Still Ocean

Forget about NY, for some reason these philadelphia people have an issue with New York and it's not because of money, since they still charge you bloodily. They just don't do the work. You pay them sweat money and you crawl at their feet begging them like begging masters. I have experienced so many ridiculous things from them I don't even want to tell you. This is not right. These people took your money and they still hate you. If they dislike international nurses they should straight this out with people instead of selling them false hope then screw them after wards. Now they are doing this like they have a higher calling.

What do you mean? Obviously it tell you they have received this and this but have not received that and that.

Besides your own stories, there is always one thing that you can tell BBB, which is CGFNS promises in each of its auto-responding email that it will give you a reply within two weeks but never does. Good luck! :)

Please beware that CGFNS will keep sending verification letters to the BON of your country and your school addressed to you, so that they will likely be discarded if you don't have some ones in the board and school keep an eye for you on the unclaimed mails. And please don't forget register-mail every correspondence with CGFNS and keep a copy of everything, record telephone conversations, etc. etc. You never know what you need to do in the future.

For those of you who are frustrated with CGFNS, you are suggested to complain at Better Business Bureau . Even though, according to BBB's website, CGFNS has an unsatisfactory record of solving customer complaints directed through BBB, it still did solve some of them. For example, in the last 36 months, out of 25 complaints filed through BBB about service issues with CGFNS, 68% have been resolved, 20% have been ignored. It's better than sitting at your end of internet checking email 3 times a day and pulling your hair. If CGFNS does ignore the complaint on you this time, as it ignores all your emails, at least a mark will be left on it for those who want to bring this to the court. ddd BBB's Reliability Report of CGFNS

I didn't know we couldn't bypass CVS by endorsing. There isn't any reason for me to take CGFNS exam really, especially I am in NY and want to stay here. I have to get CVS done, there is no way around.

So Suzanne you think I should push on NY? Shall I give CGFNS certificate a second try? Since I live in NYC it's easy to pay a visit to Philly, the weather is lovely...

Sorry what does ATT mean? I am a completely noobie as you can see in this forum.

I agree with you Suzanne that the two tests have a good chance to be totally different, though I have no idea how the second one really is. But the official guide is supposed to be targeting CGFNS certificate solely, right? There are other study materials for sale on CGFNS, I am just wondering how good one has to be with them in order to pass the exam.

I started with Official Study Guide for the CGFNS Qualification Exam sold by CGFNS for $45. It's a 450 page book I guess every one on the test has one since the price is included in the $295 first time application fee. I then used Sauders Review. Actually I felt the Qs in the real test quite similar w/ the Official Guide, but a little easier than Saunders. But generally I didn't feel a lot difference among all these books. I got an average of 60-65% in both books with Sauders at the high end 'cauz it was towards the end. I am a little frustrated now, since let's say 800/275, each Q worths 3 points in average, and I am 50 points short, I need to get 16.666 Qs more in order to pass. And that's 16.5% of all Qs. If I am already at 65% in average, it means I need to get 65+16.5=81.5% in order to pass. So the rumor is true?! One really needs to achieve exactly 80% to pass.

I have read Suzanne's posts advocating initializing in NY. Acknowledging that she is way more professional and knowledgable in this field than me, here I beg to differ with her suggestions based on my personal experience. As a person who lives in NYC, I started applying to NYBON since Mar last year, 3 months later I also applied for CGFNS certificate. The nursing board of my home country has been very helpful alone the way. Based on my experience, the CVS procedure is definetly slower than certificating procedure. I have taken CGFNS test (and failed ) but the CVS status is still there as "Ready for Submission" for 8 weeks. Emailing CGFNS I got no answer, calling them nobody picked up the phone. So my suggestion is, go for CGFNS certificate! If you do both and start at the same time, by the time you pass CGFNS (assuming you don't fail), CVS is still on its way. And once you get CGFNS certificate you can apply to take NCLEX almost everywhere. For those who live in NY, you can take NCLEX in the neighboring states and get NY license by endorsing. My two cents.

I am also a little concerned about the scoring method that CGFNS is using. I failed the most recent test by a large margin of more than 50, but I have never scored lower than 50% in the simulations. I have done more than 3000 Qs in the preparation and the average is 65%. During the test I felt it's even a little easier than the sims. Now I am kinda lost. If I failed by such a big margin even when I could get around 65%, how good is it considered to be good enough?

Could you guys who've passed CGFNS this time please kindly tell me how much you scored at simulation tests? I got initially 58% in CGFNS' Official Study Guide and ended with 66%, the average score I got in Saunders Review is 65%, but I failed the real test in Nov. by 50 points. I didn't feel it's any more difficult, if not easier, than the simulations. Thank you very much for your enlightening replies and congradulations!