This book is a required text for a pharmacy course I'm taking. It attempts to be an all-encompassing work to prepare one for the PTCB exam.

We are about halfway through the book (I'm referring to the 2nd edition),and it contains a surprising number of errors.

Aside from a good number of requisite typos (do any publishers know about spell checkers?), there are some things that should have been caught by someone at Thompson.

The book describes the purpose of the SEVEN digit DEA number that appears on prescriptions, and how to verify the validity of that SEVEN digit number. Not one, but two of the sample script illustrations show SIX digit numbers.

A section on the conversion of Roman numerals to Arabic numbers contains an example where MCMXCVII somehow equates to 1,998 (it also states "VIII = 10-2 = 8"). Math in general is very poorly explained in this book.

An artistic rendering of a syringe shows the cc measurements on the barrel in this order ½...1½...1...2.

There are a couple of sections in the book that read as though a cerebral vasodilatation alleviates a migraine when in fact it is part of the cause of a migraine. Even if the passages are correct in intent, they don't convey the information clearly (I showed these passages to my teacher and she agreed they appear incorrect).

Again, we are only about halfway through this book, but I felt compelled to submit this review. Given its objective, and its cost (it wasn't cheap, even on the web), you'd think they would have taken more care in proofing.

the packing for the book is very nice, and it didnt cost anything.
therefore, we need to order more than $25 to get free shipping

I HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE BOOK WITH SO MANY ERRORS IN ALL MY LIFE.
No way was this book ever proof read.
Whoever wrote this book is stupid... says she is a pharmacist. I would hate for her to be giving me medication.
DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. You will be more confused than ever.

This is a great study guide for the PTCE if you are looking to brush up on everything for the exam. It goes into depth as far as a pharmacy technician would want to know. The practice tests are a great way to let yourself focus on the parts of the exam that you are not as well prepared for. There are some mistakes throughout some of the question and answer sections, but it is pretty easy to figure out the right answers. I used this in conjunction with the Prentice Hall Question and Answer study guide and did a great job on the PTCE.

Personally, I don't trust books with errors in them, whether they be grammatical or technical or any other sort. That's why that upon finding that this book failed to spell PTCB correctly on the first page of the introduction, I returned the book immediately. For a book from the same publishing company that produced the Comprehensive Exam Review for the Pharmacy Technician, I'm sufficiently surprised. I would highly recommend only two books to study for the PharmTech Exam: The Comprehensive Exam Review for the Pharmacy Technician written by Jahangir Moini and a supplemental calculation book.

I am a former science teacher and found this book was the best out of 3 that I bought to prepare for the exam. I took the exam this month and feel confident that I passed. The book breaks up the material into concise chapters with chapter tests. The best are the chapters on drugs that really helped me remember the drug names, mechanisms of action and precautions.

I was so angry with this book that I actually wrote down the errors as I read it so that I could share it with you. I wont hammer you with all of them, just the ones I'm currently reading, from pg 111-123, a mere 12 pages, a fraction of the book's length.

pg 111 - 125mg/ml stated in question, changed to 125mg/2ml in the solution on pg 112.
pg 115 question #2 - 200mg/ml, changed to 250mg/ml in solution on pg 519.
pg 115 question #9 - 250mg/5ml, changed to 125mg/ml in solution on pg 520.
pg 118 "PCTB", should be "PTCB" (come on editor, it was in caps and it's the subject of your book)
pg 119 "adult dose of a drug is 2m/kg", should be 2mg/kg
pg 123 question #9 - the solution is suppose to use clark's rule: (wgt of child/150pd * adult dose), not young's rule: (age of child/(age + 12) * adult dose), instead they use a combo of both: 25lb/(25lb +150lb) * dose. Wrong!

At first I was very angry with the errors in this book, but I went through a 12 step program: anger, denial, blame, resentment, ... and finally acceptance. And in the end, I love this book! It's sheer genius! The author and editor piss you off so much you double check all their work, writing down all their errors, rewriting it online to share with you, and commiting it all to long term memory!

It's all I can do to refrain from giving this book 5 stars. I only gave it 3 for that rare reader who doesn't have the time to edit the book like I did.

The book does a good job of covering the basics, but it is full of mathematical errors, circuitous mathematical logic (they make the math much harder than it needs to be), and misinformation on physics (e.g. it says that a meniscus is an optical allusion, when in fact it is a real physical phenomenon caused by the surface tension of the liquid).

On the plus side, it does a good job covering pharmacy law, pharmacy operations, calculating dosages, and drugs. While you could study the drug information (e.g. drug classes, physical effects, interactions, etc.) for weeks, the exam does not delve into it very much (at least mine did not).

The book does a good job of covering the basics, but it is full of mathematical errors, circuitous mathematical logic (they make the math much harder than it needs to be), and misinformation on physics (e.g. it says that a meniscus is an optical allusion, when in fact it is a real physical phenomenon caused by the surface tension of the liquid).

On the plus side, it does a good job covering pharmacy law, pharmacy operations, calculating dosages, and drugs. While you could study the drug information (e.g. drug classes, physical effects, interactions, etc.) for weeks, the exam does not delve into it very much (at least mine did not).

Please don't waste your money on this text. I had the misfortune of having to use this text to teach certification reviews for the July 06 exam. Luckily all of the students passed but I would attribute it more to their prior pharmacy knowledge and the additional information I gave them from the APhA texts than this book. The typos were unacceptable!!! I realize mistakes will get missed on occasion but how can a text claim 3/32 = 1/8 on the front page of a chapter? I was primarily teaching the math section and thought this book did a terrible job of explaining things. If math is the area you need to focus on do yourself a favor and by the Complete Math Review by APhA instead. This book was written strictly like a textbook which doesn't promote the practice most students need. The APhA text was written more like a work book which I really enjoyed as did my students (I also used it when I just wanted to briefly look over things before taking the exam in 2003). The work book format of APhA makes it a lot easier for students to skip over sections they have already mastered by providing frequent practice problems you can check yourself on. The pharmacology section in the Delmar text was pathetic as well. The information was out of date and incorrect (Nexium is a capsule not a tablet!!!) The top 200 medications list in this book was organized poorly also. I used numerous sections of APhA to supplement the Delmar text and the students loved the way the APhA material was presented in comparison. Basically my conclusion would be that if you want a text with tons of typos and way more information in textbook format than you need on the exam...use Delmar. If you just want a quick refresher (or even a crash course if Math if it isn't your strong point) that just presents you with what you need to know please use the APhA texts (Complete Math Review and Complete Review).

I purchased this book a couple of months ago to prepare for the certification exam--which I took today. A couple of thoughts now that I've been through the experience:

1. The organization and general information provided in the book was FAIR-to-GOOD. There were some questions that came out of left field not covered in this text, but for the most part it was sufficient in the procedures, practice, and regulatory material. A couple of practice tests, but they seemed to use the end-of-chapter questions a bit much.

2. The math preparation is VERY GOOD. Lots of math chapters and questions. I didn't see a single Q not covered in the text. Of course, practice helps.

3. Pharmacology coverage and organziation is POOR. There texts assumes complete knowledge of physiology in the discussion of the various drugs and mechanisms of action. The chapters in drugs are incomplete, confusion, and occaisionally tough to follow.

Overall, a very good prep guide. But you better get flash cards and/or a primer on the pharmacology with this one!

I HAD ANOTHER CERTIFICATION BOOK WHICH HAD A LOT OF WRONG ANSWERS & TYPO'S. THIS BOOK EXPLAINS EVERYTHING VERY SIMPLY & IN A LANGUAGE THAT IS EASLILY UNDERSTOOD. IT FOCUSES ON WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN ALL AREAS & NOT A BUNCH OF INFORMATION THAT IS TRULY UNNECESSARY. ALSO IT COVER ENOUGH MATH HOPEFULLY TO GET YOU TO PAST THE TEST. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE STUDYING FOR THE PTCB EXAM.

I HAD ANOTHER CERTIFICATION BOOK WHICH HAD A LOT OF WRONG ANSWERS & TYPO'S. THIS BOOK EXPLAINS EVERYTHING VERY SIMPLY & IN A LANGUAGE THAT IS EASLILY UNDERSTOOD. IT FOCUSES ON WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN ALL AREAS & NOT A BUNCH OF INFORMATION THAT IS TRULY UNNECESSARY. ALSO IT COVER ENOUGH MATH HOPEFULLY TO GET YOU TO PAST THE TEST. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE STUDYING FOR THE PTCB EXAM.

My wife just took her exam this morning. She thinks she did good, but can't really predict whether it was enough to pass.

She took a class which provided two texts and drug cards:

1. Pharmacy Practice for Technicians, 3rd ed - Durgin
2. Complete Math Review for the Pharmacy Technician, 2nd ed - Hopkins
3. Pharmacy Drug Cards, SFI Medical Publishing

Based on reviews here, I purchased two more books:

4. Comprehensive Exam Review for the Pharmacy Technician - Moini
5. this one

If we had to do it all over, we would not even read 1-3 and go with 4 and 5. 5 covered the math more thoroughly than 2. My wife ran out of time on some more difficult math questions, but handled most with no problem. 4 helped by categorizing the drugs and reinforced her general knowledge.

These two helped her get through some 85% of the questions. There were some (eg. pharmacy law) that were not covered, so we might seek out even some more books.

I'm presently going through a certification program and my class uses this book. There are so many errors and typos. My teacher had to correct many of them for us just so we can make sense of the information. This book needs a new editor. Do not waste your money.

One of my pharmacy technicians purchased this book to prepare for the exam. However, very quickly she realized that the book was full of errors.

The law section is written from the perspective of the author's state of practice (we assume as none of it has any bearing on Massachusetts law). Each state has its own set of rules and regulations pertaining to the practice of pharmacy.

Secondly, the calculation shown to determine if a prescriber's DEA number is valid is just wrong. It seems no one validated the information within.

She found more errors in calculations. Ultimately, this individual ended up having to spend additional funds to acquire another book.

This book is a must for all future technicians. It has a few noticable typos that don't help but can be overloooked for the quantity of information and excellent outline of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone that's looking to get in a career as a pharmacy technician, just pay attention to the questions and their answers since this publisher could not afford to proof-read.

I bought this book (2004 edition) on the advice found in other reviews in this section. Like others, I have never worked in a pharmacy, have a tech-industry background that is going nowhere in this economy, and decided to pursue the medical industry which I've always been interested in. My first step was to go for the Pharm Tech Certification, so I bought this book to prepare for the exam. I do believe it helped with the general pharmacy practice and with the pharmacology and law sections, but I had to go out and purchase a second book on pharmacy math because of all the errors and inconsistencies in the math section of this book. There are errors in several of the examples, in many of the practice questions at the end of each chapter, and even in the sample tests, many of them quite blatantly wrong while others can only be determined wrong if you are strong in math, and it was too confusing. It appears nobody proofed the math section of this book before publishing. It cost me another $40 for a secondary book to review the math and learn the formulas. Since the sections on pharmacology and law are completely new to me, I was not able to determine if there were errors in those sections, but the math section DID leave me wondering if other things were wrong, too. I basically lost my confidence in this book. As a result, I decided to also purchase another study guide by another author as a backup. These errors cost me nearly $100 in further purchases!!

(2nd edition). This book was good but had the potential to be an exceptional one-source study guide for the PTCExam if it wasn't for the mathematical errors, typos, etc. On one math question, the variables were different between the question and the answer/explanation (The question wanted you to fill an order for 0.5g of a drug from a supply of 200mg /5ml solution. The answer was based on 0.75mg of drug from a 250mg /5ml supply). This was frustrating at times, especially since I purchased this book primarily for the math review.

The book is laid out very well, and covers quite a lot of information. It is pretty up to date on state and fed. regulations such as the April 2003 HIPAA revisions.

It's too bad it wasn't proof read very well. Overall, this book is still a usefull study guide for the exam as long as you look out for the mathematical errors. With this book's help, I do believe (and hope!) I passed the exam.

I'm a computer professional wanting to make a career change to pharmacy. So I'm really a clean slate - and have little to no pharmacy biases whatsoever.

I bought this book and studied it - and was able to pass my CPhT exam the very first time.

My only training and experience has always been in IT; I've never filled a prescription (yet). Because I'm about to make a career change, I needed a way to prove to health care employers I was serious. So getting my CPhT was a great way to do that. If there's a test-case for how good this book is - then I'm it.

Important Note: the new second-edition will soon be released. The ISBN is 0766814327. Make sure to get the latest one before ordering.

Good luck on your exam!

Becuase 50% of the exam is based on the calculations, thats why its the most important part. This book is definitely the best if you want to practice and review the calculations in a short time. I passed the exam with the help of this book. I recommend it.

i bought this book to study for the national cpht exam ... i studied it well for over 2 months only to be shocked on test day. i was prepared mathematically (something this book does well) but the pharmacology questions (ie: what is the generic name for drug x?) were NOT sufficiently covered - they are simply listed in a read-it-if-you-can 10 page chunk. seeing as how those were the basis of the test, i was very upset with this book. if it had an extra chapter or two dealing solely with drugs themselves, it would be a good buy. for now, buy something else.

I found this book very helpful in studying for the PTCB exam. I do feel however, that there are a few questions on the practice exam that the PTCB offers that are not covered in this review, but overall, it is well written and should be able to help anyone pass the exam, with prior education or not.

This would have been a great tech review if it weren't for the NUMEROUS typographical errors present! In one chapter alone I found 5 math typos!! Its pretty bad when you can't trust your answer page to be correct! The information learned from this text book would have been so much more helpful if I hadn't had to spend so much time decifering their errors! I wish someone would have proof read this before it went to print! Luckily I have a great pharmacist willing to quiz me so hopefully I can still pass! If I'd had to depend only on this book I would be in some serious trouble! And for as much as this darn thing costs, you'd think they could at least have gotten the "solutions for problems" right!! Look into getting a different review book--not this one! Its not worth the money!

I took the PTCE recently and this book would be a good introduction to what I do as a pharmacy tech. But, there are many questions on the test that this book doesn't cover. Your best resource is the website where you can take the practice test.

I ran into a lot of problems using this book. Numerous answers are wrong, questions often involve information that hasn't been taught yet, the drug list is incomplete and vague, and when I actually took the test there were a number of subjects that the book never even mentioned (such as proper DEA form numbers). If you are having problems with the algebra or conversions involved in pharmacy, this book might help, but I would advise looking elsewhere for technical information. I'm probably going to have to take the test again.

This book was okay to use as a starting reference, but there are better study guides. I found several typos throughout the text. Some of the numbers on the answer guide page did not match the corresponding numbers on the test page. One page had several questions missing, though the answer page had the answers! Some of the problems regarding mathematics could have been done with perhaps a little more clarity.

This is a good first reference book for the PTCB Candidate. It is written in language that is easy to understand, even for those with little pharmacy experience.

However, many topics which the candidate will be tested on are either lightly touched or absent. This leaves the technician to search for alternate sources for this material. The organization of the chapters also makes the process hard to follow at times. A more step by step charting of the pharmacy filling process would be valuable to those with little experience.

I would recommend it as a great place to start, but by all means, not the type of book that will get you through the exam material by itself.

This is an excellent review for the pharmacy technician certification exam. It is comprehensive, organized, and understandable. The topics covered in this book follow closely the topics covered on the PTCB exam. This book has plenty of sample tests and a lengthy math review as well. However, it is a little weak on drug information (generic names, drug class, etc.) and pharmacy law. Overall, this is a highly recommended review book for the PTCB exam.

I found this book to be a thorough review. I found the information well organized, understandable, and quite thorough. I felt that the topics were explained extremely well, and especially appreciated the emphasis on understanding and use of the material. Questions and explanations were exhaustive, and the extra material (the "pretests" and sample exam) was very helpful (as were the ten + chapters on math!!). I felt that it was an excellent review, and reflected the material on the exam well.

This book is a good overall source for study, however I would recommend more than this one book. This book does not go into detail so if you don't understand what is being introduced the way they introduce it you need to go to another reference. The certification test is very difficult and not all the material is covered in this one textbook (maybe not any one text).

I did this review. I knew it. I took the test. I felt that Delmar's was weak on Law/Procedure and on Drugs, their generics, classes, etc...

use this book. but make sure you use others

I'd like to have a review on sample question

This text is an excellent review text. It is written for persons all levels of experience - quick study guides allow the student to skip what he or she is already familiar with, and detailed chapters are included for those who are not familiar with subjects. Questions or problems at the end of each chapter are answered in detail, to allow the student to see what the examiner is looking for and hopefully duplicate it for the exam, rather than simply designating the correct answer and leaving the student to guess why their answer was incorrect. This is really key, as a large part of the success on the exam is understanding what the question is asking and what the examiner wants to know.

Other salient features include a pre-test, to allow the student to pinpoint weaknesses and prioritize study, a sample certification exam, which is written to duplicate the exam in both style and content, and a very large and detailed section on pharmacy math, which includes every type of calculation which might appear on the exam, and as a practice math test. Since the lack of ability to solve math problems is a primary reason why students fail the exam, this is an excellent preparation aid. The text also teaches the student to think and understand, which is necessary for the exam, as it is not all regurgitation of material - you have to know how to USE and apply the material.

All relevant subjects are covered and discussed in detail. An excellent buy for the money, for students of pharmacy technology - and expecially for technicians trained in a retail pharmacy who may be lacking in hospital pharmacy.

This text could even be used as for a pharmacy technology quick study course, or self study course as it is quite complete.

This book has everything that you need to pass the certification exam. Prescriptions, filling, labelling, record keeping, OSHA, computers and law are all covered thoroughly. There are also chapters on pharmacology and ten chapters on math [the book covers almost every type of dosage calculation very thorougly]. Everything is explained exceptionally well, and is easy to understand. Review questions at the end of each chapter are asked, answered, and explained in detail, so that you understand how to answer questions and do the calculations for the exam. It explains "why", and helps you to understand and apply the information. Each chapter has a "quick study" guide for easy reviewing. There is a "pre-test" to help prioritize study and pinpoint weak points, and a mock certification exam, which follows the format of the exam, and includes questions very similar to the questions appearing on the exam. Helpful hints for taking the exam and answering questions are also included. This book is a must, especially for retail techs [a lot of hospital pharmacy is included], and particularly for understanding the math.