Everyone’s scared of math, but you don’t have to be. The test uses a little bit of basic algebra and some conversions to metric. Nothing too scary.

Here’s a list with a looooot of math for you to study, but I would start with remembering basic conversions. Here are a few to get you started.

1 teaspoon is 5 milliliters.

1 tablespoon is 15 milliliters.

1 ounce is 30 milliliters.

1 milliliter of eye drops is roughly the same as 20 drops.

A scheduled medication is one that is controlled by the DEA. They are categorized as the following:

C1 - illegal substances, not even available by prescription.

C2 - highly abused substances that are closely monitored but have approved medical use. Many ADHD meds and pain meds fall into this category.

C3 - less abused than C2, more abused than C4.

C4 - less abused than C3, more abused than C5.

C5 - less abused than C4, but still commonly abused.

Just a few very common ones to get you started:

-olol is a beta blocker, which is for blood pressure.

-pril is an ACE inhibitor, which is also for blood pressure.

-statin is... a statin (easy enough), which is for cholesterol.

-cillin is an antibiotic related to penicillin.

That’s about to change. Starting next year (2021), you will be required to go to school to be a pharmacy technician. This post is to urge you to get in while you can.

Currently, it is February of 2020. If you start now, you can be grandfathered in before the change hits.

Step 1.

Get a job at a retail pharmacy. This will be a place like CVS or Walgreens, etc. Any place where people will come to pick up their prescriptions. Depending on where you live, this won’t pay much, but you’ll need six months of experience and some studying for step 2.

Step 2.

Study for the certification exam. You’ll need to learn about three main things:

- math

- generic/brand names of drugs

- US laws regarding drugs

I’ll make more posts with resources to help you study.

Step 3.

Get certified. A lot of pharmacies you work in will help you to get certified. Ask your coworkers about it.

Step 4.

Find a job as an inpatient pharmacy technician. These are the people who make IV medications and provide pills and other meds for the nurses to give to patients in the hospital.

I really want to get this information out there.

I was born into poverty and would have stayed that way forever without some luck and this job. I don’t want that door to close for people. If you do all of this before the law changes, you can be grandfathered in, meaning you won’t have to do any additional schooling, just some CE every two years (which is easy and can be free if you look).