No, student ACCP membership is not required for participation in the ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge.

The items developed for use in the competition have been geared towards those students in their last 2 years of the pharmacy curriculum (i.e., P-3 and P-4 years for most schools).

Because each online round is timed, ACCP encourages that whenever possible, team members should complete the online rounds in the same physical location in order to minimize the possibility of disruptions in internet connectivity due to technological issues. However, team members are not required to be in the same physical location in order to participate in the ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge.

Only one access code will be provided to each team. Teams who choose to have their members participate from separate locations are responsible for providing and supporting their own distance technologies. Be advised that any distance technology used must enable team members at remote locations to view the computer screen of the team member who is logged into the online examination. Additionally, each institution is required to provide a faculty member proctor at all sites at which team members are competing. The name of the faculty member(s) serving as proctors must be provided to ACCP via e-mail by the team registration deadline. The ACCP faculty liaison may email all proctor information to Michelle Kucera, Pharm.D.,BCPS at [email protected].

In an effort to accommodate for the various wireless and/or conferencing technologies teams may use to access and participate in the online rounds of the ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge, please review the following recommendations:

1. ACCP encourages teams to use a hard line internet connection for the computer/device accessing the online rounds of the competition. Internet connection using any other form of wireless and/or tethering capability, while permissible, is not recommended.
2. ACCP is able to track both the time and progression of each exam during the online rounds. Therefore, teams that experience an interruption in internet connectivity on the computer/device accessing the online rounds of the competition can contact the ACCP office to regain access to their exam.
3. ACCP will not resume or reset an examination for internet connectivity issues on any computer/device other than the one being used to access the online examination, or for any failure or malfunction of distance technologies used by a team with members participating from various sites.

A team must complete all the questions in each online round in the time allotted. A team may not save their answers and return later to complete the questions. Teams may not skip questions. Each item must be answered before a team is presented with a subsequent question.

The total competition time for the online rounds will be 25 minutes. Teams will be given time to review instructional materials before beginning the competition, as well as between each segment (Trivia/Lightning, Clinical Case, and Jeopardy-style). Time spent viewing instructional materials will not count toward a team’s total examination time.

Each team will be given 5 minutes to answer 15 questions in the Trivia/Lightning segment. During the Clinical Case segment, each team will be given 8 minutes to answer five questions based on a clinical case vignette and applicable laboratory information. Please note that the case vignette and laboratory information will be available onscreen during the entire segment as each question is answered. Teams will have 12 minutes to answer 15 items in five predetermined categories in the Jeopardy-style segment.

All items in the Trivia/Lightning segment will be of equal value. Each correct answer will be worth 75 points. Items in the Clinical Case segment will be weighted according to difficulty. Each team will have the opportunity to answer one 100-point item, two 200-point items, and two 300-point items in this segment. The Jeopardy-style segment will consist of three questions of varying point values (100, 200, or 300 points) in five predetermined categories. Teams will be awarded the point value of the item selected for each correct answer. In the Jeopardy-style segment only, teams may answer items in any order, without respect to category or point value.

The maximum score a team can achieve during the online rounds of the competition will be 5225 points (Trivia/Lightning, 1125 points; Clinical Case, 1100 points; Jeopardy-style, 3000 points). Each team’s score will be displayed and updated when an item is answered.

In the event of a tie, the winner will be determined by the time required to complete each segment of the competition. All examinations will be time stamped. Time spent viewing instructional pages will NOT count toward your total examination time.

Each team may access the Online Competition only once during each preliminary round. The competition portal will be open from 7:00 a.m. – midnight Eastern time. A team must access and complete their examination within this time period.

Only a non-programmable calculator may be used. Only the three-member student team may confer and or discuss the item in formulating their answer. No student participant may use an outside text or electronic resource or solicit input from any other individual. Students and/or institutions found in violation of this policy are subject to disqualification.

Yes. The registering faculty member or his/her faculty designee shall be present at the time a team accesses the online competition portal and remain present until the examination has been completed. Institutions found in violation of this policy are subject to disqualification.

No. Each team will complete the online rounds individually, and the scores will be recorded.

Only one team per institution may enter the ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge.

An institution is defined as one having a unique ACPE accreditation or candidate status designation. Institutions outside the United States are also eligible to compete and must demonstrate accreditation or candidate status by the applicable governing body of their country.

Each institution may determine the individual student participants that constitutes its team. Should an institution have multiple student teams interested in competing, or if students from branch/satellite campuses are interested in competing, a local competition may be held.

Click here for more information on holding a local competition.

All eligible teams will compete in Online Round 1. Sixty-four teams will advance to Online Round 2, and 32 teams will compete in Online Round 3. The top 16 teams will compete in Online Round 4. At the conclusion of Online Round 4, the top eight teams will be announced. These teams will advance to the quarterfinal round of the competition at the ACCP Annual Meeting.

Teams will be notified via e-mail by 2:00 p.m. (EDT) the day after online rounds 1-3 of competition regarding their eligibility to compete in a subsequent round of the competition.

Following the completion of online round 4, the top eight teams will be notified by 2:00 p.m. (EDT) on the Monday following the Online Round 4.

For more information, please refer to the Competition Schedule.