Free ExCPT Practice Test
Answer ExCPT-style pharmacy technician questions on dispensing, calculations, federal law, controlled substances, top drugs and medication safety, read why each answer is right, then take a full timed exam at the real exam’s pace.
100 questions in 108 minutes, the real ExCPT pace, scored by test-plan domain with a worked explanation for every answer.
Or start with a free 10-question drillA child weighs 66 lb. The prescriber orders amoxicillin 10 mg/kg/day divided every 12 hours. The pharmacy stocks amoxicillin 250 mg/5 mL suspension. How many milliliters are in each dose? (1 kg = 2.2 lb)
NHA ExCPT exam format
The ExCPT has 100 scored questions in five domains, split into ten domains and subdomains. The Dispensing Process is 43 of them. Your score report rates each area, and our full practice exam scores you the same way.
| Test-plan domain | Scored questions | What it covers | Drill |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Role, Responsibilities, and General Duties of the Pharmacy Technician | 15 | Technician and pharmacist roles, pharmacy security, medication reconciliation and MTM support, inventory, storage, recalls, disposal and drug references. | 10-question drill |
| 2A. Laws and Regulations | 9 | HIPAA, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and its amendments, OBRA 90, poison prevention packaging, NDC and track-and-trace rules, USP 800 and record keeping. | 10-question drill |
| 2B. Controlled Substances | 6 | Schedules, DEA number checks, prescription, refill and partial-fill rules, DEA forms 41, 106 and 222, exempt narcotics, pseudoephedrine sales and PDMPs. | 10-question drill |
| 3A. Drug Classification | 8 | Therapeutic classes and abbreviations, dosage forms, routes of administration and the indications of prescription, OTC and behind-the-counter drugs. | 10-question drill |
| 3B. Frequently Prescribed Medications | 5 | Top 200 brand and generic names, side effects versus adverse reactions, contraindications, interactions, incompatibilities and common vaccines. | 10-question drill |
| 4A. Prescription and Medication Order Intake and Entry | 13 | Prescription completeness, patient profiles, sig codes and error-prone abbreviations, DAW codes, DUR alerts, third-party claims and rejections, and DME. | 10-question drill |
| 4B. Preparing and Dispensing Prescriptions | 13 | Forged prescriptions, NDC and product selection, counting and reconstitution, labels and auxiliary labels, Medication Guides, REMS and hazardous drug handling. | 10-question drill |
| 4C. Calculations | 7 | Conversions, days supply, weight-based and pediatric doses, percent and ratio strength, dilutions, IV flow rates, alligation and business math. | 10-question drill |
| 4D. Sterile and Non-Sterile Products, Compounding, Unit Dose, and Repackaging | 10 | USP 795, 797 and 800 basics, aseptic technique, hoods and isolators, needles and syringes, incompatibilities, beyond-use dates and unit-dose labels. | 10-question drill |
| 5. Medication and Patient Safety and Quality Assurance | 14 | Quality checks across the filling process, look-alike sound-alike drugs, high-alert medications, tall man lettering and error reporting. | 10-question drill |
Each linked domain has a free ten-question drill with the explanation after each answer. Create a free account to save your results; each drill’s first attempt is free.
ExCPT exam at a glance
- Questions
- 120: 100 scored and 20 unscored pretest questions
- Time
- 2 hours 10 minutes
- Credential
- Pass the ExCPT to earn NHA’s Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) credential
- Eligibility
- High school diploma or equivalent, plus a pharmacy technician training program in the last 5 years or 1,200 hours of supervised pharmacy work within one year in the last 3 years
- Passing score
- Scaled score of 390 on a 200–500 scale
- Retakes
- Wait 30 days between attempts; after three attempts, wait one year. Each retake is a full fee.
- Where
- At your school, at a PSI test center, or online with live remote proctoring
- Renewal
- Every 2 years with 20 hours of continuing education, including 1 hour of pharmacy law and 1 hour of patient safety
- Pass rate
- 62.22% of 16,519 ExCPT exams passed in 2024, on the test plan used before July 2025
The 20 pretest questions are mixed in and not marked, so treat every question as scored. Our full practice exam gives you the 100 scored-question count in 108 minutes, the same pace as the real exam, which gives you 2 hours 10 minutes for 120 questions.
The ExCPT test plan changed in July 2025
Exams from July 9, 2025 follow NHA’s 2023 job analysis. Role, Responsibilities, and General Duties is now its own domain, separate from Laws, and there is less weight on the history of pharmacy laws. Every question here is written to the current plan.
Common questions
How many questions are on the ExCPT exam?
120 multiple-choice questions in 2 hours 10 minutes. 100 are scored and 20 are unscored pretest questions.
What is on the ExCPT exam?
Five domains from NHA’s 2023 job analysis, live since July 9, 2025: Dispensing Process (43 scored questions, including 7 calculations), Role, Responsibilities, and General Duties (15), Laws (15, of which 6 are on controlled substances), Medication and Patient Safety and Quality Assurance (14) and Drugs and Drug Therapy (13).
What score do you need to pass the ExCPT?
A scaled score of 390 on a 200–500 scale.
Should I take the ExCPT or the PTCB exam?
Check what your state board of pharmacy and your employer accept. Both lead to a CPhT credential and cover similar content; the ExCPT weights the dispensing process most. Our ExCPT vs PTCB comparison sets the two side by side.
Is the ExCPT hard?
62.22% of the 16,519 ExCPT exams NHA gave in 2024 were passes. Calculations, controlled substance rules and brand and generic names are the areas to drill.
Does this practice test match the real ExCPT?
Our full practice exam has the 100 scored-question count in 108 minutes, the real exam’s pace, weighted to the ten domains and subdomains of the 2023 test plan, with a score for each and a worked explanation for every question.
Ready for exam day?
100 questions in 108 minutes, the real ExCPT pace, scored by test-plan domain with a worked explanation for every answer.
Or start with a free 10-question drillMore healthcare certification practice
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Exam format, domains and policies are from NHA, checked November 2026: NHA: Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) · NHA ExCPT test plan (2023 job analysis, live since July 9, 2025) · NHA: the new ExCPT exam launches July 9, 2025 · NHA Candidate Handbook (updated October 2026) · NHA pass rates for exams administered in 2024.
Original independent practice. Every question is written for practice from NHA’s public test plan. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Healthcareer Association (NHA). ExCPT is an exam and CPhT a certification of the National Healthcareer Association.