These sample examination items are made available by BPS for the purposes of familiarizing certification candidates and other stakeholders with the structure and format of BPS certification examinations. This is not meant for use as a self-assessment. Performance on any of these items does not correlate with performance on the actual examination.
The content of these examples is meant to be illustrative of actual examination items, but these items do not appear on the certification examination and are not meant to identify the scope of the examination. For a more comprehensive indication of the scope of each certification examination, please refer to the Exam Content Outline for each specialty area.
Examination items are in multiple-choice format. The great majority of examination items are multiple-choice with a single response from among four options. Some examinations may include a small percentage of items that require selection of multiple (three or four) responses from among a larger set of available (up to eight) options. Examinations items may also be supplemented by an image.
A patient with acute myelogenous leukemia who has been receiving voriconazole as prophylaxis for several weeks is found to have new pulmonary nodules during a neutropenic fever work-up. Which fungal organism is the most likely cause of this finding?
ECO Classification: 1A3 Fungal Infections
Correct!
Incorrect!
A patient presents to a clinic with perforated appendicitis. The local antibiogram states that Escherichia coli has a susceptibility of 75% to fluoroquinolones. Which antibiotic regimen is the best recommendation for this patient?
ECO Classification: 2B6 Pharmacotherapy related to Gastrointestinal, Intra-abdominal, and Hepatic Infections
Correct!
Incorrect!
A mother brings her 2-year-old child into the pediatric clinic with pink eye. The child is afebrile with an eye that is red, swollen, and watery. A number of other children in the daycare center are suffering from similar symptoms. What is the appropriate management of conjunctivitis for this child?
ECO Classification: 2B11 Pharmacotherapy related to Other Infections and Complications
Correct!
Incorrect!
An adult patient presented 3 days ago from home with a history of shortness of breath, purulent sputum production, and chills. The patient was started on ampicillin / sulbactam and azithromycin for community-acquired pneumonia. The patient has been afebrile since admission.
Cultures came back as follows:
| Blood cultures | No growth to date |
| Legionella urinary antigen | Negative |
| Streptococcus urinary antigen | Negative |
| Sputum cultures | > 100,000 cfu beta-lactamase-positive Haemophilus influenzae, scant Candida albicans |
The patient is improving, and the medical team plans to discharge the patient this afternoon. Which outpatient regimen is most appropriate?
ECO Classification: 2C7 Interprofessional Care Coordination and Continuity of Care
Correct!
Incorrect!
A 2-month-old patient is post-operative day 3 following cardiovascular surgery and chest tubes remain in place. After reviewing the patient's current medication list, the pharmacist notices that cefazolin is prescribed for surgical prophylaxis. The patient is afebrile, hemodynamically stable, and all cultures previously collected are negative to date. Which is the most appropriate recommendation?
ECO Classification: 2B3 Pharmacotherapy related to Cardiovascular Infections
Correct!
Incorrect!
A study is designed to compare the incidence of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection during the 4-week period after treatment of the initial episode of Clostridioides difficile with either fidaxomicin or oral vancomycin. After completing therapy, 13% of fidaxomicin-treated patients developed recurrent infection versus 24% in patients treated with vancomycin. What is the number of patients needed to be treated with fidaxomicin to prevent one recurrence of Clostridioides difficile?
ECO Classification: 3B2 Literature Evaluation
Correct!
Incorrect!
An infectious diseases pharmacist has discovered an error in which a compounded amphotericin product for continuous bladder irrigation was administered intravenously in the hospital. In addition to the institutional medication error committee, which external voluntary reporting system is best to notify?
ECO Classification: 3A1 Professional Practice Standards and Regulations
Correct!
Incorrect!
An infectious diseases clinical pharmacist is evaluating the newly published hospital's antibiogram, which shows the following results:
% Susceptibility | |||||
| Organism | No. of isolates | Cefepime | Meropenem | Ciprofloxacin | Tigecycline |
| Acinetobacter baumannii | 27 | 65 | 79 | 71 | 84 |
| Citrobacter freundii | 72 | 88 | 98 | 81 | 73 |
| Klebsiella oxytoca | 54 | 76 | 90 | 67 | 82 |
| Pseudomonas aeruginosa | 191 | 77 | 80 | 66 | 0 |
Which listed bacteria should the pharmacist advise against reporting their susceptibility on the hospital's antibiogram?
ECO Classification: 3A5 Antibiogram Design and Development
Correct!
Incorrect!
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