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NHA Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) — Requirements & Free Practice

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NHA Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT)

Licensing authority: National Healthcareer Association

Initial by examination
ExCPT Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT)
Applicability
Current NHA initial certification policy and the ExCPT plan adopted July 9, 2025 apply at evaluationDate and to the requested rolling appointment window absent a subsequently announced change. No pending outline is substituted; no historical or state route is registered. Unpublished route and credential inception dates remain null.
Eligibility
Standard CPhT certification requires a high school diploma or accepted equivalent plus either qualifying training completed within the past five years or at least 1,200 hours of supervised pharmacy-related work during a one-year period within the last three years. Training completed five years or more before application requires relevant work experience.
Evidence Claim Ids
["nha-cpht-requires-excpt-010ef4f1","nha-cpht-route-conditions-010ef4f1"]
Exceptions
Documented eligibility exception requests may be decided by the Disciplinary & Appeals Committee with Governing Board reconsideration; no unnamed examination or no-exam exemption is inferred.
Instructors
Associated instructors must satisfy the handbook's teaching and health-professional/work-experience criteria and program-specific requirements, register individually, test at PSI or by LRP rather than their institution, and observe the stated proctor restrictions.
Pre Externship
Under an institution's agreement with NHA, didactic completion can permit testing before externship completion; passing does not release a certificate until NHA receives completion. Complete the externship and have the institution notify NHA within 90 days of the exam or the passing score is void and retesting is required.
Provisional
Candidates scheduled to graduate from high school or an equivalent program may take ExCPT up to 12 months before graduation if all other eligibility requirements are met. Provisional certification is a placeholder, expires 12 months after examination, cannot be renewed or reinstated, and requires graduation and application for conversion while active; lapse requires retesting. The full certification remains subject to all eligibility requirements.
Training Alternatives
["Pharmacy technician program offered by an accredited or state-approved institution/provider","Apprenticeship registered under U.S. Department of Labor guidelines","Formal pharmacy technician training offered by a U.S. military branch","Employer-based or national-pharmacy-association program recognized by the relevant state Board of Pharmacy or verified by the employer as adequate entry-level academic and technical preparation"]

ExCPT Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT)

Provider
PSI testing centers or live remote proctoring arranged through NHA
Format
Proctored computer-based multiple choice examination
Exam questions
Total questions: 120; Scored questions: 100; Unscored questions: 20; The total includes the scored and unscored questions.
Time limit
2 hours + 10 minutes
Passing score
390 on the 200–500 scaled-score range
Examination outline
  • Role, Responsibilities, and General Duties of the Pharmacy Technician (15%)
  • Laws (15%)
    • Laws and Regulations
    • Controlled Substances
  • Drugs and Drug Therapy (13%)
    • Drug Classification
    • Frequently Prescribed Medications
  • Dispensing Process (43%)
    • Prescription and Medication Order Intake and Entry
    • Preparing and Dispensing Prescriptions
    • Calculations
    • Sterile and Non-Sterile Products, Compounding, Unit Dose, and Repackaging
  • Medication and Patient Safety and Quality Assurance (14%)
Examination sources