September 30, 2010 FPGEE - Share your experience!

[LishaD]

Share your experience while it is still fresh for the future exam takers. :rolleyes:

[LishaD]

My first comment is this: You spend 2-3 days understanding some chapters and again revising near the exam time, and you only see 1-2 questions in the exam. eg. Asthma. CPR is the main book...but... DO NOT RELY ON CPR (100%). I spent too much time understanding CPR and only read Mana Shroff - Management once. I ignored Biostatistics cause I didn't have time. I used Dr. Dutta book good but too much questions and I think CPR questions is enough. I didn't finish the book and better to use it soon after you finish each section on CPR at the early stage of your study. Otherwise it takes a lot of time. I found Manan Shroff 1000Q helpful esp. the answered explanations.

Side effects of drugs, knowledge about diseases, DNA synthesis... are important. Some questions were easy to guess like the management some you have 1in4 chance.

Overall don't spend too much time understanding every details. Take note like: Steatorrhea:- improper secretion of bile salt fro, the liver etc...

Edited October 1, 2010 by LishaD

[topaz]

Oh i hope i will pass the exam.For me the part 1 was a little bit hard cause i dont know much about stuctures,DNA but some questions was just fine.Part 2 for me was easy its more on pharmacology and management.

[aleksandra]

hey. part 1 was ok. i had to guess some of the questions but overall it wasnt bad at all. i had big problems with part 2 though cause i know nothing about managment and some of the questions in my opinion were totally irrelevant. you just have to know a little about a lot. i spent way too much time studying CPR. i could have looked up some important stuff online istead. i regret it.

 

does anyone of you know how they grade the exam?

[thaierah143]

the exam was superhard, part1 was easier than part 2 and no matter what book u study its still gonna be hard. it was ridiculous. I relied more on my recall memory from the university days...probability was only one question there were few calculations but nothing important to study. pharmacology was hard you have to KNOW your stuff and you wont find the answers in Manan nor CPR even if u had the exam open book. with the way the shortage is over and how they arent really interested in hiring foreign interns nowadays this exam isnt worth the headache.

[simplereg]

the exam for me was hard...i mean very hard maybe because i have not studied that well....especially the 2nd part i have no idea on the pharmacy management...i have to based my answer on my instinct...hopefully ill pass the exam... for the pharmacology part its really hard because all the choices are correct and you have to choose the best one..

[pharmbug]

I agree with the others,this is my second time,and exam was really hard,all I can do is pray now,it is too stresful,I dont think I will try again((((((((

[patel2010]

I was studied hard for three months, my experience part I was very hard, i did well in part II, i dont know we have same paper or diffrent but most people found partI ok, my experience most of question in partI you cant tell correct answer, i hope i balance it and hope for getting passing score, good luck to all who took test.

[tranhong40]

yesterday, when i was waiting for the fpgee exam, i met a lady. she was also going to take fpgee exam too. she told me her friend got 175 correct answers last time, but she did not pass and cried a lot. the lady did really scare me

I am not sure how fpgee score the exam. Do your guys have any idea?

To me, i thought the score will be passed is 50% because 75 of 150 is a half. Therefore, we need to have 125 correct answes, so we pass. What do you think about?

 

Hong

[wenep]

I was surprised very much with the FPGEE question style. I got 85 in Pre-FPGEE before studying well, but now feel sad about the exam.

In my view.

There were 20-30 questions I never heard off. If it wrong who cares! (assume I selected right for 20-30%.)

There were 15-20 question easy one but so confusing answers. Regret, I should have scan those before.

There might be 15-20 question, I knew but choose wrong answers.

Bottom line, I probably answered right 180-210 (considering skepticism), out of 250. So will I pass?

Answer is: I do not know!

Lets assume I made 70 incorrect selection out of 250.

The interesting part is: If my 70 wrong answers includes all 50 of trials questions (weighted mark=0), Then I have 180 scores out of 200>>>Definitely PASS.

But, If my 70 wrong answers includes none of 50 trial questions, Then my score will be 130 out of 200>>>>>>>>may be hard to pass.. (Here scores I am talking the actual question weighing 1, I don't know how the FPGEE put it in scale).

Reading suggestions: Do not try to collect many books, stick with CPR or Remington (Remington is the best, for all part).

First part: First, remember your school days, what we really supposed to know. Make the list of topics, and try to understand it with example.

For second part: What pharmacist should really know in clinical settings, know about most common and widely used drugs, interactions, and special ADR and special use. You just try to master those facts only. But you have to know pharmacological classification of drugs.

I will share my results and try to explain these points again.

If anyone have any comments or suggestion! You are welcome!

NOTE: this forum is best, if you see any pharmacy related questions, try to solve and remember it. Don't bother reading post explaining this or that book we should have. The best book is google itself, if you know what topics you should learn.

Hope I don not have to take the exam again..

[svetlana42]

Hello, all!

I also took my exam yesterday. In my opinion, the exam was easier that I thought, lot of stuff you do need to study at all. But the medicinal chemistry was a hard one, i do not remember the formulas too much. Do not bother with the calculation and anatomy-none was on my test. I am really interested how the grade the exam, any output i will really appreciate it. I am asking people who already got scored in the past exams..Thank you

LANA

[moeprn]

First part was ok, mostly 'pharmcy' related questions, but I found the second part of the exam to be 'irrelevant' too! for crying out loud, are we really supposed to know the healthcare system in Japan and UK to pass this exam!!! so frustrated!

[ROCKY_80]

Thanks to all for sharing your experience giving september fpgee . I wish you all the best. Please keep sharing by giving the examples of quetion types. It really boosts one's confidence. Thanks once again guys.:)

[torontopharmie]

Hi Everyone,

 

The exam was not easy but that is expected. Most exams should be challenging, so try not to worry if you found it hard. I think the key to answering MCQ is to always go with your gut instinct and if you do not know the answers, go through the process of elimination. In the more difficult questions, I was usually able to eliminate 2 of the options, and then I really had to think about the remaining 2 options.

 

Some background about me: Canadian pharmacist that graduated and got licensed about 1 year ago in Canada. I spent about 2 months studying but for 1 of those months, I was working full time and was reading CPR whenever I had a chance. I then took a full month off to study (about 8-14 hours/day). Pre-fpgee score was 118 (Range of 99-136). I posted more information about pre-fpgee under http://www.www.urch.com/forums/fpgee/124310-pre-fpgee-2.html. I am not too worried about passing since I found the exam comparable to the pre-fpgee.

 

This is my recommendations for future test takers:

1. Do not rely on old questions/topics that other forum members recommend. The pool of questions is HUGE and it is unlikely that you will get the same topic areas again. Trust me on this! It is better to have a broad general knowledge base than to focus in on certain topics and memorizing them.

2. Read CPR and try to understand. DO NOT MEMORIZE because it will take you forever and you still will not have it memorized! TRUST ME! You can definitely ignore nuclear pharmacy but I would still read the OTC chapters.

3. Purchase a series of summary books based on the FPGEE blueprint to supplement CPR and read them after you finish CPR. I purchased the series of pharma synapse books and went through all of the books except calculations.This helped me focus in on certain areas of importance and helped me to understand further. Calculations were basic and you should not spend too much time on them.

4. Do pre-fpgee (do it within 2-4 weeks of exam) and make sure you do the exam within 7 days from the time you purchase it or it will EXPIRE. I had to repay to take the exam :(

5. After this exam, you will have a better idea of what to expect and you will know your weaknesses. I was horrible at medicinal chemistry so in the remaining two weeks, I reread those chapters in CPR.

6. Do questions. After doing the above, do the questions in CPR which will help you to further discover your poor areas. When I did horrible in a chapter, I decided to either reread the CPR chapter and/or reread the summary book. If I did ok in a chapter, I would move onto the next chapter.

7. Reread summary books and do more questions if possible such as synapse 4 question and answer book.

 

I will keep everyone updated on how I do in the end. If you have any further questions, feel free to personal message me.

 

All the best to everyone!

Edited October 2, 2010 by torontopharmie

[torontopharmie]

Speculation about how they score FPGEE: You need to pass all 4 areas of the blueprint in order to pass the FPGEE. For example, if you got 175 correct questions out of 250 but did horrible in both the social administration and biomedical science, then you might fail. If you do ok in all areas and get 175 correct answers, then you might get a really high score. Another thing they look at after every exam sitting is how well people do on average. If everyone fails the exam, then they will begin to scale the scores upward because they realize that the exam may have been too difficult. All of these factors account for why it takes from 4-8 weeks to get your score back. If it was as simple as getting 125 correct answers out of 250, then you would get your score pretty fast. However, this is only speculation but most exams nowadays are scored this way.

[starshine]

My experience is a bit different from torontopharmie.I always thought that Pre-FPGEE gives a realistic picture about your preparation so took it around the same time when torontopharmie took the exam around 21st to get an idea about the preparation and work on areas which needs more work.I took it seriously and decided that if i score low i might change my testing date.

 

I got 115 on pre-fpgee with a range of 96-133.(Pre-fpgee questions are past FPGEE questions)

 

After getting that score i worked on one area which i found myself weak in and rest kept on revising stuff and felt confident after getting that score on pre-fpgee

 

Now after taking the FPGEE i feel a bit disappointed and feel the high score range on Pre-FPGEE was deceiving and felt the exam to be tougher than pre-fpgee.As Torontopharmie thought its the same i didnt find it the same even though mine and torontopharmie pre-fpgee score are approx. the same.May be its just the exam that is playing tricks on my mind but i will let you guys know if the pre-fpgee scores which use to be a very reliable indicator in the past is still an indicator of one's preparation or not.

[aleksandra]

i agree with starshine. i did the pre test 10 days before the exam and my score was 109. i felt good about it. but the actual test turned out to be much harder, well at least to me. i was disappointed. like i mentioned before, the 1st part was ok but the 2nd part was totally unacceptable in my opinion. i already expressed my opinion in the survey at the end of the exam. i feel like there is no reason to call CPR the most important book to prepare for FPGEE. i read it 2 times, some of the chapters - 3 or 4 and still got confused so many times... i thought the exam would be more pharmacy-related. unfortuantely some of the questions - were NOT. anyways, i hope we can get the results soon.

is anyone of you going to take the TOEFL now?

[thaierah143]

agreed aleksandra the exam was more medical related than pharmacists related (in my opinion that is)..part 2 was tough as hell! part one was ok but it was hard though...the pre fpgee and the fpgee have no relation....im telling you its better to study off the internet rather than books because NOTHING will help you..your old bios books might help u for the basic sciences part but thats all... this exam is not worth the headache, if anyone you know outside of the states wants to study pharmacy in order to be a pharmacist here one day talkl them out of it!

[starshine]

thaierah123 in past pre-fpgee was a strong indicator.Now it is or not will know soon

Aleksandra are you planning to take toefl?

[thaierah143]

my toefl speaking was 28 all other i passed to the max, now lets hope fpgee is as easy.

[aleksandra]

yes i am planning to take the TOEFL but i havent registered yet. i think i will do it tomorrow. i just wanted to cool off after the exam for a while before i even start thinking about the next one... :(

thaierah143 - good job on the TOEFL. do you have any tips for us? :)

[Miss Nancy]

Thank you for sharing your experiences , I really hope it works out for all of you guys........

[thaierah143]

yes alksandra, you have to ditch your mother language and speak only english! just keep watching news shows, etc...this helps for speaking...for reading and writing the net! alot of stuff on the net to help, I have always been great at grammer and my spelling is impeccable just sometimes my stupi keyboard gets stuck so u might find some jumbled words here and there...practice!

[Iriska]

thank you for sharing your experience. it was really helpfull. i'm new here and i need help:blush:. i'm trying to prepare for the test. which books are really helpfull for fpgee? Is CPR book N1 for preparation for the fpgee? do pharmasynapse books helpfull? thank you again)):rolleyes:

[Miss Nancy]

Are we supposed to take the TOFFEL test before the FPGEE or after FPGEE, I thought we had to tae the TOFFEL before applying to the GFPGEE??