PEBC Exam Preparation

Here are our Top 5 tips for the Pharmacist PEBC Exam.

1. Read www.pebc.ca thoroughly - it sets out the rules you need to follow to complete the exam.
2. Buy the latest version of CPR (comprehensive Pharmacy review), see the image to the right. In addition, have a look at our recommended PEBC Exam Books.
3. The PEBC does not intend to test you on your ability to regurgitate facts but how you can problem-solve.  You must be able to solve everyday problems.  Some of the problems will be therapeutic, but also a lot will be about ethics, privacy, jurisprudence, teamwork, education, communication and so forth. A great resource for Professional Judgement is www.ocpinfo.ca. Read some of the articles and see how pharmacists are expected to problem-solve.
4. A common myth suggests you should cram your studying right before the exam so that the material will be fresh in your memory.  However, research shows that spacing out your study time over a few weeks produces the best results.  Cramming late at night just before the exam will leave you mentally and physically tired.  You will retain much less information and may make more careless mistakes on the exam.
5. Prepare for the OSCEs. One of the best ways to prepare for the clinical scenarios presented in the OSCEs is through supervised practice and learning looking at patient scenarios and trying to figure out what is best for them. 

For PEBC Exam for technicians:

1. The exams are testing 'entry-level' competency to practice as a pharmacy technician. That means you just have to pass the exams. You do not have to get an A+ or an A mark. When you get your results, it will only say one of two things: pass or fail. So, don't worry yourself to death; you just have to pass these exams.
2. Should you guess any of your answers on the PEBC? If you have a good idea of the correct answer, yes, guess an answer. Candidates are not deducted marks for incorrect answers (i.e. it is not a negatively marked MCQ). Sometimes the answers might seem vague and there might be more than one answer that is correct. Go with your best guess.
3. Remember to stay as calm as possible during the exam and the period before the exam. There is a lot of waiting around until the exam starts. Do not get distracted by all the people wandering about. Practice some deep breathing exercises before and during the exam. This will help calm you and help you to stay focused. Make sure you know exactly what you can and cannot take into the exam room. 

General PEBC Exam Technique Advice

To start, there is no "right way" to revise for the PEBC Exam. Learning techniques are a very bespoke area as people differ greatly in their different inherent abilities. What is right for me might not necessarily work for you. This article hopes to present a range of techniques to help you find what might for you.

One ability above all, when trying to improve learning efficiency is memory. One question you may ask yourself is how can you improve your ability to learn lots of hard, scientific facts? Your second question as a pharmacist and most importantly as a scientist should be: Are there any methods I can utilize which have been proven to work? 

Memory is a bit like a muscle - it can be hard work to keep it in top condition. At the moment it should be in top form as you have most probably been in full-time education for the past decade or so. But how can you make it even better?

In November 2005, Chinese businessman Chao Lu beat the previous world record by learning pi to 67,890 places. It took him nearly a year to learn and almost 24 hours to recite it fully. But how did he do it? One word: mnemonics. Mnemonics are techniques that convert seemingly random concepts/facts/numbers into a format that is more palatable to human memory. For example:

Phonetic system - numbers 0-9 can be assigned consonants and then grouped into 4 letter chunks. With the addition of vowels, these chunks can be converted into words and groups of chunks into sentences. With a bit of imagination, sentences can become stories that are a lot easier to remember than the original raw data. There are many examples of phonetic systems in Pharmacy which you may remember from University, a popular one, for example, is Beta-blocker side effects mnemonic- "BBC Loses VIeweRs In Rochedale": Bradycardia, Bronchoconstriction, Claudication, Lipids, Vivid dreams & nightmares, -ve Inotropic action, Reduced sensitivity to hypoglycaemia.

Method of Loci - invented by the Greeks almost 2,000 years ago, this technique takes advantage of the brain's innate ability to store information as location-based sequential images, much like a journey through a "memory palace". To use the technique effectively you assign certain images to words that you need to know and create a story. Once you need to recall the information all you do is recite the story in your head. This technique is often very useful for very large amounts of words that need to be in sequences such as side effects of drugs ranked in severity or prevalence.

So what is the best method for the Pharmacy Exam? Come exam time, some students swear by illustrated mind maps, ie drawing a central topic in a circle and then creating a spider web of associated ideas around it. This technique is more attributed to essay-style exams where you have a lot of time to explore a subjective topic. A more appropriate technique would be flashcards. A popular technique in medical science, the technique gives you lots of associated facts in bite-size pieces. All of these techniques are good, but one of the simplest techniques stands head and shoulders above the rest: simple recall. 

Aristotle, more than two millennia ago, wrote: "repeatedly recalling a thing strengthens memory". Inspired by this Jeffrey Karpicke of Purdue University, Indiana created a landmark study. Karpicke asked 40 students to learn the meaning of 40 Swahili words. Despite receiving no feedback as to whether the students were correct or not they were regularly asked to recall the words. The average student aced the test with over 80% in respects to the control group who repeatedly studied the words without testing themselves only scored a meagre 36%. 

The best way to do this in respect to pharmacy is to practice exam questions and once you have done that do some more! A smart student will try and access as many sources of questions as possible and adapt their learning technique to accommodate testing their knowledge at regular stages. Instead of skimming through textbooks, stop at the end of each chapter and you will usually find a list of questions. Make sure that you do them in detail and then try to identify gaps in your knowledge.

In all, it boils down to the old adage "practice makes perfect". Put in the right amount of effort doing this and you will not be disappointed.