The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® (NABP®) announced updates to the communication skills requirement for Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Committee™ (FPGEC®) certification. Now, candidates wishing to be evaluated and accepted to sit for Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination® administrations in 2027 and beyond will have more options for fulfilling English language proficiency exam requirements:
- Beginning in November 2026, FPGEC candidates who take the Educational Testing Services’ Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based Test (TOEFL iBT) may submit MyBest Scores. MyBest Scores reflect a candidate’s best performance across each section of the TOEFL iBT from multiple test dates. Previously, FPGEC required all four sections of the TOEFL iBT to be completed in a single testing session.
- Beginning on January 11, 2027, NABP will accept results from the Occupational English Test for pharmacy as an alternative to the TOEFL iBT. Candidates may take either language proficiency exam starting on January 11, 2027; OET results from tests taken prior to this date will not be accepted. Minimum score requirements will be posted following the completion of standard setting later in 2026.
“Ensuring that foreign pharmacy graduates have multiple pathways to demonstrate the communication skills necessary to practice pharmacy safely in the United States is an important step in supporting both candidates and the public,” said Lemrey “Al” Carter, PharmD, MS, RPh, executive director of NABP. “These updates, which were recommended by the 2025 Task Force to Examine the Use of the TOEFL iBT as a Requirement for FPGEC Certification, reflect our commitment to continually evaluate and improve the FPGEC program.”
For complete details, candidates are encouraged to review the FPGEC Candidate Application Bulletin and visit NABP’s Foreign Pharmacy web page.
