Hi everyone,
I finally got some good rest and let it sink in — I PASSED the NAPLEX.
This is the only thing I wanted for the last two years… to get this behind me. I know so many people here want the same, and it’s extremely difficult — especially as a foreign graduate.
I rushed into my first attempt in 2023 without being fully ready and failed (levels 3–4 in most areas except calculations). That failure stayed with me for 2.5 years. I carried that mental weight every single day. I even thought of changing careers and asked so many people for advice because I didn’t think I could do it again.
Life didn’t pause either — health, kids, family… everything made it harder to come back.
When I restarted last year, it was mentally very tough. I read and searched through almost every post here — sometimes inspired, sometimes demotivated. Many felt like ads for courses (which may help some people), but honestly, in my experience and from what many others say, UWorld book + QBank + videos is all you need. I used my 2022 rxprep book plus uworld qbank ONLY. Studied and got the uodates from websites itself.
This time, I changed how I studied:
- Completed all 3,233 questions and redid all incorrects
- Repeated calculations 3 times until I could instantly recognize what was being asked
- Focused on understanding concepts, not just finishing questions
- Learned to read the question first because of extra/unnecessary data
- Accepted that no topic can be skipped — everything matters
My weak areas were biostatistics, antibiotic coverage, neuro-antipsychotics, and calculations — I kept repeating them until it finally clicked.
Repetition and true understanding made the difference. This time, I gave myself the time to actually learn — not just pass. And honestly, as painful as it was, my first failure ended up being necessary because I learned so much more deeply the second time.
I also want to thank this Reddit group — it has been incredibly helpful. I made some amazing friends here who supported me through this journey. God bless all of you. And yes, I used ChatGPT (a savior) a lot too — it was my go-to whenever I didn’t understand a concept.
I hope this helps someone preparing in the future. If you’re struggling — you’re not alone. Keep going.