Boards

What Do You Need to Know About Licensure and Board Examinations?

As you may know, doctors of optometry must obtain a license in each state in which they wish to practice. While the statutory language describing licensure requirements varies from state to state, there are many similarities:

• Candidates must be of a certain statutorily defined age;
• Candidates must be of "good moral character";
• Candidates must be graduates of an accredited four-year school or college of optometry and hold the graduate-level doctor of optometry (OD) degree;
• Candidates must pass didactic and practical examinations administered by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO) and, in some states, additional examinations administered by the individual state optometry licensing boards;
• Candidates in some states must pass an examination on that state's optometry law; and
• Candidates must pay appropriate application and other fees.

Except Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina, all states require candidates for licensure to have taken and passed all parts of the National Boards series, which is a three part examination series. The states of Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina administer their own clinical exam in lieu of the National Board Part III exam. However, before you make a decision to not take Part III, you should know that many of the schools and colleges of optometry require students to take (but in some schools, not necessarily pass) all three parts of the national board before they are allowed to graduate. It would be extremely foolish for any student to not take and pass all three parts of the National Board examination series. (For more on this topic contact SLCooper@AOA.org).

Nine states currently administer a state-administered clinical examination in addition to requiring candidates for licensure to have passed all three Parts of the National Board series. These states are:

• Alabama
• Arkansas (pharmacology exam)
• Kansas
• Maine
• Mississippi (pharmacology exam)
• New Mexico
• Oklahoma
• West Virginia
• Wyoming

However, the number of states administering a clinical examination in addition to the National Board examination series has been shrinking each year and we expect this trend to continue.

NOTE: The vast majority of states do require candidates for licensure take and pass an examination on that state’s optometry law. The National Board administers many of these law exams at the same time a student takes Part III. (For more information on this service visit the National Board of Examiners in Optometry Web site at: www.optometry.org).

COST AND REGISTRATION

Registration is easy and can be done online at NBEO's web site, www.optometry.org. The 2008 registration fee for each part of the board exam is $625. The deadlines for registering can be found on the NBEO web site and must be met in order to guarantee testing privileges and avoid a late fee. If the registration deadline has passed, the student must submit an appeal and a non-refundable check for $400. Submission of an appeal does not guarantee that the applicant will be allowed to take the test.

STUDYING FOR BOARDS

The NBEO has a summary list of exam content posted on their web site, along with a breakdown of the proportion of questions. Also, you will find a few practice questions at the web site that may give you an idea of what type of questions to expect on the actual exam. There are a few study guides available which, combined with your own course notes, may prove helpful as you prepare to take the exam. A couple of examples of study guides include the "Berkeley Guide," which is produced by UCB and covers the material for Part I and Part II, and Optometry Examination Review by Casser et al. Please note that AOSA does not endorse any particular study guide or book for the boards.

RETESTING

If a passing or desired score is not obtained after taking any part of the board exam, you may retake Part I in December, Part II in April, and Part III in August. Please note that you will have to pay the registration fee again.

ONE MORE NOTE

Be sure to visit NBEO's web site. It is full of useful information for board exam candidates, and should provide the answers to any other questions you may have.

LICENSE APPLICATION PROCESS

During your fourth year, several months prior to graduation, you must contact the state board of optometry in each state where you plan to apply for a license to practice. You will be sent an application form and information on the state optometry law. In addition you will be informed if and when any state-administered examination (clinical exam and/or law exam) will be given. A link to most state optometry boards is available on the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry (ARBO) Web site at: www.arbo.org.