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162 multiple-choice questions and 63 flashcards, organised into 4 chapters, written to the PTCB CPhT blueprint. Every question carries a full rationale.
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PTCB CPhT — 4 domains: Medications (40%), Federal Regulations (12.5%), Patient Safety + Quality (26.25%), Order Entry + Processing (21.25%)
CoStudy's Pharmacy Tech (PTCB CPhT) bank holds 225 items organised into 4 chapters that follow the published blueprint. Every multiple-choice question carries a written rationale explaining why the correct answer is correct and why each distractor is tempting but wrong.
Each chapter follows a domain of the published exam outline. Practise one on its own:
A sample of 12 multiple-choice questions from the bank, with the full rationale shown.
A patient is taking lisinopril 20 mg daily and develops a persistent dry cough. The pharmacist recommends switching to an ARB. Which is the most appropriate substitute?
Answer: C — Losartan
ARBs end in '-sartan' and act on the same RAAS pathway without bradykinin accumulation that causes ACE-I cough. A) Beta blocker. B) Calcium channel blocker. D) Thiazide diuretic.
Methadone for opioid use disorder must be dispensed from:
Answer: D — Federally certified Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs)
Methadone for OUD is restricted to SAMHSA-certified OTPs. Methadone for pain can be dispensed at retail with a CII Rx. A/C/B) Incorrect.
Which antibiotic class carries an FDA boxed warning for tendon rupture and aortic dissection?
Answer: C — Fluoroquinolones
Fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin) have boxed warnings for tendinitis/rupture, peripheral neuropathy, and aortic events. A/B/D) Different safety profiles.
Which document authorizes a pharmacy technician to assume responsibilities normally requiring the pharmacist?
Answer: A — Power of attorney for DEA Form 222 ordering
A DEA Form 222 POA lets a tech sign for CII orders. State scope laws also govern tech-check-tech and similar tasks. B/C) Not authorization. D) State-specific, not universal.
Partial filling of a CII prescription is allowed federally when:
Answer: A — The patient or prescriber requests it, with remainder filled within 30 days
The CARA Act of 2016 allowed partial fills of CII at patient/prescriber request, balance within 30 days. B) Outdated. C) Old LTCF/terminal rule expanded. D) Not required.
Which DEA Schedule allows NO refills, requiring a new written prescription each time?
Answer: A — Schedule II
A) Correct — Schedule II (oxycodone, morphine, Adderall) does not allow refills; new Rx required each fill. B/C) Allow up to 5 refills in 6 months. D) Even less restrictive.
Tall Man lettering for 'hydroxyzine' vs 'hydralazine' is written as:
Answer: B — hydrOXYzine vs hydrALAZINE
ISMP capitalizes the distinguishing portion of LASA names. A) No emphasis. C) Yelling, less effective. D) Title case, no differentiation.
Hand hygiene before sterile compounding must include washing for at least:
Answer: B — 30 seconds with antimicrobial soap, up to the elbows
USP 797 specifies thorough wash up to the elbows. A) Too short. C) Excessive. D) Sanitizer alone insufficient before garbing.
ISMP recommends avoiding which abbreviation?
Answer: A — U (for units) — should write 'units' instead
A/C/D) Safe abbreviations. A) Correct — 'U' looks like 0 or 4 in handwriting. Always write 'units' out per ISMP.
A pharmacy's auto-refill program automatically processes refills for enrolled patients. What safeguard is essential to prevent medication waste and missed non-adherence signals?
Answer: C — Periodically confirming with the patient that the medication is still needed and being taken before each auto-refill is filled
A) Common misconception — opt-in patient consent, not default enrollment, is the accepted practice standard. B) Wrong — many auto-refill programs specifically exclude controlled substances from automatic processing. C) Correct. D) Wrong — pharmacist verification is still required regardless of automation.
When entering a prescription into the system, the technician's responsibility includes:
Answer: B — Accurate transcription of drug, strength, sig, quantity, refills, prescriber NPI/DEA
Tech enters; pharmacist verifies clinically. A) Pharmacist only. C) Pharmacist only. D) Pharmacist only.
A sig 'i gtt OU q4h' translates to:
Answer: B — 1 drop in each eye every 4 hours
gtt = drop, OU = both eyes, q4h = every 4 hours. A) Wrong route. C) AD = right ear. D) Wrong route entirely.
6 sample cards from the 63 in the bank.
Insulin types — onset/peak/duration: Rapid-acting?
Lispro, aspart, glulisine. Onset 5-15 min, peak 30-90 min, duration 3-5 hr.
Look-Alike-Sound-Alike (LASA) drugs — example?
Hydroxyzine vs hydralazine; Celebrex vs Celexa; Lasix vs Losec. Use Tall Man Lettering (hydrOXYzine vs hydrALAZINE).
Common suffix '-olol'?
Beta blockers (metoprolol, atenolol). HTN, arrhythmia, angina, post-MI.
TID?
Three times daily.
Common suffix '-cillin'?
Penicillin antibiotics (amoxicillin, ampicillin). Bacterial infections.
DEA Schedule V?
Lowest abuse potential. Cough syrups with codeine, pregabalin, diphenoxylate/atropine.
These samples are a small slice. The full bank runs flashcards, multiple choice and timed mock exams with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.
Open Pharmacy Tech (PTCB CPhT) →
The Pharmacy Tech (PTCB CPhT) bank holds 225 items: 162 multiple-choice questions, 63 flashcards. 18 of them are on this page to read free, with no signup.
Yes. Every multiple-choice item carries a written rationale that states the controlling principle behind the correct answer and then addresses each wrong option in turn — why it tempts and precisely where it fails. Knowing why the plausible answer was wrong is worth more than knowing which letter was right.
It is organised into 4 chapters that follow the published exam blueprint: Medications; Federal Requirements; Patient Safety and Quality Assurance; Order Entry and Processing. The number of questions in each chapter is proportional to that domain's published weight, so working through the bank exposes you to roughly the mix the real exam uses.
PTCB CPhT — 4 domains: Medications (40%), Federal Regulations (12.5%), Patient Safety + Quality (26.25%), Order Entry + Processing (21.25%)
The samples on this page are free to read in full, rationales included, with no account. The complete 225-item bank, the timed mock exams and per-chapter progress tracking are part of CoStudy on the web and in the iOS app.
Last reviewed 2026-08-22. Banks are written against the certifying body's published exam outline and re-checked when that outline changes — exams get renumbered, retired and reweighted, and a bank written to a superseded outline teaches the wrong proportions. Figures that are re-indexed annually are deliberately not asserted as rules; the questions test the governing principle instead.