One of the best ways to study for the NAPLEX is with a partner. Sure, everyone is different and many people like to go all “lone ranger” when it comes to studying. However, with the right person by your side and being your study buddy, then you can really get a lot done and keep yourself accountable and honest.
If you don’t prepare for the NAPLEX correctly then you’re really hurting your career in pharmacy and you’re wallet. It’s expensive to re-take the NAPLEX. It costs even more to fail the NAPLEX and maintain any kind of confidence in your skills.
7 Benefits to Having a NAPLEX Study Partner
- Two Heads Are Better Than One
Pharmacy school was long. Your head is dead. Your brain is drained. There are things you have forgotten. There are books and references that you would swear that you were never introduced to. At this point another person across the table, when you’re ready to throw a calculator at head of the barista in the coffee shop you’re studying in, could be the difference between an effective study session and an assault and battery charge.
- Flash Cards
Flash cards were meant to be flashed to you from across a room or a table by another person. You answer the question or solve the problem on the flash card and the person tells you if you’re wrong or right. If you’re right then you go onto the next card. If you’re wrong they say “nope” and you try to figure it out again. What happens when you use flash cards alone? You guess. You flip the card. If you’re wrong you say “oh shit” and move on to the next card rather than be urged to try again.
- Accountability
Online practice tests, questions, and flash cards are great study tools. The problem is that it’s much to easy to cheat when you’re alone. If you have a study partner for the NAPLEX than that other person can act as a test proctor so that you can take the test in a real situation without being able to cheat. (See #2 “Flash Cards” above.) This is especially true when taking an online test and you just want to cheat on an answer. You’re NAPLEX study buddy can prevent it and then ensure that you learn it (or re-learn it) after the fact.
- Seclusion Defense
Seclusion is actually a disciplinary and torture technique used by prisons and the military. Studying for the NAPLEX alone can, at times, feel like both. A NAPLEC study partner will ensure that you don’t crazy with cabin fever and start picking people off during your first excursion from your tiny room in a week. Your study buddy can keep you in touch with reality and sometimes remind you that you need to bathe and eat. You’ll have time to mingle with other NAPLEX hopefuls during your APPE rotations.
- Research
Your partner may be able to help you with your research skills. Meet your study buddy in the library and learn to use the resources together–then share what you know to help each other out. For example, one partner can learn to search databases while the other learns to find books on the shelves.
- Motivate and Stay on Task
You’re NAPLEX study partner can be there for you when all you want to do is play video games or start drinking early on Tuesday. They can prevent (or limit) procrastination. Being motivated is your job. Staying motivated is both of your jobs.
- Studying and Learning Strengths
Everyone learns different. You’re most apt to learn more of what you need to know by adding more people to your study groups because they probably have retained differently than you. Everyone studies different. You’re more apt to study in a different way when you’re having learning and remembering when you use your study methods.
Finally, a NAPLEX study group or partner should be beneficial to all parties involved. If you have someone that’s not pulling their weight and contributing to the overall good of the group or the pairing then dump them as soon as possible. Take no risk in trying to carry someone who is not willing to learn. Like we said above, motivation is part of a study partner’s job but it lies inherently in the person who is trying to study, pass and master the NAPLEX.
Strength in numbers, my Phuture Pharmacist Friends!
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