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.

 

Annual Institutional Pass Rates for all First-time Takers of NBEO Parts I, II, and III

 

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 131 48.9% Not yet released
2023-2024 121 52.9% 67.0%
2022-2023 124 47.6% 63.1%
2021-2022 152 55.9% 73.2%
2020-2021 149 73.2% 77.9%
  
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 120 80.8% Not yet released
2023-2024 127 76.4% 85.9%
2022-2023 148 73.0% 83.0%
2022-2021 146 81.5% 86.0%
2020-2021 160 81.9% 89.7%
  
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 118 76.3% Not yet released
2023-2024 121 85.1% 79.5%
2022-2023 140 70.7% 74.2%
2021-2022 146 81.5% 79.9%
2020-2021 155 84.5% 79.9%
  

Annual Institutional Pass Rates for all First Attempt Candidates
of OEBC Written and OSCE Exams  

OBEC Written
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 2 100.0% 95.5%
2023-2024 0 N/A 94.1%
2022-2023 2 50.0% 94.2%
2021-2022 1 0.0% 89.1%
2020-2021 0 N/A 93.0%
 
OBEC Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)
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 2 100.0% 92.4%
2023-2024 0 N/A 86.3%
2022-2023 2 50.0% 84.1%
2021-2022 1 0.0% 85.4%
2020-2021 0 N/A 78.2%
 
Program Completion Licensing Examination Rates 
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
2024

138

 112 81.2%
2023 148 114 77.0%
2022 149 126 84.6%
2021 164 140 85.4%
2020 145 132 91.0%