National Board of Examiners in Optometry Pass Rates

The National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO) (www.optometry.org) administers three examinations that students need to successfully pass to be eligible for state licensure and utilize the Doctor of Optometry degree earned from the College:

Part I   – Applied Basic Science (ABS)
Part II  – Patient Assessment and Management (PAM)
Part III – Clinical Skills Examination (CSE)

Historically, a student's individual cumulative GPA at PCO has been a strong predictor of first time NBEO test-taking success. The better a student's performance is in his/her optometry studies, the better he or she performs on the NBEO examinations. 

More specifically, our analysis of the data indicates that students with a cumulative PCO GPA of between 2.0 and 2.3 have a greater level of difficulty in passing the NBEO Part I – Applied Basic Science examination on the first attempt, compared to other students.

DISCLAIMER: The first-time and ultimate pass rates include all students (traditional, APOD (4-year track), and accelerated (3-year track)) who have taken Parts I, II, or III of the NBEO. These combined rates will be reported for all cohorts until December 31, 2024. Starting January 1, 2025, first-time and ultimate pass rates for Parts I, II, and III of the NBEO will be reported separately for students of the traditional/APOD (4-years) and accelerated scholars (3-years) programs.