapter. LOOK AT THEM. This does not mean you memorize them but by reading the drug charts and tables after you read each chapter (and made your own notes), you will retain a lot more and you may make that extra connections between study points.

9. Enzymes. You should know the CYP3A4, 2D6 inducers AND inhibitors (there is a lot, you say. Yes it is. But after a while, things sink in and you begin to see a pattern). Again, repetition is the mother of learning. 

10. Don’t need to be too worried about the most updated treatment guidelines. As I mentioned, study TC, the most updated version. 

11. Pharmacokinetics. Do you know half life and what does it mean? How about volume of distribution? Steady states? How would steady states be changed? 

12. Statistics. Do you know how to calculate absolute risk reductions? Risk reductions? Numbers needed to treat.

Hope This must have gave you Idea . I will be posting  now for Evaluating exam more often , I would like to clarify the myths , which are more of just myths .

If You have any confusion just ask it and I will  come up with explanations