The ExCPT is the National Healthcareer Association's exam for the Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) credential. It covers the technician's role and duties, pharmacy law and controlled substances, drugs and drug therapy, the full dispensing process, and medication safety.
Exam format at a glance
| Format | 120 questions (100 scored, 20 unscored pretest) in 2 hours 10 minutes, computer-based. |
| Cost | NHA lists the exam fee on its website — check NHA for current pricing. |
| Scoring | Scaled score from 200 to 500; 390 or higher is passing. NHA does not publish a percent-correct equivalent, so practice scores here are an estimate, not a prediction of your scaled score. |
| Validity | Renewed every two years with 20 hours of continuing education, including at least one hour in pharmacy law and one in patient safety. |
Who this exam is for
- Pharmacy technician students finishing a training program
- Working technicians with at least a year of supervised pharmacy experience
- Anyone retaking the ExCPT who wants to target weak domains
How to actually study for it
- Spend the most time on the Dispensing Process — intake, claims, filling, labeling, calculations and compounding.
- Know third-party billing: BIN, PCN, member ID, DAW codes and common rejections.
- Practice pharmacy math: days' supply, pediatric dosing rules, alligation, IV rates and markup.
- Review federal laws by name and purpose, plus controlled substance rules and DEA forms.
Where to go next
Start with the free 10-question diagnostic to see where you actually stand, or go straight to the one-page ExCPT cheat sheet. The full ExCPT practice exam covers every domain at the real exam's weighting, with every answer explained.