Just started this blog and I hope to make it a hobby...

I created this blog just to give myself time to say what I want to say without any worries that someone might misinterpret or criticize me. Blog is really a useful tool to express oneself without thinking of what others might say.

For the past 3 decades that I have been battling and befriending life, I never got to create my own diary or even write a journal of what's going on in this life I made. Maybe now is the best time to use my typing capabilities to write ideas, events, or even my take on things. Since I have difficulties speaking out, maybe this blog can do the job for me, not that I want all people to read my posts, but for myself to laugh and be amazed and definitely reflect about the person I was, the person I am right now and the person I will be in the coming years.

For Filipino Nurses wanting to work in Saudi: How to request for an Eligibility Number and Schedule for Prometric Examination

There's a huge possibility that you reached this post due to one of the following reasons:

1. You are planning to take the Prometric Exam and you want to know the step-by-step process on how to schedule the examination

2. You are already trying to schedule the examination but is somehow confused with the options given by the website

3. Or, you just accidentally bumped into my blog post and now about to close it since you realize that you browsed the wrong site. :-P

If you're reason is one of numbers 1 and 2, then you can continue reading this.

I am writing this just to share to you the steps I took from requesting for an Eligibility number up to scheduling the Prometric Examination. Just like you, I was clinging on reading blogs about scheduling the examination. All of what I read were helpful enough but most of them were also not updated, hence, I got confused on some parts of the actual process of the application. And then I said to myself, after this, I will definitely, surely, eagerly write a post about it for future applicants not to experience what I have gone through (Aaaaah…dramatic yet humane…lol.) However, I will not include the dreadful part which is the actual examination since my schedule is yet to come and that is exactly 2 weeks from now (the thought of this makes me tachycardic). I will update this post or better yet, create a separate post about my experience in taking the examination (pray for me).

To give a background, nurses bound to Saudi Arabia are required to take the Prometric Examination for Nurses to become eligible to practice the profession in their country. This test is like our local board examination, except that Prometric examination is a computer-based exam and that you only need to answer 70 items. Passing rate is 50% for Nurse Specialists (Those who have 3 years and above work experience can take this) and 45% for Nurse Technicians (For nurses with less than 2 years of experience). 

I got hired by a Saudi-based hospital through an agency in Manila and as one of their requirements, we were told to take the Prometric Examination. I was given the option to take it once I arrive in Saudi or schedule and take it while I am still in our country. Being a slowly-but-surely type of person, I opted to take the examination here. I was also given a choice to let the agency process the whole application and pay them Php6000, of course I know that it will only cost me 90USD (that is only about Php4000) if I will process it myself, that being said, yes, I processed it all by myself (Thanks to Celine Dion for the line…lol). Just a reminder that the Prometric website only accepts credit card payments, so if you do not have a credit card or you do not know anyone who will let you use their credit card, then I would suggest that you grab what your agency offers, anyways, they are already experts of the entire process so it will be less hassle to just pay and let them do the job for you.

Here are the steps that you should take in order to schedule the Prometric Examination. I will try to be as detailed as I can to make it easier for you. Here it goes:

1.      Request for an Eligibility Number. To do this:

a.      Go to the Saudi Commission for Health Specialists (SCHS), you need to create an account with them in order to log in.

b.      In the Mumaris Log-in page (Mumaris is the system that SCHS use), click on New account. Once you click on “New Account”, it will bring you to the General Instructions page that will give some tips and ideas on how to fill out the registration page. After reading, click on DONE. Next page will ask you if you are applying from outside Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Click YES if you are in a different country, then click ACCEPT.

c.       Fill out the registration form. For Non-Arabic applicants, you need to fill out –ENU for your FIRST, MIDDLE and LAST NAME, no need to fill out those fields with –ARA on it. You will also notice that once you fill out the Birthdate field, The Date of Birth – Hijri will automatically be filled with I guess the conversion of our birthdays to an Arab date. Leave it as it is. Mobile number should include the international code (In PH, it is +63 and your 10-digit mobile number eg. +639171234567). This is important since a confirmation that SCHS already generated an eligibility number for you will be sent through email and/or SMS. Email address will be entered twice to confirm that you entered it correctly. Mind you that you can only associate one email address to one account. So if you have already registered to their website, you application maybe declined. Just contact SCHS for assistance on how to access your old account. After completing all fields, click REVIEW INFORMATION

d.      Review and check that all the information you entered are correct and proceed to clicking NEXT.

e.       Now wait for the activation link that will be sent to the email address you registered. Click on the ACTIVATION LINK to open the Activation page where you will now set up your password for your Mumaris account.

f.       Once you are already logged in to your account, hover your mouse to Classification and Registration under E-Services then click “Issuing of Eligibility Number”, this will bring you to the General Instructions Page, after reading click on Next. The nest 5 steps to complete  are as ff:

1.      Practitioner Information- All the information you entered when you registered to the website will be shown under Practitioner Information, you just need to check and confirm your email address by entering it in the field, then check the small box to clarify that your contact details are correct then click NEXT.

2.      Qualifications- In this tab, you will enter the course that you completed which is Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. You also need to fill out the Date of Graduation and Years you spent to complete the course.

3.      Experiences- Declare all your past and present employments related to your profession. Make sure that all declared will proved by submitting all your Certificate of Employments with correct dates.

4.      Attachments- In this tab, you will be required to attach scanned copies of the original documents as ff:

i.                    Passport

ii.                  Diploma

iii.                Certificate of Employment (all declared in Experiences in no. 3 should be uploaded in the form of COE)

iv.                Transcript of Record (TOR) and Related Learning Experiences (RLE)

v.                  Board Certificate

vi.                Passport size ID Picture with white background

-Please make sure to send clear copies, they may decline your application if the scanned documents are unreadable.

-Also, make sure that each document’s file size is smaller than 1MB. The system will not allow you to upload documents with huge file sizes.

5.      Review- After uploading all documents required, you will be given last tab to review all the information and documents you entered. Make sure that all the dates you entered match the dates on the documents you uploaded. If you are sure enough that all are perfect, submit and click END.

g.      Once you click END, the system will confirm your request for Eligibility. They will also tell you to wait for their email within 3-5 working days.

Wait for their email which will provide you your Eligibility number. If ever 5 working days are up and you haven’t received your Eligibility yet, you can email them at crmsupport@scfhs.org and advise them of your concern. In my case, I received mine exactly on the 5th day.

2.      Now, once you receive your Eligibility number you can proceed to scheduling the examination through the Prometric website.

By the way, you will receive 2 numbers from SCHS, one is the Exam Eligibility Number and the other is Verification Eligibility Number. The latter number is for Saudi Council to verify all submitted documents are legitimate. I didn’t bother filing this since my employer will process this one for me.  

a.       On the email sent by SCHS, there will be a link that you can click to bring you directly to the Prometric scheduling page.

1.       In step 1, you need to choose “Academic, Professional Licensure & Certification, Government, and Corporate Programs”, then there will be a drop down box where you need to choose “Saudi Licensing Examination”. (The option to choose this was instructed to me by SCHS after I emailed them about a non-existing Eligibility number issue and that was whenever I choose “Saudi Council for Health Specialties” as the program)

2.      Choose the country where you would like to take the examination then click NEXT

3.      Upon clicking NEXT, a page with multiple options will show and you would need to click “Schedule an Appointment”. Clicking this option will bring you to Information Review page where the chosen program’s policy and payments are stated. Click NEXT to proceed

(You will read “For testing within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia only” in this page, but since I received an email from them to choose Saudi Licensing Examination and being a submissive creature, I just ignored and clicked NEXT)

4.      Next page states all Privacy Policy that you need to review before agreeing and clicking NEXT

5.      In this page, you will finally enter your Eligibility Number and the first four characters of your Last Name (Last Name =Reyes, then you should enter REYE), then click NEXT.

6.      Now you need to choose the testing center where you will take the examination. As of this writing the only Prometric Testing Center in the Philippines is located in Ateneo Professional Schools. When you reach this step, just type in Philippines in the search bar and this will give you 2 results. Oddly, it will just give you the same location which is “2/F Ateneo Professional Schools,130 HV Dela Costa St. Salcedo Village, Makati City”. The only difference between the 2 is the Testing Center Number. One is #8475 while the other is #8479. I checked the 2 testing center entries and chose #8479 since it gave me more options on date and time. Click NEXT to continue

7.      Choose the Date and Time you want to take the examination. They have limited options with time, usually having intervals of 2 hours. Click NEXT.

8.      Review your schedule and pay the Examination Fee of $90 using a credit card. Enter the card number, Name of the card holder, Expiration Date of the Card and CV number, then SUBMIT.

9.      Last page will confirm if your payment is successful. It will also give you the confirmation page that you need to print and bring to the Testing Center on the day of your examination. The same confirmation will be sent to your email address right after you complete the payment.

And that’s about it. All you need to do now is prepare for the examination. I hope this long somewhat technical post will be able to help you with your journey to becoming a Licensed Saudi Nurse, Let’s keep our fingers crossed and leave everything to the man up! Amen!