# How I Passed the PEBC MCQ as an International Pharmacy Graduate | My Study Strategy **Channel:** The Long Way Here **Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA5ITnjHG0Q **Transcript page:** https://www.withtranscript.ai/video/nA5ITnjHG0Q ## Chapters - 0:00 — Why I Made This Study Guide - 2:03 — Building a Connected Study Structure - 5:20 — Why Every Topic Matters Equally - 6:46 — Studying Pharmacology Before Systems - 12:13 — Revision, Questions, and Final Advice ## Transcript **[0:00]:** So, I recently passed my uh PEBC MCQ exam, uh which is the first part of the qualifying exam. And uh after that, uh many people from the different groups that I know uh have been asking me um that how did I prepare for the exam. So, what I thought was I'll make like a few videos about what my preparation strategy was and how did I do it because I know as an international pharmacy graduate, it becomes really difficult because um you do not have a lot of sources where or uh people who are talking in detail about their specific study strategies. Even if like you start and go talk with people, it will be just like, "Okay, I did this, this, and I did some revision." And it's like very superficial. So, I thought that maybe I'll try try to make a bit more detailed version of the same thing so that it can help many more people. **[0:48]:** Uh so, that's the purpose of this video. Uh so, let's move forward. And before we begin uh talking about the specific uh strategy, I just want to mention what this exam is more about. I think this exam uh for me as far as I understand this exam, I think it's more about uh not just knowing the facts, but it's more about applying those facts when uh a specific patient scenario comes or a specific um uh case question comes. So, once you understand how to apply your knowledge uh in a scenario where you haven't specifically seen the same type of question, then I think the route becomes much more easier. So, let's talk about it now. So, what I think is the best way uh to practice or study is uh by basically being more conscious about why is a specific thing happening. Like for a disease, why are we choosing this treatment? **[1:38]:** And how does this treatment work? So, things like that. But we'll talk more about it few of uh further in the video for now, but I just want to introduce the concept to you so that the mindset is clear. Another very important thing before we dive into the video is um this specific thing that I'm talking about, it worked for me. There are many different things that work for different people, but uh I think this worked for me and it might help someone who thinks like me or maybe studies like me or who connects with me. **[2:03]:** Okay, so with that said, when I started preparing, what I would do is I would just follow the course schedule. So, the course that I took, I would just follow the schedule from them and would learn with them. So, but the issue what I noticed very soon was the topics were not connected to each other really because I think they would keep the schedule based on the availability of the teachers, but I don't know why why they kept it like that. But whatever it was, the topics were not connecting to each other. I felt like one day I would study a topic of cardiology and then the next day it will be a topic of neuroscience or some part from non-clinical. So, basically the link between two topics which are under the same class of medications or the same class of disease would be completely missing. **[2:51]:** The link will be missing. And that's when I decided that okay, I cannot work with the schedule of the course itself. So, what I would do is I would rather make my own schedule and make my own structure of the topics. So, this became a very important point for me. So, what I did was like I took out all the topics from whatever comes in the BEBC MCQ exams and then I rearranged them. So, I rearranged them like I would I would rearrange it in a way that each topic kind of flows into the next. So, there is a connection. So, you are not just missing out on the connection. You're not just randomly doing anything like that. And that's how I made my own structure and I would suggest that it's very important that someone follows a structure where the links connect to each other because our brain works much better and you can learn much better **[3:42]:** if there are things that connect with each other and then you your brain has a place to stick things together. So, for example, what I would do is I would put uh psychiatry and neurology together. Because once you have studied the psychiatry, you have already gone through the neurotransmitters like uh serotonin, dopamine, and GABA. So, once you have gone through this, and then next you move to the neurology, you're again uh using the similar kind of systems, and it's not like you're starting cold again that okay, now it's a completely new topic and uh you have to start thinking back from zero again. So, they both connect with each other. And since it's in the flow, you are in the flow, and I think uh learning the medications, diseases, the reasons, and everything becomes much more easier because you're already in the flow of that particular system. **[4:31]:** And um yeah, uh so that's how I made it, but I'm not going to go through all of my structure that I made, but I if you think that is something which is helpful uh for you as well, and you want to see uh or work with same uh structure that I did, I am going to paste a link in the description. And uh you can you can have a look. It will also be kind of a planner with uh spaced repetition built in because revision is of course the most important thing about this um exam preparation. And as many times as you revise it and revise it uh after a specific time, it will be much more uh solid in your brain, those topics. So, I'm just going to do that, and uh if you want, you can of course download it and use the same structure and the planner for yourself as well. **[5:20]:** Another important point that I want to mention is because um um I don't know about all the courses, but I have heard that many courses would say that uh this topic is more important. You have to prioritize this topic more. Uh and specifically I uh while talking about this, I'm talking about the clinical section and the clinical topics. So, um many courses would say that this is a high-yield topic, this is more important topic, but trust me, in MCQ, you can get a question from anywhere, and it's not just one question. For example, uh someone might feel that cardiology is a very important topic, but I know for sure that many times many people might get questions from anywhere. We need to focus on every single topic with equal importance. Of course, PVC mentions that there are different competencies. They have made their competencies and then they have given the percentage wise distribution for each competencies. **[6:09]:** But when we are talking about the clinical topics that you're going to do, there is no single topic which is more or less important. So, I would suggest you that do not follow anyone's advice for sure. Whoever is telling you that you do this topic because this is important, this is less important. I do not think that advice is helpful for anyone and people who have followed that kind of advice, I know them and they have like they have regretted following that kind of advice because they might have thought that this is high yield and the questions they might have gotten are completely from different topics. So, it's a very important point that I want to mention. **[6:46]:** So, now moving to how I actually studied for the exam. So, basically this is I think a less common way of studying and it's not about the depth. It's not like if you are studying the pharmacology of particular section or a particular system, the the exam is going to ask you specifically what the pharmacology part is for that system. But what it actually does is it does help you remember the whole system itself. I will give you an example and if it makes sense for you, then you can also use this method. So, what I basically mean is So, before starting a system, what I would do is I would do the pharmacology of that system. For example, like for cardiology, what I would do is I would do the pharmacology of the cardiology. So, in the pharmacology section, there will be all the medications that work that we use in that uh in that system, right? **[7:45]:** Uh so, for example, I'll be reading about the ACE inhibitors, which are angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. So, once I am reading about the pharmacology of ACE inhibitors, what I would know? I would know what medications are there in this class. I would know how this class works. So, I would know the mechanism of action of this class. So, once you know the mechanism of action, you already know many of the side effects. And once you know the side effects or and the mechanism, you also know that when not to give this medication. For example, why are ACE inhibitors protective for the kidney kidney function? You would know that because you know the mechanism. And you understand how that specific class is working. So, once you understand the mechanism, everything uh after the mechanism and the pharmacology becomes much more easier to remember. Uh if you do not do it, let's say you did not learn why this medication is doing what it is doing, at that point, it is basically just a memorization fact. **[8:46]:** Now, the issue with the memorization fact is, at least for me, there are there are thousands of facts that are there while you're preparing for this exam because there are thousands of medications, honestly. So, it's very difficult to remember thousands of facts because you do not have a single place to attach those facts to it. So, once you have you know how and why things are happening, it doesn't just stays a fact. It's basically a whole thing, a whole group of things that you know collectively. What happens in the exam is like you won't see the straight questions. That you won't see like the first-line treatment options in the answers or in the questions. You might see in some, but many in many questions, as we talked and as the PV system says, it's about the application of what you learn. So, the cases can be from the management side, right? **[9:41]:** You can read the You can go through the sample paper of PBC. So, the cases are not very straightforward. In those cases, what you will have to do is like you will have to think, "Okay, I know that this medication does this, but at this point in this patient's case, this patient has these issues." For example, the patient's kidney is not functioning or maybe the patient is using another medication. At that point, they have the interaction. So, once you understand the pharmacology and the mechanism of action, the management of a particular situation in a case becomes much more easier. At that point, the facts, I don't think will help a lot. That's how I made my structure for studying. So, do the pharmacology first for any system. Doesn't matter if it comes in the exam or not come It does not come in the exam. **[10:28]:** I for sure think that it's going to make us a better pharmacist for cuz we know why a drug is doing something that it is doing. In the starting, this method might take a longer time because initially you will be learning a lot of new information, but as you go further in the process, after a few chapters, you will start noticing that many things are very similar to each other. And as soon as you just read it, you won't even need to search more about it or read more about it. You would just understand because you have already read it in the previous system. And that's where the structure also helps. So, it might be slow initially, but you will become very fast once you are past a particular threshold, a particular threshold of knowledge that you need. So, that's what I think helped me when I saw the questions that I am seeing for the first time that I have I haven't practiced. **[11:22]:** Like, for example, a management question about any particular disease and it's not specifically straight away coming from the algorithm that you studied. At that point, you will have to use your brain and you have to think, okay, why is this option the best option? And there are very close options to each other. So, it will be the best option that you choose that should be the right answer and that only comes when you understand why a thing is happening and what to do in certain situations. But with that said, I actually do know some people who have passed by just memorizing the facts and then they say that they have passed the exam. So, if you're someone who can memorize like thousands and thousands of facts without understanding why of those facts, then that's also a valid study method and you can do that as well. **[12:10]:** I cannot talk about it because I don't know much about that method. **[12:13]:** So, the last piece that I also want to touch on is basically the questions and the revision strategy. Now, this video is already very long, so I won't be specifically talking a lot about how I how I did revision and how many questions I did and how many questions you need to do. So, for that I think I'll be making another video because this video is already getting very lengthy. So, I'll make another video and in that I'll discuss the whole revision strategy, but basically I'll just cover a few things. So, what you definitely definitely need to do is do multiple revisions, space it with each other. Another thing is do a lot of questions. So, once you're doing a topic, do a few questions of that topic, maybe do a few quizzes of that topic and after a few days, again, revise the questions or the topics and see the gaps that you have. **[13:03]:** So, but I will tell you more about it how I did it and how I divided my time in the in maybe like the next video that I make. So, but keep at least a few months for the revision. That that's one thing I would definitely like to add. So, now one or two things that I think are very interesting, but like you might take it in the wrong way when you are talking with multiple different people about the exam. So, I know and I have come across many people who say that, "Okay, I did the exam and it was not even that difficult. I just did it in like last 2 months. I did it in 1 month. I did it in 3 months." I don't know. Good for them if they did it like that, but I don't think you can actually do more than like 150 topics in 1 month time or 2 months time. **[13:50]:** It just doesn't make sense to me unless and until you are doing a revision of those topics and and then you are saying that you are just you have just done um it in 2 months. Because unless you are a Canadian graduate or come from a country that specifically also has the same structure and the same teaching and the same practice ways for the pharmacist that is there in Canada. At that point you will have to study a lot and you will have to start from zero zero. And it takes a lot of it takes a lot of hard work, but the good thing about it is you will be by the end of the preparation once you're done with the exam, you will find that you have become so much more disciplined. You have been out of your comfort zone for so long and you've been consistent even if like you were not feeling like it because the exam it pushes you to be so good. **[14:40]:** So, with that note I think I would like to end this video and a good luck for the preparation. I will be making like other videos where I will be explaining how the MCQ basically gives you the question paper, how they set the question paper, like why every question paper is different from each other. Also talking about my revision strategy in some video and like anything that many people say people ask in comments and if there is something that genuinely makes sense to make a video for, I will make a video for that as well. So, I would say stay connected and good luck with your preparation.