About this event
Pharmacology is a solo written test for the Secondary and Postsecondary/Collegiate divisions, sponsored by Dean Vaughn. The biggest section (30 percent) is drug names, classifications, actions and interactions, followed by drug administration (20 percent) and basic pharmacology concepts (15 percent); smaller sections cover legal and ethical responsibilities, pediatric and geriatric adaptations, dosage math and conversions, and technology, with safety woven throughout. Questions come from The Pharmacy Technician: A Comprehensive Approach (Moini), Introductory Clinical Pharmacology (Ford and Roach) and the Dean Vaughn Pharmacology by Body System online course. HOSA provides a basic calculator for the dosage problems, and the same rounding rules as Medical Math apply (round only the final answer, pediatric doses round down, leading zeros yes, trailing zeros no). The event is one round of 50 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes with an essay tiebreaker.
Test day
What to expect
60 minutes, 50 questions
You have 60 minutes for 50 questions written from the event's published test plan. Official format: 50-question test, 60 minutes, plus an essay tiebreaker.
Written from the test plan
Questions follow the event's published test plan, section by section, and are written from the listed reference texts. Practice questions here are drawn in the same proportions.
How you advance
How many advance from regionals to states and on to the International Leadership Conference (ILC) depends on your association's rules. Study the official test plan: it lists each section and its share of the test.
What's on the test
Study resources
Bookmark to saveCurated by ChapterPrep. Free unless noted. External links open in a new tab.