The results of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy task force on TOEFL are now available. It appears that, sometime in the near future, the long-standing monopoly enjoyed by ETS on the testing of foreign-educated pharmacists may come to an end. The task force has recommended giving such pharmacists the option of submitting OET scores.
The recommendations of the task force are as follows:
- NABP should give candidates the option to pass the OET as an alternative to the TOEFL iBT as a prerequisite for being eligible to take the FPGEE.
- NABP should accept the MyBest score on each section of the TOEFL iBT within a rolling twoyear period.
- TOEFL iBT and OET standard-setting should be conducted at least every six years to assess and account for changes in the test format, blueprint (content outline), or number of questions.
- NABP should encourage states not to cite specific English language proficiency tests in regulations. Instead, they should approve programs that meet board-approved standards for language competency.
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Point number four isn’t as interesting as it sounds – rather than allowing for a greater variety of tests, it is just meant to allow states to more easily accommodate changes decided upon by the NABP.
Point number three is interesting, though, as the task force report doesn’t really mention anything about the format change that occurred a few months later.
The task force explored the possibility of accepting IELTS and Duolingo English Test scores, but wasn’t comfortable with either due to various factors.
There are some implications for the TOEFL preparation industry – as I’ve mentioned here a few times, pharmacists account for a significant portion of the overall online spend on TOEFL prep. I’ve known many pharmacists who have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on TOEFL prep (and who have taken the test itself dozens of times).