The Five-Letter Exams

“When are you going abroad?” Many nurses are sure to have been asked this question at least once in their lifetime. A lot of people have asked me this and it’s starting to annoy me. Everyone assumes that when you are in the field of nursing, you will eventually leave the country. I have no serious plans as yet but it is a possibility. When you do compare the salaries of nurses here and in other countries like the US and the UK, the difference is so huge. So yes, maybe I’ll work abroad but just for that and also for the fact that I love to travel.

So let’s assume that I am seriously considering to work abroad. What am I to do first? For nurses, passing the local board exam is just the beginning of a series of exams that needs to be taken. There’s still NCLEX, IELTS, CGFNS, and a lot more of those five letter acronyms. But the good thing about it is that not all countries require their applicants to pass all those tests. It depends where you are applying for. The first thing to do then is to decide, which among the 195 countries in the world, where you want to work in.

It’s quite easy after you’ve finally decided where to work since you will then know what will be required. If you want to go to the US, then you are sure to be taking the NCLEX. It’s a good thing for us Filipino nurses since it has been available here in the country as of July 2007. For those who are looking elsewhere like New Zealand, for example, you will be taking IELTS.

Taking these tests aren’t easy. Just like the local board exams, these are battlegrounds where failure is not an option. To live your dreams of working abroad with better opportunities and better pay, you have to diligently study and prepare yourself for them. Although you can retake a failed exam but you will have to pay for it again and also review again delaying the realization of your goals.

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