Take this Pharmacy Technician practice test to prepare for your NHA ExCPT certification. This practice exam covers pharmacy calculations, medication knowledge, law, and patient safety.
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following supplies is typically used in a compounding pharmacy to crush tablets?
Answer: Mortar and pestle
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following medications reduces cholesterol?
Answer: Atorvastatin (Lipitor)
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following environments should be used to compound a sterile IV preparation?
Answer: ISO 5
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following is another name for Vitamin B12?
Answer: Cyanocobalamin
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that medications requiring refrigeration should be stored within which of the following temperature ranges?
Answer: 36 to 46 F
Q: According to the federal Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, a pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following is the maximum amount of pseudoephedrine (Sufaded) that a patient can obtain in 1 day?
Answer: 3.6 g
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following types of active listening involves asking the patient clarifying questions regarding what the technician heard the patient say?
Answer: Evaluating
Q: A pharmacy technician has received an emergancy prescription by phone for a Schedule II medication. According to federal law, the prescriber must issue a written, signed prescription within how many days?
Answer: 7
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following abbreviations means “left ear”?
Answer: AS
Q: A pharmacy technician should mark medications that are set to expire how many months before the listed expiration date?
Answer: 6 months
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following controlled substances schedules includes anabolic steroids?
Answer: Schedule III
Q: According to USP <797>, which of the following locations should the pharmacy technician use to gown, gather materials, and label medications for IV preparations?
Answer: Anteroom
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following is the primary goal of the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program?
Answer: To inform patients of the risks associated with a medication
Q: Which of the following terms should a pharmacy technician recognize as the practice of identifying a potential service or group of services that can optimize therapeutic outcomes for a patient?
Answer: Medication therapy management
Q: Which of the following actions should a pharmacy technician take during the filling stage of prescription preparation?
Answer: Match the medication label to the prescription
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following medications is available to patients over-the-counter (OTC)?
Answer: Minoxidil (Rogaine)
Q: A pharmacy technician should recognize that celecoxib (Celebrex) is included in which of the following medication classes?
Answer: Cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor (COX-2 inhibitor)
Q: Which of the following should a pharmacy technician identify as a type of medication that is used to relieve coughing?
Answer: Antitussive
Q: A pharmacy technician is entering a prescription that states, “Dispense as written.” Which of the following DAW codes should the technician enter into the computer system?
Answer: DAW 1
Q: A pharmacy technician is assisting a patient with his insulin refill. The patient, who does not have insurance, tells the technician he has been inconsistent with taking his medication due to the cost. Which of the following actions should the technician take?
Answer: Notify the pharmacist to set up a counseling session with the patient
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following medications is hazardous and requires special handling?
Answer: Doxorubicin (Adriamycin)
Q: According to federal law, which of the folloeing is classified as a Schedule II mediction?
Answer: Cocaine
Q: Which of the following factors should a pharmacy technician be mindful of when an exsisting patient is prescribed a new medication?
Answer: Drug-to-drug interaction
Q: A pharmacy technician is preparing to compound sterile products. Which of the following should the technician identify as a method to minimize incompatibilities of compounded solutions?
Answer: Limit the number of drugs added to solutions
Q: Which of the following methods should a pharmacy technician use when reducing the particle size of a solid with the aid of a solvent?
Answer: Pulverization
Q: How many mL should a pharmacy technician dispense to provide 20 mg of methadone if the stock concentration is 12.5 mg/5 mL?
Answer: 8 mL
Q: A pharmacy technician is assisting an older adult patient who states he has trouble remembering to take his medication. Which of the following actions should the technician take?
Answer: Suggest the patient use a daily medication container
Q: A pharmacy technician received notification from a patient’s insurance company that her prescription has been rejected. Which of the following reasons should the technician identify as grounds for rejection by the insurance company?
Answer: The NDC is not covered
Q: A pharmacy technician recieves a prescription with the quantity indicated as “Disp. LX”. Which of the following dosage units should the technician count out?
Answer: 60
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following resources is used to determine the therapeutic equivalence of a brand and generic medications
Answer: Orange Book
Q: A pharmacy technician receives a prescription for a patient who has the same first and last name as another patient in the patient profile software system. Which of the following information should the technician verify to ensure she is working with the correct patient profile?
Answer: Verify the patient’s date of birth
Q: Which of the following health care professionals can prescribe a medication for a child’s toothache?
Answer: DDS
Q: A pharmacy technician is entering a prescription into the computer system. The prescription does not indicate the number of refills. Which of the following actions should the technician take?
Answer: Enter no refills
Q: A prescription for a Schedule III to a Schedule IV medication can be refilled how many times from the date it was originally written?
Answer: Five
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following describes the purpose of a black box warning on a medication label?
Answer: To indicate that the medication carries a risk for life-threatning adverse effects
Q: A pharmacy technician is assisting a patient who has partial hearing loss. Which of the following actions should the technician take?
Answer: Reduce background noise
Q: Which of the following should a pharmacy technician recognize as an adverse effect of taking methylphenidate (Ritalin)?
Answer: Weight loss
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following federal acts created a stair-step schedule of controlled substances?
Answer: Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970
Q: A formula for 1 L of a liquid pharmaceutical calls for 0.25 g of methylparaben, a preservative. Which of the following amounts of this preservative are needed to make 1 pint of the liquid?
Answer: 120 mg
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following abbreviations is included on the Institute for Safe Medical Practices’ (ISMP) List of Error-Prone Abbreviations?
Answer: QOD
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that the enteric coating on a tablet indicates which of the following?
Answer: The tablet will dissolve in the intestines
Q: A pharmacy technician has received a prescription for nitroglycerin (Nitrostat) 0.4 mg 1 t SL prn. Which of the following should the prescription label instruct the patient to do?
Answer: Place the tablet under the tongue
Q: A pharmacy technician is performing quality assurance checks of a health care facility’s crash carts. Which of the following should the technician identify as a medication that is required to be included on a crash cart?
Answer: Epinephrine (Adrenalin)
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following terms indicates the set percentage of the cost of a prescription that must be paid by the patient?
Answer: Coinsurance
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that pravastatin (Pravachol) is used to treat which of the following condition?
Answer: Hyperlipidemia
Q: A pharmacy technician is preparing to process an in-date return to the warehouse. Which of the following should the technician identify as a medication that is required to be sent in a refrigerated tote?
Answer: Latanoprost (Xalatan)
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that PAR represents which of the following in inventory control systems?
Answer: Periodic automatic replenishment
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following prescription instructions corresponds with the prescription below?i tab qd am HBP
Answer: Take one tablet by mouth once daily in the morning for high blood pressure
Q: Which of the following items should a pharmacy technician include with a prescription to inform a patient about how to safely use a medication?
Answer: Medication guide
Q: A pharmacy technician dilutes a 1 g vial of cefazolin (Ancef) to 100 mg/mL. Which of the following is the amount of solution the technician should use to compound a 500 mg dose?
Answer: 5 mL
Q: A pharmacy technician is scanning a bar code on a medication bottle. Which of the following information should the technician expect the bar code to include?
Answer: Dosage form
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following is the maximum daily dose recommended for acetaminophen (Tylenol)?
Answer: 4,000 mg
Q: How many mL of acyclovir (Zovirax) does a pharmacy technician need to compound a 280 mg bag with a stock vial of 500 mg/10 mL?
Answer: 5.6 mL
Q: A pharmacy technician should use which of the following measurement systems when labeling a prescription for insulin?
Answer: International unit system
Q: A pharmacy technician is preparing to make a sterile compound. She is starting with a non-sterile product. Which of the following categories of compounded sterile preparation does this compound fall under?
Answer: High-risk
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that two medications that are therapeutic equivalents have which of the following features that are the same?
Answer: “A” rated pharmaceutical equivalents
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following is a valid DEA number for a prescriber named Dr. Jane Smith?
Answer: ES2135641
Q: When calculating the beyond-use date (BUD) for a sterile compound, which of the following information should a pharmacy technician consider?
Answer: The stability of the medication
Q: Which of the following medications should a pharmacy technician identify as an over-the-counter (OTC) medication that is used to treat diarrhea?
Answer: Loperamide (Imodium)
Q: A pharmacy technician is preparing to compound 1 g ampicillin (Principen) and does not know how much diluent to use. In which of the following locations can the technician find information about how much diluent he should use?
Answer: Product package insert
Q: A pharmacy technician is coumpouding an IV prescription. Which of the following actions should the technician take to determine best practice for quality assurance?
Answer: Use a bar code verification system
Q: A pharmacy technician is preparing to take invetory of all controlled substances that are in stock at the pharmacy. The technician should identify that the DEA requires reporting of exact quantities for which of the following schedules of controlled substances?
Answer: Schedule II
Q: A pharmacy technician is dispensing a medication to a patient who asks, “The label says to take 1.5 teaspoons. How much would this be using an oral syringe?” Which of the following responses should the technician make?
Answer: “You should take 7.5 milliliters”
Q: According to the FDA, which of the following is required to prove that a generic medication is equivalent to a brand name medication?
Answer: Bioavailability
Q: A pharmacy technician is cleaning a laminar flow hood. Which of the following actions should the technician take?
Answer: Wipe the hood in a horizontal fashion from back to front
Q: A pharmacy technician prepared an IV solution and later noticed the formation of a precipitate. Which of the following should the technician identify as a factor that causes this incompatibility?
Answer: Temperature
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following information is required on prescriptions for controlled substances?
Answer: DEA number
Q: Which of the following statements about storage conditions should a pharmacy technician make to a patient who is taking nitroglycerin (Nitrostat) sublingual tablets?
Answer: “Nitroglycerin should be stored in the original, airtight container”
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following is the minimum age that the CDC recommends getting a seasonal flu vaccine?
Answer: 6 months
Q: Which of the following Dispense as Written (DAW) codes should a pharmacy technician use when entering a prescription for a patient who has refused a generic substitution?
Answer: DAW 2
Q: Which of the following parts of Medicare should a pharmacy technician bill for a 70-year-old patient’s blood glucose test strips?
Answer: Medicare Part B
Q: Which of the following components of a prescription should indicate to a pharmacy technician that a prescription might be forged?
Answer: Written in blue ink
Q: A pharmacy technician receives a delivery of medications from a wholesaler and notices that some of the medications appear to be counterfeit. According to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), which of the following organizations should be contacted?
Answer: FDA
Q: Which of the following tasks can a pharmacy technician legally perform?
Answer: Fill a unit dose cart
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following medications is exempt from child-resistant safety closure packaging requirements?
Answer: SL nitroglycerin (Nitrostat)
Q: A pharmacy technician in a hospital setting realizes a chemotherapy medication was accidentally administrated to a patient via the wrong route of administration. Which of the following actions should the technician take?
Answer: Notify the facility’s Medication Safety Committee
Q: A pharmacy technician receives a request from a patient to fill a prescription for an SSRI medication. The technician should identify which of the following medications is classified as an SSRI?
Answer: Paroxetine (Paxil)
Q: A patient’s medication administration record indicates that he is receiving ampicillin-sulbactam (Unasyn) piggyback qid. The pharmacy technician should recognize that this medication is delivered via which of the following routes of administration?
Answer: Intravenous injection
Q: Which of the following is a security requirement for noncontrolled Medicaid prescriptions set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)?
Answer: The prescription is required to be written on a tamper-resistant pad
Q: A pharmacy technician is asked to compound 40 g of an ointment that contains 125 mg of erythromycin sulfate. The technician should identify that which of the following concentrations should be placed on the label?
Answer: 0.3125%
Q: Which of the following auxillary laebls should a pharmacy technician place on a presciption for amoxicillin suspension (Amoxil)?
Answer: “Shake Well Before Use”
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following is a basic element of a prescription?
Answer: The prescriber’s address
Q: Which of the following should a pharmacy technician identify as the brand name for alendronate?
Answer: Fosamax
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following prescription instructions corresponds with the prescription below?ii gtts ad tid UD
Answer: Instill two drops in the right ear three times per day as directed
Q: A pharmacy technician should recognize that the acronym PHI is used to represent which of the following?
Answer: Protected health information
Q: According to HIPPA privacy rules, a pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following is a requirement regarding patients’ acknowledgement signatures?
Answer: They must be maintained separately from the patient consulation log
Q: In 1990, U.S. Congress passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA ’90). The original purpose of this bill was to provide medication counseling to which of the following groups of patients?
Answer: Medicaid covered patients
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following is used to prevent medication errors for look-alike, sound-alike medications?
Answer: Tall Man lettering
Q: A pharmacy technician in a hospital setting receives a bottle of a partially used medication that a patient’s prescriber has discontinued. Which of the following actions should the technician take?
Answer: Set aside the medication in a secure location to await disposal
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following information is required on labels prepraed for compounded sterile products?
Answer: Beyond-use date
Q: Which of the following information is required by federal law to be included on a prescription label?
Answer: The prescription’s expiration date
Q: Which of the following medications can a pharmacy technician stock in an automated dispensing machine?
Answer: Metformin (Glucophage)
Q: A pharmacy technician is preparing to discard contaminated sharps. According to OSHA guidelines, in which of the following containers should the technician discard the sharps?
Answer: Red biohazard container
Q: A pharmacy technician is preparing to fill a prescription for a medicaiton that indicates an NDC code of 0079-5420-66. Which of the following sets of numbers in the NDC code represent the medication’s active ingredient and dosage form?
Answer: 5420
Q: How often should a pharmacy technician inspect floor stock medications?
Answer: Daily
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following volumes is equivalent to 45 mL?
Answer: 3 tbsp
Q: A pharmacy technician is preparing unit-dose packages. Which of the following should the technician identify as the maximum length of time that a medication is good for after it has been repackaged?
Answer: 12 months
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following are examples of look-alike, sound-alike medications?
Answer: Prednisone and prednisolone
Q: A pharmacy technician should identify that which of the following medications is used for the treatment of an acute asthma attack?
Answer: Proventil (Albuterol)
Q: A pharmacy technician discovers that a medication was dispensed to the wrong patient. After reporting the error to the pharmacist, to which of the following organizations should the error be reported?
Answer: MERP