| Test Date | Reading | Listening | Speaking | Writing | Total |
| February 10, 2007 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 30 | 118 |
Friday 29 December 2006
iBT TOEFL® RESULT!!
The NABP® states {here} the (current) requirements for passing the TOEFL® as:
To be eligible for FPGEC® Certification, you must pass
the TOEFL® iBT or both the TOEFL® and TSE®. The minimal
acceptable score for the TOEFL® iBT is:
Reading – 21
Listening – 18
Speaking – 26
Writing – 24
You must complete all four sections in one testing session;
scores for the four sections must be reported on one official
score report. If you score less than the minimum score in any
section, you will not be considered for FPGEC® Certification.
If you take the TOEFL® and TSE®, the following scores
must be obtained:
TOEFL® – 550 (paper-based) or
213 (computer-based)
TSE® – 50
If you score less than the minimum score on either the
TOEFL® or the TSE®, you will not be considered for FPGEC®
Certification.
--
So the results are through 2 whole days early! Good on you TOEFL® people. And here's what they gave me:
And please remember I am born, bred and educated in England, so that 29/30 for speaking I find somewhat irritating :-)
Should I ask for a recount?
Anyway, another hurdle in time, money and energy overcome. Next comes the FPGEC® certificate from the NABP® and then I can apply to the Florida state board of pharmacy for a (I think this is right) "Foreign Graduate Internship" deficiency letter. Well, actually thats not quite true - I am applying for an Internship Certificate, but I can't get one as I don't have a USA Social Security number. I can't get an SSN until someone gives me a job and applies for an H1B visa on my behalf (the timing of which is CRITICAL - and will be discussed in another blog entry soon) - and then I can give the SSN to the Florida State Board of Pharmacy who can then issue me with a full licence to work in a pharmacy and do the hours required, sit the NAPLEX® and the MPJE® and finally, one day, become a fully licensed US pharmacist, with a US work visa and eventually a US Green Card!! Eventually.
Farmacyst.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It seems to me the NABP is using the TOEFL exam to limit foreign pharmacists rather than knowledge of pharmacy which is tested by the FPGEE. Non-native speakers of English not living in an English-speaking country will naturally be weakest at speaking. They can work on and improve their skill in reading, writing and listening outside an English-speaking country but speaking is much harder to work on. Requiring a 26 in speaking but just an 18 in listening is ridiculous. I would imagine there is no one who scores 18 in listening and then 26 in speaking (other than a deaf person), no one.
Despite this incredible hurdle they have put in place, they have now put another one: starting this year, they will now only accept scores from TOEFL exams sat in the US, Canada or New Zealand. I know of Japanese who took the TOEFL 10+ times to garner the score required for FPGEC. Imagine if you are a working pharmacist in a foreign country. How often are you going to be able to fly across the globe to take the TOEFL exam?
It seems like this policy has basically shut the door on foreign graduates who don't have the means or time to make multiple transcontinental flights to take exams, i.e. the vast majority of foreign graduates.
This new little requirement that the TOEFL can only be taken in the US, Canada or New Zealand should result in a dramatic drop in FPGEC certifications of foreign graduates living outside the US. 90%+ drop? Very clever indeed! I would love to know the statistics, politics and special interests behind this...
http://www.nabp.net/programs/examination/fpgec/toefl-ibt/
Post a Comment