Category: pharmacy

More on NABP Task Force Results

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

I know it is inside baseball, but I want to write a bit more about those National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) task force results. In case you didn’t catch my item a few days ago, the task force has recommended that foreign-trained pharmacists be allowed to submit OET scores in lieu of TOEFL scores as part of their accreditation process.

I bring this up for a second time because for many years this was THE topic for people in the TOEFL prep bubble.

It is tough to describe how important this segment used to be for people providing TOEFL prep online… and it is equally difficult to depict the total spend on prep by would-be pharmacists. But it was huge; back in the golden age of TOEFL prep (circa 2012 to 2022) tutors with a positive reputation among pharmacists wouldn’t even roll out of bed without first securing a $2000 advance payment for ten $200/hour lessons. I’m not exaggerating.

It’s worth mentioning that the problem for test takers was almost always their ability to reach the required speaking score.

There were reasons for this. I suppose they are mostly irrelevant now that the test has changed, but they had to do with demographics, the way the test was scored, and the particular score requirement (26/30) set by the NABP.  While the test was probably “fit for purpose” due to its rigorous integrated questions, it came with challenges. Back then we always used to talk about how hard it was to eliminate “fossilized errors” among this particular older-than-average test taking population. And while they often had the competence and fluency to speak eloquently in real life (something the task force results briefly refer to) and had worked successfully in public-facing jobs in the USA for years, issues related to speaking rate, pause frequency and pronunciation held them back on the TOEFL.

It wasn’t weird to work with folks who had taken the test dozens of times without hitting the required speaking score. They shuffled from tutor to tutor to tutor looking for a solution to their problem. Along the way they would take the test itself a few dozen times.

Whole SEO campaigns were built around the keywords “TOEFL Speaking 26.”

But this is ancient history. The speaking score requirement was lowered to 25 points in October. A few months after that the test itself was completely changed. It remains to be seen how pharmacists will respond to the new test. And, needless to say, the big pharmacy chains aren’t hiring like they used to, so the test taker population itself has shrunk.

I mention all this to illustrate how many of these frustrated test takers would have immediately piled into the OET had the option been available a few years ago.  Some may have flinched at that test’s astronomical price tag, but they would all have been happy to distance themselves from the TOEFL.  That could still happen when/if the OET option is made available, but a lot depends on how everyone feels about the new TOEFL.

This concludes my history lesson.

NABP Issues TOEFL Taskforce Results (Finally)

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

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:

  1. 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.
  2. NABP should accept the MyBest score on each section of the TOEFL iBT within a rolling twoyear period.
  3. 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.
  4. 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).

Sample TOEFL Score Report (New)

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

Users of TOEFL Access can now download a sample score report (PDF) from that service’s help page. 

The sample report seems to confirm that score reports will include the new 1-6 score scale as well as a legacy 1-120 overall score… but no legacy 1-30 scores for each individual skill. I suppose those could be included elsewhere, but it doesn’t really LOOK like that is the case.

The challenge here is that some key stakeholders (including a majority of Russell Group schools) haven’t yet updated their cut scores for individual skills.  American and Canadian schools don’t generally institute section score requirements, so they have the luxury of dilly dallying for two years thanks to the inclusion of an overall legacy score. Schools in the UK, which usually require specific section scores, do not.

But it isn’t just schools that need to get moving. Indeed, quite a few foreign trained pharmacists I’ve talked to are a bit anxious about the fact that the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy hasn’t yet issued new score requirements.

NABP Taskforce re: TOEFL Meets

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

The NABP (National Association of Boards of Pharmacy) held a taskforce to discuss their continued use of the TOEFL iBT as a requirement for foreign-trained pharmacists seeking to practice in the USA.  I’ve attached a photo from their social media here just to show how this was a pretty big deal.   This was clearly not a formality or a rubber stamp sort of thing.

Notably, the task force was called for before ETS announced changes to the test. One hopes that the changes were added to the agenda at some point.  Indeed, the NABP’s current TOEFL cut scores (introduced only in October) will soon be obsolete.  They’ll need to issue new ones… and pretty soon.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this, of course.  I asked when we can expect to see the task force’s report, and was told it would be made public “in several months.”

NABP Task Force to Review Suitability of TOEFL

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has convened a task force to determine whether foreign trained pharmacists should still be required to submit TOEFL scores as part of their credentialing process.

The resolution establishing the task force notes that “questions have been raised as to whether the TOEFL iBT effectively measures English proficiency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing for this purpose.”  And that “concerns have been raised regarding whether this requirement may be a potential barrier to licensure.”

The task force will meet in November. 

Regular readers know that credentialing of foreign trained pharmacists is one of the most lucrative on-shore use cases of the TOEFL iBT.  The TOEFL is currently the only test accepted for this purpose and, as I’ve discussed here, it is common for would-be pharmacists to take the test 10, 20, 30 or even 50 times. ETS has enjoyed this lucrative monopoly since at least 2008, according to my research. Its loss would be significant.  And, not for nothing, it would be catastrophic for the online TOEFL prep community.

Some* have suggested that ETS has taken this use case for granted over the years.

The resolution establishing the task force was passed at the end of May, so it isn’t a response to recently announced changes to the test.  But it comes at a bad time for ETS.  The NABP will be forced to examine a wholly different test than what they originally signed up for. And officials will surely be aware that back in 2024 their regulatory counterparts in Canada stopped recommending that provincial pharmacy boards accept TOEFL scores.

Given the importance of this use case, I am quite certain that alarms sounded across Lawrence Township the moment the task force was announced. I’m sure that the TOEFL product owner scrambled a team of B2B pros to ensure that his test remains acceptable to the NABP for many years to come.  But maybe I’m wrong.  In any case, you know how to reach me if you need a consult.  

It is safe to assume that other test makers took notice of the task force.  The folks at Michigan Language Assessment, for instance, have long been focused on English testing for medical professionals and have plenty of experience wrangling state licensing boards. Their flagship product has a vague resemblance to the outgoing TOEFL iBT which the NABP has been devoted to for so many years, but without the little annoyances which make some people think of it as a “barrier to licensure.”  I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that our friends in Ann Arbor responded to this development even more quickly than ETS did.

*Just me, really.

Pharmacy Tech Programs in Ontario Stop Accepting TOEFL

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

I noticed that since last month most of the popular pharmacy tech programs in Ontario (Canada) have stopped accepting TOEFL scores for admissions. This brings them in line with the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities, which dropped TOEFL from its list of acceptable English tests in 2024.

See, for instance, Sheridan College, which I think has the most popular pharm-tech program in the country:

NABP Lowers TOEFL Requirement for Pharmacists

Posted on by TOEFL Resources

The NABP has adjusted the TOEFL section scores that foreign pharmacy graduates must submit to get licensed in the USA (that is, to get their FPGEC certification).  The required reading, speaking and writing scores have been lowered.  The required listening score has been increased.

The old requirements are:

Reading 22, Listening 21, Speaking 26, Writing 24

The new requirements (starting October 25 of this year) are:

Reading 21, Listening 22, Speaking 25, Writing 22

Though this may not look like a big deal to most readers, longtime test prep folks will immediately recognize the significance of the new speaking requirement.  For years, foreign-trained pharmacists have spent an enormous amount of time, energy and money to reach the elusive 26-point speaking score.  Indeed, “TOEFL Speaking 26” has become an enduring motto for test prep firms, and a fixation of the SEO firms which service them. Many people in the world of TOEFL prep work almost exclusively with pharmacists. Without a doubt, this change will have a noticeable impact on the overall spend on TOEFL test prep.

The change may also have a slight (but, again, noticeable) impact on the number of times the TOEFL itself is taken.  Over the years I’ve interacted with dozens (hundreds?) of foreign trained pharmacists who have taken the test 30+ times, all in pursuit of that magical 26-point score. This is a test taker population full of people who take the TOEFL week after week after week… sometimes for more than a year.  Twenty-five points is often achievable.  But 26 points?  For this group that’s a whole different ball game.

Also note that this is one of ETS’s final and most enduring monopolies; TOEFL is the only test which foreign pharmacy graduates can use to meet their language requirement.