International Pharmacists with advanced US Degrees who passed FPGEE but not TOEFLiBT

[khadija]

Please let's join forces, we are all foreigners having a high education but struggling with the TOEFL iBT. Let us know what the fight plan is.

[drakula]

Please count me , I am too another unlucky person hold masters degree in US and have been taking Toefl iBT countless times.

[JuneJo]

Me! Speaking got only 24. total 106. Graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemistry.

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[testtube07]

Originally Posted by knok

How many people do we have by now? Count me, another one!

After we spent several years in schools, we were refused by the board to get our licenses. It is not fair. We must fight for it.

To answer your question, there are 12 people in the group. We need more!!

[knok]

Thanks for the answer.

Please read the thread, "Articles related to pharmacist shortage", carefully. You may get some ideas from that.

Cheer!

Knok

[gideyam]

I am in the same situation.

I hold MSc from the US too.
Gar

[lol5561]

Count me in. I passed fpgee and have master's degree from USA. But still have problem meeting the toefl ibt requirement for speaking.

I have master's degree in Health science from USA.

Speaking part should be conducted in person rather than computerized. Everytime during my test I have to speak loudly in-order have mike working and I believe the tone will not be natural. And most of the time the computer screen gets stuck, like its freezing. I can imagine when you are on cell phone and you are at low reception range, the words from the coversation get lost, most of time. I think it's happening same thing here. I don't know, what else to say.

That's way speaking should be conducted in person, like in IELTS. I gave my IELTS and I score 8 but here in TOEFL iBT, I am stuck with speaking part.

[knok]

If you have master's degree from the US universities, you can file H-1B under master quota. If you can find a job in other fields, go for it. Then, we can transfer H-1B later once the fight is over. Do not trust the FPGEC certificate process which requires TOEFL iBT.

Don't ruin your future careers. Check the articles related to pharmacist shortage carefully. You will know the answer why I said this.

Many candidates passed TOEFL iBT -Speaking because they overheard the speaking questions or even saw the questions from the test takers who sat in the front seat. It is not a fair test. A majority of test takers failed because bad testing environments. How can you expect we as human beings to concentrate and talk in unfamiliar topics in noisy environments and stare at the computer screen which we can see glare causing from the light outside the window or using blinking computer screen from the dinosaur age?

The sampling processes mentioned by NABP using panelists to judge the performance of test takers are questionable. The argument lies on the process that was done by ETS. How can you honor the research done by the producer of the test? Also, test raters are different groups. How can you conclude that that is fair and reliable?

I challenge NABP or any state boards to call test takers who failed and passed to randomly testify who can communicate and who cannot. Panelists mentioned that only those who received a score of 26 which is equal to a 50 on the TSE can communicate effectively. How can you be sure that your assumption is correct without testifying it yourself? Or why don’t you let patients decide whether they understand those who failed or passed. However, if you select patients who do not understand English, that would be another issue to discuss further whether it is appropriate to put TOEFL iBT as a requirement in FPGEC process.

NABP and state boards do not have time to test candidates’ speaking abilities themselves because they have lots of work to do in licensing process. So what? Let ETS do it. It is easy but the result is bad. Let me put the words in Wikipedia to make sure that I am not exaggerating.

ETS criticism
ETS has been criticized for being a “highly competitive business operation that is as much multinational monopoly as nonprofit institution”. [7]

Due to its legal status as non-profit organization, ETS is exempt from paying federal income tax. Furthermore, it does not need to report financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. [8]

In response to growing criticism of its monopolistic power, New York state passed the Educational Testing Act, a disclosure law which required ETS to make available certain test questions and graded answer sheets to students. [9]


Source: Educational Testing Service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh well, let Americans suffer from not having enough pharmacists. Let media keep boardcasting the suffering of not having enough pharmacists. Actually, there are several International Pharmacists in the country but they cannot practice as pharmacists because they cannot pass the Speaking requirement that was set that 85% of candidates failed. Those pharmacists are working in other careers. This is called, "Untapped resource." It is a waste of human resouces and a waste of asset of the world, not only in the USA. Please think outside the box, as human beings of the same world and same Era. We are in an Era of Globalization.

Shortages of pharmacists are real in every corner of the world. Do your research, and then, you will find that you are worth more than, "so-callled the value" judged by ETS and NABP.

Two-thirds of FPGEC candidates who passed FPGEE cannot receive their licenses within one year.

[Babak]

Knok,
Appreciate your pure effort.

Following to your posts, there are three designated targets which are initiated by you. They are ;

• NABP provides an alternative for TOEFL iBT
• ETS changes the Speaking test method
• ETS alters the score equation of TSE 50 = iBT 26

You are gathering these days "US Pharmacy Shortage's Articles". Can this issue be helpful in order to facilitate the way of reaching faster to those targets? If yes, how?

Babak,

P.S. I don't want to interrogate you. I'm hinting and motivating others to think about this hindrance and present their point of views or any suggestion if they have. Thanks.

[knok]

Originally Posted by Babak

Knok,
Appreciate your pure effort.

Following to your posts, there are three designated targets which are initiated by you. They are ;

• NABP provides an alternative for TOEFL iBT
• ETS changes the Speaking test method
• ETS alters the score equation of TSE 50 = iBT 26

You are gathering these days "US Pharmacy Shortage's Articles". Can this issue be helpful in order to facilitate the way of reaching faster to those targets? If yes, how?

Babak,

P.S. I don't want to interrogate you. I'm hinting and motivating others to think about this hindrance and present their point of views or any suggestion if they have.

Thanks.

Thank you for asking and creating a discussion. That's what I think. We all have the same questions. Let me ask you further.

"Why were those articles printed?"

For entertainment?, or for generating profits for their books or increasing traffics of their web sites or increasing TV rating of their shows?, or for urging for "change"? Or for be prepared and preventing the crisis?

After I did all this research, I feel that we all, no matter which nationality you are, we have to do anything we can to protect our profession. If we all pharmacists do not come together and discuss to solve all these problems, we all may lose our profession. I know that many American pharmacists do not even recommend their children to work in this career. It is too bad.

Let ask yourself:

1. Who are affected by the shortage?

- Pateints
- Drugstrores, hospitals, healthcare providers, etc.
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-For me, if this problem won't solve, pharmacists burnout will cause less and less people to come to pursue this career.

2. After we know who are affected, what can we do?

3. Which groups care about pharmacist shortage? Can we talk to them?

4. After you read, can you see the hint of those solutions and possibilities to reach those solutions?

5. Are International Pharmacy Graduates the supply of pharmacists in the USA? If yes, what is the trend? How long will this trend continue?

We are 6% of the supply.

6. More.. I don't want to tell you.

Knowledge is power.

Best wishes,

Knok