Hi All, I LOVE Lisa M's idea! I think it would be a great way for those of us who need a bazillion hours before sitting the exam to get a bit more credibility within our areas. Other courses such as LI's CLE and BSC's courses are great, too, but I think a pre-IBCLC exam would be icing on the cake, you know? The next question, would be, if you pass this exam, would that allow for the total number of hours you must have before sitting the big one, to be reduced? Those of us who have no college (I have an AA, but...) or very little, look at the number of hours we have to have, and think "geesh, I'll be a grandma before I reach that, and My 1st born is only 3yrs!" :) Anyway, I am lucky I was able to get my CLE, all I need now are the hours, and the hands on time. But I refuse to do the hands on time unless supervised (unlike many others we hear about who get a class or two and call themselves consultants.) by an LC I respect. After I have had plenty of supervised hands on time, then I will "maybe" start doing it on my own, but still will never call myself an LC, 'cause I am not. Lisa, great idea! How can we work on this? Is this something that the examiners need to work on? Or can we get together a board of LCs to prepare the pre-exam and have it be a valid test? How about the times and places to take it? I know for many people, like myself, travelling out of state or out of town is expensive and impossible to do. Can we have procters within each community? Ooooh, the ideas... Take care all! Hope you all had a great holiday! Jay PS. Baby is dropping, so........ :)