Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) practice questions

A patient, Marisol Quintero, presents a written prescription for oxycodone immediate-release 5 mg, quantity 60, signed by Dr Aimee Voss. The patient asks the technician to fill only 20 tablets today because she cannot afford the full quantity, and to receive the balance later. What is the technician's BEST action under federal law?

• ADispense the partial quantity of 20 tablets and supply the remaining 40 tablets within 30 days of the prescription date.check_circle Correct
• BDispense the partial quantity of 20 tablets and supply the balance only within 72 hours, after which the remainder is void.
• CRefuse the partial fill because Schedule II prescriptions must be dispensed in full or returned to the patient.
• DDispense 20 tablets now and add five refills so the patient may collect the remaining tablets as needed.

Why A is correct: Correct: federal law permits partial filling of a Schedule II prescription at the patient's request, and the remaining quantity may be supplied within 30 days of the date the prescription was written.

Why B is wrong: Tempting because the 72-hour limit is a genuine Schedule II partial-fill provision, but under current federal law a partial fill requested by the patient must be completed within 30 days of the written date, so the shorter 72-hour deadline is not the operative rule for this patient-requested partial.

Why C is wrong: Tempting because Schedule II carries no refills, but partial filling at the patient's request is expressly permitted, so an outright refusal is not required.

Why D is wrong: Tempting because refills feel like a way to spread out collection, but Schedule II prescriptions may not be refilled at all, so authorising refills is unlawful.

A technician at Birchwood Pharmacy receives a prescription for Lerato Mokoena: latanoprost 0.005% ophthalmic solution, one drop into each eye every evening, dispensed as a single 2.5 mL bottle. Using the standard estimate that an ophthalmic dropper delivers about 20 drops per millilitre, what days supply should the technician enter for this dispense?

• AAbout 50 days, treating each bottle as delivering one drop per day total.
• BAbout 25 days, based on two drops used each day from roughly 50 drops in the bottle.check_circle Correct
• CAbout 12 days, counting four drops into each eye every evening.
• DAbout 30 days, rounding the bottle to a convenient monthly figure.

Why A is wrong: This counts only one drop daily and ignores that both eyes are dosed, so it doubles the true supply by halving the daily drop count.

Why B is correct: The 2.5 mL bottle yields about 50 drops, and one drop per eye each evening is two drops per day, so 50 divided by 2 gives roughly 25 days.

Why C is wrong: This misreads the directions as four drops per eye; the sig states one drop per eye, so it overstates daily use and understates the supply.

Why D is wrong: Rounding to a calendar month ignores the actual drop maths; 30 days would require fewer than two drops daily, which the sig does not support.

A patient, Renata Fairburn, presents a new prescription for the macrolide clarithromycin to treat a respiratory infection. Her active profile shows she takes simvastatin 40 mg each evening for hyperlipidaemia. The technician is reviewing the profile before the pharmacist verifies the order. Which interaction concern should the technician flag as the PRIMARY safety issue?

• AClarithromycin inhibits the metabolism of simvastatin, raising the risk of myopathy and rhabdomyolysis.check_circle Correct
• BClarithromycin reduces the absorption of simvastatin, making the statin therapeutically ineffective.
• CClarithromycin and simvastatin compete for renal excretion, causing the antibiotic to accumulate to toxic levels.
• DClarithromycin chelates with simvastatin in the gut, forming an inactive complex that passes unabsorbed.

Why A is correct: Clarithromycin is a strong CYP3A4 inhibitor and simvastatin is a CYP3A4 substrate, so co-administration markedly raises simvastatin levels and the risk of muscle injury, which is the correct primary flag.

Why B is wrong: This is tempting because absorption interactions exist for some drugs, but the clarithromycin-simvastatin interaction is metabolic inhibition that raises, not lowers, statin exposure, so this is wrong.

Why C is wrong: A renal competition mechanism sounds plausible, but the recognised concern is hepatic CYP3A4 inhibition affecting the statin, not antibiotic accumulation, so this misstates the mechanism.

Why D is wrong: Chelation is a real interaction type for tetracyclines and divalent cations, which makes it familiar, but it does not apply to this macrolide and statin pair, so this is incorrect.