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CGFNS stands for
Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools. It is an independent
non-profit organization sponsored by The American Nurses Association and the
National League for Nursing.
The CGFNS examination has been prepared by nurses, leading U.S. educators and
practitioners. It tests a nurse's knowledge in the areas of Medical, Surgical,
Obstetric, Pediatric and Psychiatric Nursing.
Also it covers the five areas of the nursing process, assessing, analysing,
planning, implementing and evaluating for which first level registered nurses
are taught in the U S. The examination is designed and moulded in such a way as
to measure an applicant's qualification and background in the practice of
nursing and proficiency in the English Language, which is imperative in this
context.
Passing the CGFNS qualifying examination is the first step to be taken by a
foreign nurse graduate who wants to practice nursing in U.S.A.
Applicants must have the
following qualifications before taking the CGFNS Examination.
Have successfully
completed HSC/ pre-degreee or equivalent.
- Graduate (or 3 years
Diploma) from a Government approved nursing school whose two or more general
nursing programme included both theory and clinical practice in each of the
five areas of nursing - Medical Surgical, Obsteric, Pediatric , and
Psychiatric.
- Valid registration to
practice as a general nurse in the country, province or state where they
obtained their general nursing education
The CGFNS examination lasts one full day and is broken down in the following
manner :
- Applicants will be permitted 2 1/2 hours for part-I of the nursing section
of the examination, one hour for lunch one hour for TOEFL and one hour and
40 minutes for the second part of the nursing section.
- The nursing sections of the examination consists of multiple choice
questions in English, covering the major areas of nursing and nursing
process.
- The English language section of the examination consists of multiple
choice questions and has three parts: Listening Comprehension, Vocabulary
and Sentence structure.
- You must pass the CGFNS Qualifying Examination and TOEFL within a two year
time period. TOEFL may be taken prior to or following the CGFNS Qualifying
Examination. The TOEFL passing scores for the CGFNS Certification Program as
of July 1998 are:
Test : TOEFL
Passing Score (Computer) : 207
Passing Score (Written) : 540
The exam is divided into two parts with a total of 260 questions.
Applicants are given two hours and 30 minutes for Part 1, which includes 150
questions. After breaking for lunch, applicants are given one hour and 50
minutes to complete Part 2, consisting of 110 questions.
The Qualifying Exam measures an applicant's nursing knowledge and is based on
what nurses must know and do when they practice nursing in the United States.
The foundations of the Qualifying Exam are based on client (patient) needs. The
traditional clinical areas of nursing practice -- nursing care of the adult,
nursing care of children, maternal/infant nursing, psychiatric/mental health
nursing and community health nursing -- are covered.
The exam ensures that an applicant has the same level of understanding of
nursing with various client groups, in various settings, as recent graduates of
U.S. schools of nursing. Both the CGFNS Qualifying Exam and the NCLEX-RNŽ
examination are based on the same framework of client needs because it provides
a universal structure for defining nursing actions and competencies across all
settings for all clients.
There are three components of the CGFNS Certification Program; a Credentials
review, a one day test of nursing knowledge and the Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL), administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). You
must pass all three parts of the Certification Program in order to earn the
CGFNS Certificate.
You must pass the CGFNS Qualifying Examination and TOEFL within a two year time
period. TOEFL may be taken prior to or following the CGFNS Qualifying
Examination. The TOEFL passing scores for the CGFNS Certification Program as of
July 1998 are:
Test : TOEFL
Passing Score (Computer) : 207
Passing Score (Written) : 540
You must apply directly to ETS to take the TOEFL examination. ETS will forward
your TOEFL results to CGFNS upon your request. When filling out the ETS
application, use the following code number when identifying score recipients:
9988. This number is extremely important since it identifies you specifically as
a CGFNS candidate and insures that your ETS results will be forwarded for
inclusion in your CGFNS file.
For information about taking the TOEFL examination, visit the ets website at http://www.ets.com
The examination is
conducted thrice a year, i.e. in March, July and November, simultaneously from
50 centers throughout the world. CGFNS has announced the dates of its Qualifying
Exam for 2002.
Application deadlines listed below cannot be extended.
The dates and deadlines are as follows:
| Application
Deadline |
Examination
Date |
| December
12, 2001 |
March
13, 2002 |
| April
10, 2002 |
July
10, 2002 |
| August
14, 2002 |
November
13, 2002 |
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