Was Pharm a biggie on the nclex-rn?

RN403, BSN, RN · Mar 21, 2015

Everyone's test is different. I didn't feel as though I had a lot of pharm on my exam while others did. Just study the areas you feel you are weak in. There is no way to predict how much of one area will truly be on your exam.

you can always go to the website and refer to the test breakdown. Good luck.

RescueNinjaKy · Mar 21, 2015

If you look at the breakdown it shows that the amount of Pharm questions went down while other subjects went up

Andi777 · Mar 21, 2015

I think the answer is "it depends". I just took my nclex today and had maybe 3 questions w/ pharm questions. Of course the questions do not have Brand names and the meds were "odd ball" meds. There was no way I could have studied every med -- I new the generics basic classes, etc. But the odd balls... well, guess I just got unlucky.

Best bet is to just know the basic ones and keep taking practice quizzes w/ pharm questions and hope you hit on the most common odd balls.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 22, 2015

One thing you might want to consider, OP, is that the computer keeps tossing questions at you until it determines you are above the passing standard in every category...or you're not, and it shuts off and you're done.

If you get pharm questions that are above passing, but you don't answer them correctly, you will get ones below standard. And if you answer THOSE correctly, you will go back above the passing line. If you are inconsistent on that category of questioning, though, you will find yourself getting slammed with more and more of them....IOW, those who get "lots" of any particular category of knowledge needed to answer more of them to prove competency. Those who got few in the same category answered well enough that the computer was 'done' with that line of questioning.

This is why you will see some people complain that they got "tons of maternity, but I hardly knew anything in maternity!" That is exactly WHY they got "tons of maternity" (or whatever category kept plaguing them).

Hope that helps :)

Xaldin4life RN · Mar 22, 2015

each persons test is different. I got about 3 medications on pharm. I definitely knew 2 out of 3, thank goodness I studied the generic names of the meds. I didnt bother memorizing the brand names since I knew the exam only tests you based on generic names or both.

scaredsilly, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2015

I had a classmate who said almost a third of her test was pharm, I don't remember how many I had, maybe 4 or 5. As another poster said, they only use the generic names. So I think that the suggestion is to learn the suffixes so that you will have a good idea what the drug is. I used pharmacy flash cards that I got on Amazon for about $25.00 and am pretty sure I got most of my pharm questions right.

Remember that everyones test is different, and they are looking for competent SAFE entry level nursing skills, so be more mindful of reactions and side effects.

At least they don't ask you to spell them! LOL

RNHospice · Mar 22, 2015

I only had about 2 questions of pharm math, did have several med related questions, not too hard.

I do remember taking pharm math in school. We had to have a 90 %. We had argued it was not fair because 70% was passing.

Our instructor told us he would not change it. Reason being, if we got a 90%, that meant we maybe only killed 10% of our patients.

scaredsilly, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2015

I only had about 2 questions of pharm math, did have several med related questions, not too hard.
I do remember taking pharm math in school. We had to have a 90 %. We had argued it was not fair because 70% was passing.
Our instructor told us he would not change it. Reason being, if we got a 90%, that meant we maybe only killed 10% of our patients.

LOL that kinda funny! We had a med math eam before we could start clinicals in every class. We had to get 100% before we could start clinicals and were allowed to take the test 3 times

canigraduate · Mar 22, 2015

Depends. If you are good at pharm, then don't study as much. I only had a few questions. The test zooms in on what you're iffy at, so if you are iffy at Pharm, then study the crap out of it.

I was iffy on Mental Health and had probably 20 out of 75 questions on mental illness. The rest was a solid mix with only a few questions in each category.

Good luck!

RescueNinjaKy · Mar 22, 2015

My suggestion is that get a prep system, personally I used Kaplan. After you take a test/question trainer there you can see which areas you're getting wrong. Focus on those area.

Study the general medication class also because it will make things easier. Insulin is usually a good area to know. Ace inhibs, beta blockers, psych drugs like antipsychotics, maois are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Lacharity prioritization and delegation book was pretty good too

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Mar 22, 2015

According to the below website, Pharmacology is approximately 12-18% of the NCLEX RN Exam. All the other percentages are also listed.

https://www.ncsbn.org/2013_NCLEX_RN_Test_Plan.pdf