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 
Part II – Patient Assessment and Management 
Part III – Patient Encounters and Performance Skills

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.

 Published results include the performance of all first-time takers of each NBEO examination Part within the specified timeframe regardless of year of enrollment, year of graduation, or graduation status; first-time taker pass rates published on the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) website (link) are limited to candidates that have graduated.

FAQs for Board Rates

 

Doctor of Optometry Traditional and Advanced Placement Student Outcomes

Graduation and Attrition Rates 
Year Matriculated

2019 (Grad year 2023)
# | % of matriculants

2020 (Grad year 2024)
# | % of matriculants

 2021 (Grad year 2025)
# | % of matriculants		 2022 (Grad year 2026)
# | % of matriculants
Graduated in 4 years 135 | 88.8% 122 | 79.2% 116 | 80.5% 108 | 77.6%
Graduated in 5 years or less 144 | 94.7% 128 | 83.1% 124 | 86.1 TBD | TBD
Graduated at any time 144 | 94.7% 129 | 83.7% 124 | 86.1 TBD | TBD
Still enrolled or on leave of absence 0 | 0% 0 | 0% 3 | 2% 9 | 6.4%
Completed curricular requirements met, but not graduation requirements 0 | 0% 0 | 0% 0 | 0% 0 | 0%
Attrition for academic reasons 2 | 1.3% 15 | 9.7% 14 | 9.7% 14 | 10%
Attrition for other reasons 6 | 4% 10 | 6.5% 3 | 2% 8 | 5.7%
  
Program Completion Licensing Examination Rates
The Program Completion Licensing Examination Rate is the proportion of students completing all of a program’s curricular requirements within a calendar year who, by the end of that calendar year, are licensed, or have passed all parts of an examination series that would permit licensure, in the United States or Canada.
Calendar Year
(1/1-12/31)

# of students who
completed all program
curricular requirements

# licensed, or who passed all
parts of an exam series that
would permit licensure, in
the United States or Canada

 Program Completion
Licensing Examination
Pass Rate
2026 135 TBD TBD
2025 120 92 76.7%
2024 132 102 77.3%
2023 144 110 76.4%

 

Annual Institutional Pass Rates for all First-time Takers of NBEO Parts I, II, and III
Published results include the performance of all first-time takers of each NBEO examination Part within the specified timeframe regardless of year of enrollment, year of graduation, or graduation status; first-time taker pass rates published on the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) website are limited to candidates that have graduated. 

Part I NBEO: Applied Basic Sciences
Academic Year
(9/1-8/31)

# of first-time takers,
program

first time taker pass rate,
program

 first time taker pass rate,
all exam takers
2024-2025 110 50.0% 62.0%
2023-2024 120 53.3% 65.8%
2022-2023 123 48.8% 65.8%
  
Part II NBEO: Patient Assessment and Management
Academic Year
(9/1-8/31)

# of first-time takers,
program

first time taker pass rate,
program

 first time taker pass rate,
all exam takers
2024-2025 119 79.8% 86.6%
2023-2024 130 76.9% 84.2%
2022-2023 134 72.4% 82.9%
  
Part III NBEO: Patient Encounters and Performance Skills
Academic Year
(9/1-8/31)

# of first-time takers,
program

first time taker pass rate,
program

 first time taker pass rate,
all exam takers
2024-2025 115 73.0% 69.0%
2023-2024 129 83.7% 81.7%
2022-2023 134 71.6% 74.4%
  
Annual Institutional Pass Rates for all First Attempt Candidates
of OEBC Written
*** denotes less than 5 takers
Academic Year
(9/1-8/31)

# of first-time writers,
program

first time writer pass rate,
program

 pass rate for all first-time writers,
all exam takers
2024-2025 2

***

 95.5%
2023-2024 *** *** 94.7%
2022-2023 2 *** 94.2%
 
Annual Institutional Pass Rates for all First Attempt Candidates
of OSCE Exams
*** denotes less than 5 takers
Academic Year
(9/1-8/31)

# of first-time writers,
program

first time writer pass rate,
program

 pass rate for all first-time writers,
all exam takers
2024-2025 2 *** 93.3%
2023-2024 *** *** 86.3%
2022-2023 2 *** 84.8%
 

Per Standard 1.10, the program is not required to publish annual institution pass rates results when less than five of the program's students attempt the examination during a given timeframe to preserve the confidentiality of individual student performance.