Marjolein

Hi, I just came home from taking the CPJE ('CA Law') - I took Naplex three days ago. Most of what I read on the forum and heard from others, indicated that Naplex is easy and CPJE is crazily hard. My experience however was reversed. I thought Naplex was tough, with loads of detailed hospital questions, and some unclear questions too ('what is causing the abnormal lab value' - when two values are out of range and it is unclear which one they are asking about, for example). So after Naplex I was pretty nervous for CPJE. However, I came out of the test center smiling! It was really well-to-do! (Of course I need to see the results before I know I truly did well... :rolleyes:) Does anyone else have the same experience? How did it turn out with your scores? Anyway, for all of you out there cramming: study well, but don't expect the worst! Also, make sure you have gone over the sample questions in the registration bulletin! Good luck!

Hi, CA BOP = CA Board of Pharmacy. I don't know for a fact that their rules are different for retaking the NAPLEX, I just know that if you fail, you have to wait 3 months. I don't know whether that is an NABP rule or a CA BOP rule, but if it were the latter, I would not be surprised - after all it is California, and lots of things seem to have to be harder here, when it comes to getting licensed.

What you have is probably OK. Normal ranges will be provided on the exam for less common lab values. Just know the ranges for Chem-7 and of course for things like LDL, blood pressure, heart rate.

Hi Nonosh, I am a foreign graduate too and after I passed the FPGEE and looked for an internship, they paid me as a graduate intern from the beginning. They kept doing that for the entire 11 months it took me to complete the 1500 hours. I am not sure whether it differs from employer to employer, but this is my experience with Vons (Safeway). You are right, it makes a huge difference - with the grad intern pay I could afford daycare, whereas I probably would not even have started an internship if they had not offered that pay :).

Hi Crewsro, One and a half week to study seems pretty short to me... Perhaps you can pull it off, if you paid lots of attention during classes and had good rotations. Why don't you study madly for a few days, then take the pre-Naplex and see how that goes? If it is a disaster, you still have time to postpone your tests till a few weeks later, and if it was easy-peasy you can keep the test dates as they are. Remember, if you fail the Naplex, you need to wait 90 days before you can retake it (unless that rule is CA BOP's, not NABP's)... which would put you even further behind on schedule. Either way, good luck!!!

Hi, I agree with DB28, I think the pre-NAPLEX is a good tool to assess whether you are ready for the real thing and at least it prepares you for the type of questions you can expect. It definitely helped me identify the areas that need a bit more work. In any case, I did also have a few technical problems. They were not as much with loading the pages, as it was that the web page was not responding to my 'click to continue' from the very start (i.e. I could not even log in). The solution (for my computer/system) was to not run the program in the frame that the Pre-NAPLEX website has for it, but to open the log-in or register link in a new window and then take it from there (you can do that by right mouse-click the register/login link and select 'open in new window...'). Maybe this will help someone else who has problems...

Hi Ninah, You can go to the hospital's website and look for the volunteer information - most have it online. Then you call the volunteer office or fill out a webform. Or you find the general number of the hospital and ask the switchboard operator for the number of the volunteer dept. Then you explain what you would like to do/need and why. But I am sure you thought of this yourself as well... Marjolein

Hi Wish To Pass, Wow, that are a lot of questions :-). Let me see which ones I can answer. As a volunteer, you are neither considered an unpaid intern nor an unpaid tech, you are a different category. Usually when you volunteer, your training is taken into consideration when they assign tasks. So in my case, I am helping with audits, doing Medication Utilization Reviews, but sometimes also simple stuff like updating a pager number list. In general, as a volunteer you may not be asked to do anything that requires making decisions, so in that sense too you are different from both an intern or tech. So, you may not learn as much stuff from it as you might want in order to prepare for the boards, but you do pick up bits and pieces here and there and in addition, it meets the inpatient requirement. Some other volunteers in the pharmacy (not Rx grads) do things like filling up Pixus machines on the floors. It really depends on who you are assigned to and what they think you are capable of. Try to get to help one of the clinical specialists, rather than work in the main pharmacy. But also ask the Volunteer Coordinator of the hospital, they can tell you more about it or direct you to someone who can. The Board just needs to see that you have inpatient experience and even says on their affidavit form that it can be from volunteer hours. They do not ask for the specifics of your activities there. When a pharmacist signs the affidavit the Board is satisfied and you met the requirement. One of the pharmacist I work for signed happily and the Board accepted it. I don't know much about how hospitals look upon work visas, but in general, if you are allowed to work in the USA, without them having to fill out any paperwork or pay money, they don't care whether it is from a Green Card, citizenship or a temporary workpermit. Most employers simply don't want the hassle of arranging for a visa, when they can also get someone who has their work permit sorted out already. I am certain that you can find work as a paid inpatient intern as well in CA - very occassionally I come across an ad for it. I however did not find a paid position within 2 months after writing to all the hospitals in my area and decided to not waste my time and just volunteer - which took some time to get set up too. Finally, yes, the CA BOP accepts inpatient experience hours from another state (as long as it is USA and you have an intern license from that state) - look for form 17A-16 on the CA BOP website for instructions on how to have those hours reported to the CA board. Good luck, Marjolein

You are right, it is not easy to find a hospital internship. I applied to all hospitals in my area (San Diego) and none responded. So, here is what I did instead - I signed up as a volunteer for all hospitals, made clear that I wanted to volunteer in the pharmacy and after some waiting and going to an orientation etc. etc. I am now volunteering. I know it is unpaid, but fortunately there is no minimum amount of hours that the Board wants you to gain inpatient experience. So I am doing it for slightly over 100 hours (one day per week) and spend the rest of my time as a paid retail intern. Most hospitals require you to volunteer at least 100 hours or 6 months for their trouble in doing your background check etc. The waiting list can be several months, so don't delay doing this till you are almost done with your hours! Good luck!

Hello, This is for everyone who is preparing to submit his/her application package to the FPGEE... or is wondering what is taking them so long... I sent in my stuff in March - took great care (and bugged my university quite a bit in the process...) in arranging transcripts, proof of degree, proof of registration in English (directly written by them, rather than have it translated). Where possible, proof came on English stationary etc. Almost 8 months later and after filing a complaint with the FPGEC about the long processing time, I got notified that my documents were deficient: I had not sent in an official translation of the stamps on the documents. Indeed I hadn't since the body of the letter clearly indicated the issuing authority in English, and sometimes the letterhead did too. I had asked for stamps in English, but these did not exist at the university (they only go so far in internationalising), so I let it go and thought it would be clear that 'universiteit Groningen' means 'University of Groningen'. Anyway, this was a mistake. We are now indeed talking about needing an official translation for 'universiteit' to 'university'. I am not kidding. Please everybody, take the FPGEC's directions for translations extremely seriously. It may help prevent excessive waiting times till you receive your ATT... Good luck to you all.

Indeed, the confirmation of receipt generally follows quite quickly. It is no indication whatsoever for the rest of the processing time. Good luck waiting...

Thanks, that's great!

Did you ask the NABP for an FPGEE application form? All the info you need is very clearly stated in there. To apply for the application package, send an email with this request to custserv@nabp.net and provide them with your home address - they will send it pretty quickly (also internationally).

hi, you can get this info from the Colorado Board of Pharmacy (http://www.dora.state.co.us/pharmacy/Index.htm), if not directly on their homepage, then on the form used for applying for a personal license (http://www.dora.state.co.us/pharmacy/Forms/PHAoriginal.pdf). There you can see that they ask for 1500 hours of Colorado internship. If you don't have that, the board will consider whether 1 yr internship in another state will suffice.

Hi y'all, As many of you, I am also getting pretty frustrated with waiting for them to review my application (although my situation is not as bad as some of yours). Customer service can not give information, faxes are not replied etc etc. Before going to the D.A. I figured I should send a complaint to the NABP executive director. Which I did yesterday. Did anybody else who did that get a response? And how long did that take? Thx!

Are you looking for a common denominator in those whose files get processed faster/slower? :) . If you find something out, let me know... Anyway: the Netherlands, Syria (is the one to take the exam), Iran, Vietnam, Nigeria. Also, I sent a complaint today to the NABP executive director, about the duration and intransparency of the review process. I just got so angry after reading all those stories in this forum about people waiting and not knowing when to be prepared...

Hi, I am very curious to hear: did anybody pass the FPGEE and ONLY used the Morris Cody materials plus their 4-day review course? Is MC deficient in any subject? I agree that their 'books' are not an easy read, but do they at least cover what you need to know? Their classes, BTW, I find excellent, but these are focussed on NAPLEX (i.e. are very clinical) and CA Law. Thanx!

Hi, Like said above, it almost seems to be a matter of luck. Don't expect anything in the first 6 months, I'd say (and after reading some of the FPGEC-horror stories in htis forum, a wait of 18 months is no exception either...:crazy: ). You can call their customer service or send a fax to ask about your case status, but cust serv probably only confirms they received your materials and says "the committee is still in process to review your package", and a reply to a fax may take 6 weeks, and is a standard letter, not having much meaning either. Just be patient.

Hi, do you mean you submitted your materials in Sept 2005?? Then I am afraid you will have to be patient and patient and patient....:( Apparently, after your package has been reviewed, you first get a notification that they are done with reviewing your case. Then, about 2 months for the next exam date, you'll be sent an ATT. You have till the deadline (now: Oct 24th) to register online for the test, after which you'll receive confirmation of being 'in'. Now, the frustrating part is waiting for them to get to your case. Count at least 6 months, when you are lucky. In some cases it takes more than a year, I even heard mentioned two years, but don't know those people myself. Me, I submitted in March 05, fuly expecting to be taking the exam in June 05. As it turns out, I will not even be in the December exam. :mad: In fact, from about 5 people I know, who submitted in Feb-April 2005, only one gets to sit in December. You may send a fax to the FPGEC, asking for a status of your case - you'll get a standard letter back (after 6 weeks) saying they "hope to review your material in the next several weeks". Well, in my case those weeks turned to 4,5 months and still no news. So basically, it is extremely frustrating, especially since the entire process is so totally untransparent. Good luck!!