Pharmacy Technician Test Information, Examples, & Practice

Are you preparing to take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam? Start familiarizing yourself with the test content and format and alleviate your test anxiety and stress. Start preparing today with JobTestPrep's comprehensive preparation resources to ensure your career success.

JobTestPrep is here to help you prepare for your Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam with tailored PTCE practice tests that will give you the best chance of success. Our comprehensive PTCE PrepPack™ includes two full-length PTCB-style PTCE practice tests with 180 questions, clerical, numerical, personality and SJT practice tests in addition to detailed study guides and interview practice.

Start practicing today and increase your chances of getting hired.

What is the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) Format?

The PTCE is a computer-based aptitude test used to assess whether candidates have acquired the relevant professional knowledge to practice as a pharmacy technician.

The PTCE format is a multiple-choice exam to be completed within a time limit of one hour and 50 minutes. There are 90 questions overall, each with 4 answer choices from which you will need to select one correct answer.

PTCE Test Content

The PTCE measures your knowledge of nine key areas essential to pharmacy technician practice.

Pharmacology for Technicians
Pharmacy Law and Regulations
Sterile and Non-Sterile Compounding
Medication Safety
Pharmacy Quality Assurance
Medication Order Entry and Fill Process
Pharmacy Inventory Management
Pharmacy Billing and Reimbursement
Pharmacy Information System Usage and Application

PTCE Scoring:

Out of the 90 questions, 80 of these questions are scored and 10 will be unscored. A candidate’s exam score is based on the responses to the 80 scored questions. One hour and 50 minutes are allotted for answering the exam questions and 10 minutes for a tutorial and post-exam survey.

What Is a Pharmacy Technician?

Pharmacy technicians work under the supervision of licensed pharmacists. Their job responsibilities include dispensing drugs and medical devices to patients and informing them on how the medicines are used. Pharmacy technicians may also review prescriptions with both doctors and insurance companies. Furthermore, technicians may also make phone calls to patients to ensure that they are taking their medications daily, that there are no reactions, and to answer any potential questions.

What Are the Requirements for Becoming a Pharmacy Technician?

To become a pharmacy technician, most companies only require a high school diploma (or equivalent) and a current pharmacy technician license (for a particular state). However, some states require pharmacy technicians to complete training courses, become nationally certified and register with the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), register with their specific state board, or earn their associate degree in pharmacy technology. Another way to become a pharmacy technician is by accumulating on-the-job experience and hours.

However, there are additional job-related skills that can be required:

Typing skills
Computer/data entry skills
Strong verbal and communication skills
Basic math skills
Reasoning abilities
Detail orientation
Understanding of specific state and federal regulations
Drug and pharmaceutical terminology and calculations

What Tests Do I Need to Take to Become a Pharmacy Technician?

If you are applying for a job as a pharmacy technician, you need to demonstrate to potential employers that you possess the necessary abilities and that you have good interpersonal skills. To that end, many companies require applicants to pass online assessments. In addtion to the PTCE preparation, JobTestPrep offers preparation resources for two company-specific pharmacy technician tests—Walgreens and CVS.

The Walgreens Pharmacy Technician hiring process requires you to complete an online application, and then take an online assessment. The assessment test is fairly short and consists of a range of question types. These include math, customer service, situational judgment, pharmaceutical and drug terminology and procedures, and reading comprehension. Typically, the assessment is timed, and if you pass, you are asked to return for an interview.

The CVS Pharmacy Technician hiring process first requires you to complete an online application form administered by Brassring, an applicant tracking system (ATS) that automatically scans your CV, and resume for keyword-specific terms. Then, you are asked to complete an assessment test administered by Virtual Job Tryout. This test consists of personality and situational judgment questions (SJT).

Prepare for the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam

JobTestPrep can help you prepare for the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam with our tailed PTCE preparation resources. Our comprehensive pack includes practice tests, detailed answer explanations, and efficient score reports as well as extra practice tests and study guides. Start preparing today to give yourself the best chance of success on your exam.

CVS Assessment	Walgreens Assessment
ATS Preparation	Interview Preparation