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.

The data in the table below indicate the Ultimate (Overall) Pass Rates, in other words, the percentage of students who have passed all three parts of the NBEO examinations at the time of graduation from a school or college of optometry.


Ultimate Pass Rate
Pass Rate for All Three Parts of NBEO at Graduation
Class Year

PCO
Test Takers

PCO
Pass Rate

National
Test Takers
National
Pass Rate
2022 149 83.9% 1701 87.8%
2021 164 85.4% 1778 92.5%
2020 145 91.0% 1653 92.2%

Part I NBEO: Applied Basic Sciences
First Time Test Takers
Test Date

PCO
Test Takers

PCO
Pass Rate

National
Test Takers
National
Pass Rate
March, 2023 129 54.3% 1695 67.1%
March, 2022 150 56.7% 1682 65.3%
August, 2022 2 0.0% 71 23.9%
March, 2021 146 74.0% 1676 74.1%
August, 2021 3 33.3% 78 24.4%
July, 2020 140 70.1% 1550 77.5%
November, 2020 16 25.0% 207 57.1%
January 2021 1 100.0% 10 70.0%
 
Part II NBEO: Patient Assessment and Management
First Time Test Takers
Test Date

PCO
Test Takers

PCO
Pass Rate

National
Test Takers
National
Pass Rate
April, 2023 5 0.0% 35 37.1%
December, 2022 143 75.5% 1737 83.8%
April, 2022 4 75.0% 39 59.0%
December, 2021 142 81.7% 1714 85.2%
April, 2021 6 50.0% 56 64.3%
February, 2021 7 71.4% 59 91.5$
December, 2020 147 83.7% 1695 89.3%
July, 2020 0 N/A 1 100.0%
December, 2019 148 90.5% 1726 90.2%
Part III NBEO: Clinical Skills
First Time Test Takers
Test Date    

PCO
Test Takers

PCO
Pass Rate

National
Test Takers
National
Pass Rate
July, 2021 - June, 2022 146 81.5% 1749 79.7%
July, 2020 - June, 2021 155 84.5% 1789 80.9%
July, 2019 - June, 2020 138 87.7% 1593 85.1%
July, 2019 - June, 2019 153 83.0% 1665 87.0%
July, 2017 - June, 2018 157 73.3% 1650 75.9%
 
Licensing Within Six Years
Matriculation Year # of Matrics Attempted & Passed NBEO
Parts I-III or Obtained Licensure
Attempted & Passed NBEO
Parts I-III or Obtained Licensure
within 6 yrs of Matriculation
2013 156 137 87.8%
2014 155 135 87.1%
2015 168 155 92.3%
2016 163 141 86.5%