It’s October, the August exams are over, and you’ve all received the results.

How did you do on your ABO/NCLE?

Were the exams what you expected? Were there questions you were unprepared for, terminology or information that was new to you? Did you find the tests easy or difficult? I would love to hear your feedback.

As an optician and business owner involved in apprentice training, I want to understand how our industry is doing in regards to education and certification. How many of you passed?

How Did You Prepare for Your Exams?

Did you attend college? If so, what school and where is it located? Do you feel the program prepared you well enough for the ABO/NCLE exams? I’d love to know what textbooks were assigned and which ones were the most helpful to you. Were there any areas that were difficult to master? Are any of you also working as an intern at a doctor’s office or an optical dispensary? Did it help you with the exams?

How many of you are in an apprenticeship program? If so, what state are you living in? How exacting is that program, and how far into it are you? Is your “master” or sponsor actually teaching you, or are you sort of expected to go it on your own? Did you purchase a textbook? Which one? Or are you using somebody’s notes?

Rate Your Exam-Prep Program

What about exam-prep programs and study guides? Now that you’ve taken your test please evaluate their usefulness.

1. Which ABO or NCLE exam prep program did you use?
2. Did you buy it, or did you borrow it from somebody else?
3. Did your company provide you with an in-house Exam Study Program?
4. How well did the study program prepare you for the ABO/NCLE?
5. Did you use more than one study resource?
6. Which was most helpful?
7. Was there material on your exam that was NOT presented in your Study Guide or program?
8. How many practice exams did you take?
9. Would more practice exams have been helpful?
10. Were you taken by surprise by the Exams, or did your study program make you completely ready?
11. Do you feel you studied the wrong things?

Please Send Me Your Feedback!

As an owner of a business that provides practice exams in opticianry, I’d really like to find out what is working for our students and what is not. Now I know that you can’t actually TELL me what questions were on your exams. And that is not what I am asking. But you can let me know what sorts of question categories you encountered that you were either prepared for or under-prepared for. For instance, there might have been a lot of prism questions on your tests, but you found them all easy; or several questions involving focal length that you had trouble with. Many tests seem to have a theme. Did you get a test with a lot of keratoconus questions, or questions concerning slab-off?

What I really want to know are the needs of today’s optical trainees, where they need the most preparation, so that I can help them better.

Use the contact us option on the site page, or write me a message on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/passyouropticalboards. I will respond to every reply.

Thanks!

Marlene