Taiwan Pharmacist Licensing Examination study guide
Taiwan Pharmacist Licensing Examination · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Taiwan Pharmacist Licensing Examination (藥師考試, formally part of the 專技高考 professional and technical senior examinations) is the national credential a candidate must hold to register and practise as a pharmacist in Taiwan. It is administered by the Ministry of Examination (考選部) with the Ministry of Health and Welfare governing professional registration, and it is aimed at graduates of accredited pharmacy programmes who intend to dispense, counsel and manage medicines in community, hospital, industry or regulatory settings. The Taiwan Pharmacist Licensing Examination study guide has 8 sections and about 2,026 words.
01Pharmaceutics: Dosage Forms, Stability, and Biopharmaceutics
Pharmaceutics questions test whether you can connect a formulation property to a patient-relevant outcome. Know the classification of dosage forms (solid, semisolid, liquid, sterile), the excipient roles (diluent, binder, disintegrant, lubricant, glidant, coating, preservative, antioxidant, suspending agent), and the manufacturing consequences of each.
325 words, about 2 min02Pharmaceutical Chemistry: Structure, Reactivity, and Drug Design
Expect questions linking chemical structure to physicochemical behavior, metabolism, and receptor binding. Master functional-group pKa behavior: carboxylic acids (pKa ~4–5) are ionized at physiologic pH; amines (pKa ~8–10) are protonated; phenols and sulfonamides have intermediate pKa.
274 words, about 1 min03Pharmacognosy: Natural Products and Crude Drugs
Pharmacognosy questions test recognition of plant/animal sources, active constituents, and standard uses. Build a mental table by chemical class: alkaloids (morphine from Papaver somniferum; quinine from Cinchona; atropine from Atropa belladonna; caffeine from Coffea/Thea; vinca alkaloids from Catharanthus roseus), glycosides (cardiac glycosides from Digitalis purpurea/lanata; sennosides from Senna; glycyrrhizin from Glycyrrhiza), terpenoids (artemisinin from Artemisia annua; ginkgolides from Ginkgo biloba), and phenylpropanoids (eugenol from clove; cinnamaldehyde from cinnamon).
260 words, about 1 min04Pharmacology: Receptors, Pharmacokinetics, and Drug Classes
Pharmacology questions reward a systems approach: receptor type, signal transduction, and clinical consequence. Know G-protein-coupled receptors (Gs → ↑cAMP; Gi → ↓cAMP; Gq → ↑IP3/DAG), ligand-gated ion channels, tyrosine kinase receptors, and nuclear receptors.
229 words, about 1 min05Pharmaceutical Analysis: Methods, Validation, and Quality Control
Analytical questions test method selection and validation parameters. Know the principles: UV-Vis (Beer–Lambert, chromophores, wavelength selection), HPLC (reversed-phase vs normal-phase, mobile-phase pH, ion pairing), GC (volatile/thermostable analytes), titration (acid-base, redox, complexometric), and spectroscopy (IR for functional groups, NMR for structure, MS for molecular mass/fragmentation).
234 words, about 1 min06Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Pharmacy: Dispensing and Patient Care
Practice questions test safe dispensing, prescription interpretation, and pharmaceutical care. Know the parts of a prescription (superscription, inscription, subscription, signa, prescriber information), common abbreviations (q.d., b.i.d., t.i.d., q.i.d., p.o., p.r.n., h.s., a.c., p.c.), and error-prone abbreviations to avoid (U for units, q.d.
227 words, about 1 min07Pharmaceutical Administration and Pharmacy Law
Law questions test the regulatory framework governing drugs and pharmacy practice. Know the roles of the central health authority, drug approval pathways, and the classification of medicines (prescription, controlled, over-the-counter).
241 words, about 1 min08Therapeutics and Dispensing: Applying Evidence to Patients
Therapeutics questions present a patient scenario and ask for the best drug, dose, or monitoring plan. Use a structured approach: identify the problem, assess severity and comorbidities, choose first-line therapy per guidelines, individualize dose, and plan monitoring.
236 words, about 1 min