Mastering the Federal and State Dichotomy of the MPJE

If you’re preparing to take the New York MPJE®, then you already know there are two sets of rules: federal rules and New York rules. The statutes and regulations can always differ, and whichever is more stringent is going to supersede. Your job is to identify the times when they differ and to navigate them correctly.

The MPJE® isn’t going to hold your hand and alert you when to reconcile differences between state and federal. They’re not separate forms to fill out like your taxes. And we at Exam Master like to think our Practice Exams are a more pleasant experience than tax season.

Previous best practices leaned on the phrase “in this jurisdiction” to indicate when to calibrate your pharmacy law acumen toward state-specific rules. That time has passed, and you have to maintain a constant pivot if the test calls for it, just like you will in practice.

Studying specifics is going to get a little dry. Reading lists of requirements can only keep your attention for so long. Exam Master emphasizes case-based questions whenever possible to simulate real-life practice. How do you plan to assess a given situation for the right state-versus-federal solution?

A pharmacist opening a new pharmacy contacts a vendor for prescription label printing. The pharmacist explains that they want certain information to stand out.

Which elements should the pharmacist communicate to the vendor to print in bold?

This material looks harmless at first glance, but what is the question getting at? What’s being tested? The situation sounds normal, realistic, even a little mundane, but what’s the significant of bold printing?

To know the right answers, you’ll need to dive into New York’s distinction between “critical” elements and “important” elements of prescription labels. The scenario is not based on federal rules, even though you could mistakenly select the options you think are most important purely from your experience.

Now ask yourself, how would the study experience change if the question cut straight to the point?

Which of the following prescription label elements are “critical”?

Can you feel the precipitous drop in engagement level by stripping away the real-life application from the content? One of Exam Master’s primary goals is to make your study efforts as engaging as possible. The rewards are clear and immediate, and the ability to internalize the answer is aided by placing yourself in a situation that you could easily face in the pharmacy day-to-day.

We also take pride in the depth of our explanations. The explanation for this fairly simple question covers the distinction between critical and important elements, directly indicates which of the provided answer choices belong to which category, and supplies the full lists of those elements found in the source legislation (even if these were not among the presented answer choices).

 

Learn More About Our New York MPJE Study Systems Here.