You are getting ready to take your final pharmacy technician test. It is an exciting yet stressful time. You can’t wait to get it over with, but preparing for the day can prove to be quite daunting.
Reading the notes and study material is not giving you that much confidence. You can’t help but wonder about what will be in the exam. Well, you can take care of all that stress with practice tests.
A practice test is an upgraded version of the actual exam. It will typically have the same format as the actual exam.
And the same applies to the content of a practice test as well. Indeed the best practice tests take questions from recent past exams. That will give you a realistic picture of what to expect regarding difficulty levels and more. Indeed, it will demystify the whole pharm tech exam before you sit for it.
Let’s get into a deeper exploration of the benefits of practice tests for exam preparation.
Table of Contents
Practice Tests Allow You to Gauge Your Knowledge Level
Your PTCB exam is around the corner. You have been putting in a lot of hours to study. But, if you don’t have a baseline to measure improvement, you may not achieve much.
Taking a PTCB practice test by Medical Hero gives you that baseline or starting point and the confidence that you need to appear for the actual exam. That will be an essential measure to gauge progress. A good tip is to do as many practice exams as you can. The multiple-choice format of the tests makes them easy to do.
It also gives you time to practice answering such questions. It may come as a surprise, but multiple-choice questions can be quite tricky. All of us have experienced that queasy feeling when more than once choice seems to be the correct answer. A simple word change you may not notice can mean you answer a question incorrectly.
You get instant results that will let you know which areas to improve. Knowing in advance areas of weakness gives you time to focus on increasing your knowledge.
Better Study Time Use with Practice Tests
Practice tests don’t only show you areas of weakness. They also show you which parts you have mastered. That will be a big help with time allocation. You can redirect more hours to the challenging areas.
It doesn’t mean that you don’t touch up on your strong areas, though. But you can spend less time focusing on what you already know.
Ease Exam Anxiety with Practice Tests
Any foray into the unknown can bring up feelings of dread and anxiety. And that would be the case with exams you have never sat for. The practice tests are excellent for removing that anxiety and boosting your confidence.
Remember, the tests are similar to what you will do on the final day. The format, questions, and time allocation are the same. So on D-Day, there will be nothing new or shocking. Also, thanks to having tested your knowledge base, your confidence levels will be much higher.
A good idea when using the PTCB practice tests is to simulate the actual test environment. So, if it is at the college, take the test there. The same applies to online tests.
You should also time yourself much as you will during the exam. Your PTCB exam covers two hours. But 5 minutes is a tutorial, and another five is for a post-exam survey.
That gives you one hour and 50 minutes to answer 90 questions. So, have this in mind when doing the practice tests.
Some tests will have pre-set time limits, while others won’t. In the latter case, it is up to you to set and stick to the time limits.
Practice Tests Allow You to Pace Yourself
From your pharmacy technician test prep, you know that the written exam would take two hours. You can’t help but think that is a lot of time. Well, we have news for you. Those minutes will pass by faster than you know.
If you don’t know how to pace yourself, you may not even answer all the questions. Remember we talked about multiple choice questions being quite tricky. Sometimes a lot of time goes into picking the correct answer.
Some answers are also so similar. Indeed the only difference could be a word. It could have you spending more time than necessary on one question. And, of course, open-ended questions come with their challenges.
Practice tests are excellent for pacing yourself. Indeed the more you do them, the more comfortable you become with the time allocation.
Gauge Your Endurance with Practice Tests
Beyond pacing, practice tests also provide a way to gauge your endurance. Can you sit for a 2-hour exam without feeling excess fatigue or stress? Can you keep your concentration at optimal levels?
At first, you may find it hard to focus for a long stretch of time. But with more practice, the difficulty level will reduce quite significantly. That is important because you don’t want to get tired when you start the exam. Neither do you want to be unable to give the exam complete focus at such a crucial moment.
Practice Tests Reinforce Learning
Practice tests go beyond measuring how much you know about the subject. They are also excellent for reinforcing the learning you have been doing thus far.
Research shows that quizzes can play a significant role in slowing down the forgetting curve. This is due to what the experts call retrieval practice.
In essence, that is the pulling out of information from the mind instead of cramming. When a teacher asks the class, “what did we discuss in the last lesson?” That is the retrieval practice.
The students have to search for the information in their minds to respond. And that is the same benefit you get with the pharmacy technician practice test. The fact that you have to keep recalling pertinent information keeps it fresh in your mind.
Final Thoughts
The pharmacy technician practice test is a fantastic tool in your study arsenal. What better way to prepare for the exam than to use a version of the actual one?
From our article, it is clear that the benefits are many. The practice tests help gauge knowledge, reinforce learning and self-pacing.
Knowing areas of weakness will allow you to take corrective steps before the exam day.
Also, remember the point of simulating the real exam environment. That is a fantastic way to alleviate anxiety and build confidence.
Good luck with your PTCB final exam!