NABP Promotes Uniformity and Standardization in FPGEC Certification Program

March 12, 2010 5:52 pm

Amends English Language Proficiency Requirements

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® (NABP®) continues to take steps to maintain the integrity of its examinations and programs. Recently, the NABP Executive Committee approved amendments to the requirements for Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Committee™ (FPGEC®) Certification, which include changes to the accepted English language proficiency examination and what constitutes a valid test site location.

Effective April 1, 2010, the Test of English as a Foreign Language™ (TOEFL®) Internet-based Test (iBT) will be the sole English language proficiency examination accepted for new candidates seeking FPGEC Certification. Consequently, score reports from the paper-based TOEFL and the Test of Spoken English™(TSE®) will no longer be accepted for all new FPGEC candidates as of this date. Maintaining one standard for English proficiency – the TOEFL iBT – will further promote uniformity among all candidates seeking FPGEC Certification.

Also, beginning April 1, 2010, TOEFL iBT score reports from international Educational Testing Service® (ETS®) test site locations will no longer be accepted for new candidates seeking FPGEC Certification. TOEFL iBT score reports will only be accepted from ETS test centers located in NABP member and associate member jurisdictions including the 50 United States, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Australia, eight Canadian provinces, and New Zealand, as listed under District Composition.

To accommodate current candidates who were part of the FPGEC Certification program prior to April 1, 2010, and who may already be scheduled to take an English language proficiency examination, TOEFL and TSE score reports will be accepted until June 30, 2010. If a candidate is unable to pass the TOEFL and TSE by June 30, he or she will need to contact ETS and schedule to take the TOEFL iBT as the English language proficiency requirement. The FPGEC will also accept score reports from international ETS test site locations from current candidates until the June 30 deadline.