Booking the tests...

September 27th 2009 The first thing that I >SHOULD< have done would have been to have gone to the California Board of Pharmacy website and printed off the application form (here)to apply for the exams. In that paperwork is one section to go the nearest finger-print analysis company (I used my local UPS) - and in California there are loads of places that offer this service. The important point to think about is that this can be done at any time, and need not wait until just before you apply to sit the Naplex and CPJE, and can often be one of the delaying factors - so at some point towards the end of the 1500 hour internship get this done, but don't leave it to the last minute. The second think that needs to be done is to then send off the rest of the paperwork to the CABP. This can't be done until your have completed both your hospital and community hours and had signed affidavits to say so. Once that has been collected then you can send the paperwork off. Finally, you will have to go online to the NABP website and apply to sit the Naplex with them. What then happens is the reverse. The Naplex wont issue an Authorization To Test (ATT) until the CABP do. The CABP wont issue an ATT until they receive the OK from the finger-print analysis company, and they wont release the OK until they have had the all clear from both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI check ups. Finally once everything is in place, you will get an email from the NABP saying you are eligible to apply to sit their exam. This implies you will have also been approved to sit the CPJE, but their letter may take a little longer to come through the post, but you wont need the CABP letter to go online and choose your dates anyway. So once you have the NABP email, you follow the link to the website, register an account, tick the box that says your board has already been notified and they match up the new account with the hardcopy request and then you can choose your dates from those available in the area you wish to sit the exam. There is another small fee to be paid to the examining people here too. Then you go to the link for the CPJE exam hereand do the same thing, but use your Social Security Number (SSN) instead of the code that the NABP sent in their email. The letter from the Californian Board says you will receive a candidate handbook within two weeks, and that the cover of this contains your "notice of eligibility". I was informed (thankfully) that there was no need to wait for this, and to just use my SSN (which worked). Apparently they don't actually send out these handbooks, but I haven't waited two weeks yet, so its too soon to comment on that really. So there you have it. I have received the OK from all the various organizations, traversed the various websites and registered, paid, and booked my exams now. And all I have to do is find the time to do a little studying before I sit them in about 2 weeks time. I will be sitting the Naplex on October 13th 2009 and the CPJE on October 19th 2009, and it is just theoretically possible I might have become a fully registered pharmacist within one year of starting my internship. I guess the next entry here will be an interesting one about my experience of the Naplex itself. Oh, one other thing on a completely different subject: My visa renewal has come back just a few days before my employer were ready to kick me out. And I now have to rush off to the DMV next week to get my Drivers License extended as that runs out on Wednesday - it's all extremely time-critical if you don't get all the paperwork sorted the first day it needs doing. And of course if anything goes even slightly wrong then you might be up the creek without a paddle. For example although my Drivers License went through OK, for some reason the DMV didn't accept my wife's in the same way, and they sent her a very short duration license then a temporary one, and then a second temporary one. After that they finally verified the original papers but said it was too short a time period to send out a new license and they never issue 3 temporary licenses to anyone, so she just went off the radar. She had to resort to using her UK license here again, until her visa extension came through, which was about two weeks after mine. Anyway, for us, thankfully, all has just about worked out. But I can see problems to the left and to the right if things don't work out just right, first time and without any issues. And now, its about time I did some revision I think :-) Farmacyst