This ExCPT cheat sheet distills the NHA's Exam for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians into a printable rundown of the facts examiners test most. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free CPhT toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
ExCPT exam at a glance
- Questions: 120 total — 100 scored plus 20 unscored pretest items
- Time: 2 hours 10 minutes (130 minutes), one continuous session
- Passing score: Scaled score of 390 or higher (scale 200-500)
- Cost: About $117 exam fee (verify at nhanow.com); delivered at PSI centers or by remote proctoring
- Credential: Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT), awarded by the NHA
What’s on the ExCPT cheat sheet
- Dispensing Process (43%) — sig codes and abbreviations, pharmacy math, compounding (USP 795/797/800), order entry, NDC handling, and filling — the largest domain by far.
- Role, Responsibilities & Duties (15%) — the technician's scope versus the pharmacist, inventory, FEFO stock rotation, recalls, and medical terminology.
- Laws (15%) — the Controlled Substances Act, DEA Schedule I-V rules, the four DEA forms, pseudoephedrine limits, and landmark federal laws.
- Medication & Patient Safety / QA (14%) — high-alert and look-alike/sound-alike drugs, Tall Man lettering, the five rights, and error reporting.
- Drugs & Drug Therapy (13%) — drug-class suffix stems, brand-generic pairs, interactions and antidotes, dosage forms, and storage.
How to use it in your final week
- Front-load the Dispensing Process — it's 43 of the 100 scored items. Drill days' supply, dosing by weight, and concentration math on the sheet until the formulas are automatic.
- Memorize the schedule rules cold: C-II gets no refills, C-III through C-V allow up to 5 refills in 6 months, and C-I is never dispensed. Pair each with its DEA form (222 to buy, 224 to register, 106 for loss, 41 to destroy).
- Run the suffix column daily — '-pril' ACE inhibitors, '-olol' beta-blockers, '-statin' statins, '-prazole' PPIs, '-sartan' ARBs — so an unfamiliar generic drops straight into its class.
- Read the whole sheet the morning of the exam for a last pass on the high-alert and LASA safety lists, then walk in and start with the calculation items while your math is fresh.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your ExCPT practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
ExCPT cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the ExCPT cheat sheet downloads as a PDF with no sign-up and no account. It's part of Career Employer's free CPhT toolkit alongside the practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so you can grab all four in one sitting.
It condenses the highest-yield Certified Pharmacy Technician facts into a quick reference: the DEA Schedule I-V rules, the four heavily tested DEA forms, drug-class suffix stems, common brand-generic pairs, pharmacy math formulas, and the high-alert and look-alike/sound-alike safety lists. Everything is organized around the five NHA ExCPT domains so you can see what each section weighs.
No — the cheat sheet is a cram and review layer, not a full course. The Dispensing Process alone is 43 of the 100 scored items, so you still need repeated timed practice on pharmacy calculations and order entry. Use the sheet to lock in facts, then take full-length practice exams to confirm you're consistently above a 390 scaled score.
It's built from the NHA's current 2023 ExCPT test plan plus primary DEA, FDA, and ISMP sources, and we review it regularly. Fees and policies change, so always confirm the exam fee and eligibility rules at nhanow.com before you schedule.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page and the PDF opens instantly. Bookmark the page so you can pull it up again for a final pass the morning of your CPhT exam.
References
- 1.National Healthcareer Association (NHA). “2023 ExCPT Test Plan (Examination Outline).” nhanow.com, 2023. ↑
- 2.National Healthcareer Association (NHA). “Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) — Credential & Eligibility.” nhanow.com, 2026. ↑
- 3.U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “Drug Scheduling (Controlled Substances Act, Schedules I–V).” DEA, 2026. ↑
- 4.Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP). “High-Alert Medications & Error-Prone Abbreviations.” ISMP, 2026. ↑
- 5.National Healthcareer Association (NHA). “CPhT Pharmacy Technician Certification Renewal.” nhanow.com, 2026. ↑
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