Your unfair advantage in pharmacy licensure
Pharmacy licensure asks you to hold two very different bodies of knowledge: the therapeutics of hundreds of drugs, and the law that governs how they are stored, scheduled and dispensed.
The advantage isn't a shortcut. It's a study method: pulling answers from memory and reviewing them just before they fade, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming.
2 programs · 2,464 cards · organised by public exam outlines
What your memory has to carry for pharmacy licensure
Different exams, the same problem: a lot to hold, for a long time, recalled on demand.
Drug facts by the hundred
Brand and generic names, mechanisms, dosing, interactions and monitoring parameters.
Law that has to be word-exact
Controlled-substance schedules, DEA forms, record-keeping periods and labelling rules.
Calculations
Dosing, compounding and pharmacokinetic math that has to be right the first time.
Why the old way fails for pharmacy licensure
Rereading, highlighting and cramming are the most common ways to study, and they feel productive. The research says they're the weakest.
Rereading
Rereading a top-drugs list makes the names familiar. The exam asks for the interaction or monitoring parameter behind the name.
Retrieve it
Tested students recalled 61% of a passage a week later; students who reread it four times recalled 40%.
Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Psychological Science
Highlighting
Highlighting the law outline marks what is testable; it does not rehearse producing it.
Test yourself
A review of ten techniques rated highlighting and rereading low utility, and practice testing high.
Dunlosky et al. (2013), Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Cramming
Cramming law the week before works until the questions turn on a detail you saw once. Spaced review brings those details back several times.
Space it
Word pairs reviewed across four days were recalled 54% of the time; the stack crammed the day before the test, 34%.
Kornell (2009), Applied Cognitive Psychology
The numbers behind the method
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results. Each one is shown with the conditions it was measured under.
recalled a week later: kept testing vs only restudied
Drug-to-fact links are paired associations, like the word pairs in this study.
College students learned 40 Swahili–English word pairs. Pairs that kept being tested after first recall were recalled about 80% of the time a week later; pairs dropped from testing but restudied, 36%.
Karpicke, J. D., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319(5865), 966–968.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
of learners did better with spacing, while most believed cramming worked better
Cramming feels more effective while you do it. The data say otherwise, for nine in ten learners.
Across three flashcard experiments, spacing beat massing for 90% of participants, yet after the first session 72% believed massing had been more effective.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
recalled a week later: tested vs reread
What you retrieve lasts. What you reread fades by the next week.
Undergraduates studied a prose passage. Those who read it once and recalled it three times remembered 61% of it one week later; those who read it four times remembered 40%. At five minutes the rereaders were ahead (83% vs 71%). Experiment 2, 180 students, no feedback.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
See the research
Three short loops. Two chart published results exactly as reported; the forgetting curve is an illustrative model and is labelled as one.
Spacing beats cramming
From Kornell (2009), Experiment 2: over four days, one stack of 20 word pairs reviewed every day versus four stacks of five each crammed on one day. On day 5, spaced pairs were recalled 54% of the time, massed 21%, and the stack crammed the day before 34%. Across three experiments spacing beat massing for 90% of participants, yet after the first session 72% believed massing worked better.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
The forgetting curve, with and without reviews
An illustrative model, not measured data: after one exposure, memory decays quickly toward zero over 30 days. With reviews on days 1, 3, 7 and 14, each review restores it and it decays more slowly each time, staying high at day 30.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Über das Gedächtnis. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig.
Illustrative model, not measured data.
Testing yourself beats rereading, a week later
Bar charts from Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Experiment 2. Five minutes after studying, students who read a passage four times recalled 83%, read three times and tested once 78%, read once and tested three times 71%. One week later the order reversed: 40%, 56% and 61%.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
Pharmacy programs
Ready-made decks, organised by each exam's public outline. Open any program to try its free sample cards.
How NoReread puts it to work
1. Cards from public exam outlines
Each program is organised by its exam's publicly available outline, so the decks follow the structure you will be tested on.
2. Recall first, then flip
Every card asks before it tells. That moment of pulling the answer from memory is the retrieval practice the research measures.
3. Reviews scheduled before you forget
An SM-2 schedule brings each card back just as it starts to fade: sooner if you missed it, later if you knew it.
A card asks for a drug's key interaction or a record-keeping rule; you answer, flip and rate yourself. Missed cards come back sooner, so therapeutics and law are both still fresh on exam day.
What does %w/v mean, and how do you convert a %w/v strength to mg/mL?
%w/v = grams of solute per 100 mL of solution. To convert to mg/mL, multiply the percent by 10. Example: a 2% w/v lidocaine solution = 2 g/100 mL = 20 mg/mL.
Learn first, then retain.
Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials.
Straight answers
Is NoReread enough to prepare for pharmacy licensure?
No, and we won't pretend otherwise. Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
What does “unfair advantage” mean here?
The advantage is the study method: retrieval practice and spaced review, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming. It is not a promise of a pass or a score. The numbers on this page are published findings about the method from the studies cited, not NoReread results.
Does the MPJE program cover my state's law?
No. It covers the federal law core. The MPJE also tests your state's law, so pair it with your state board's materials.
How current is the drug information?
Drug cards can lag behind label changes and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against current drug references.
Can I rely on the cards being accurate?
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials. We're not experts in every field we cover, and NoReread does not guarantee exam results.
Is NoReread affiliated with the organizations behind these exams?
No. NoReread is not affiliated with or endorsed by the organizations whose exams and outlines it references, and exam names are trademarks of their respective owners.
How can I try it?
Every program page shows 6 free sample cards per deck. The All-Access annual plan starts with 7 days free, then $119.99/year, or you can buy a single program for life from $7.99.
Exam names are trademarks of their respective owners. Content disclaimer · All the research
Study pharmacy licensure the way memory works
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