Study Tips for Pharmacy School: My Best Tools & Resources to Succeed

Nadia
Nov 28, 2025
2 min read

Studying in pharmacy school can be tough. Some topics click right away, while others feel like a whole different language.

Over the years, I picked up different tools, habits, and resources that helped me survive (and actually understand) the material. Here’s my top advice for studying in pharmacy school.

Study With Purpose (Not Just All the Time)

Don’t focus on studying nonstop—focus on purposeful studying.

For example, if your productive focus time is three hours, make the most of them. Quality over quantity will always win.

Create Your Ideal Study Environment

Some people work best with background noise, others need silence. Pay attention to what helps you focus and create that environment for yourself every time you study.

Review Right Away

Go over the material the same day you cover it in lecture.

And if you get your lectures in advance, skim them before class. That way, you’ll already know what makes sense, what’s confusing, and what questions to ask.

One strategy that helped me a lot was going through PowerPoints before class and breaking them down:

Googling every unfamiliar word and writing down definitions
Adding pictures or diagrams as visual aids
Rewriting complex slides in my own words

Share Material

Let’s be honest—you don’t have all the time in the world to create every single study resource.

If you have a classmate who makes great practice questions and you’re the one who makes flashcards, share the material.

Same thing with your study group—divide and conquer:

One person makes flashcards
One person makes one-page notes
Another creates a practice question bank

Y’all are all learning the same material, so help each other out.

Focus on Understanding (Not Just Memorizing)

This is a hot topic, but here’s the truth: don’t just cram.

Memorizing for the sake of passing the exam won’t take you far. When you actually understand how a drug works, the side effects, drug interactions, and contraindications will make sense—and stick.

Use Study Tools That Work

Here are a few tools I created and used regularly:

Quizlet → flashcards for brand/generic names
One-page notes → quick reference sheets for big topics
SOP old exams (if your school lets you keep them) → break down why wrong answers were wrong, and under what conditions they could be right
Quizizz or Kahoot → practice questions for self-testing