Abo-ncle practical exam spectacle and contact lens study guides??

[chronometre]

Hi Guys thank you so much for reading this message

wondering if there is an effective study guide or mock test for the practical exam?

[optical24/7]

https://www.nao.org/etm/

Support the NAO. They are our educational organization that’s dedicated to advancing ophthalmic knowledge. Well worth the price of admission. Education materials, ( for tests too). CE’s also. Imho, one of the best organizations involved in Opticianry. There’s free stuff out there. I think you get what you pay for either way..

[KrystleClear]

I can't recommend the Optical Formulas Tutorial by Stoner, Perkins, and Ferguson enough. It's like a math workbook.

And LaramyK OpticianWorks. It's a monthly subscription but they also have many free videos on Youtube.

UUniversity (VSP's continuing education platform) does ABO study prep courses a few times a year that are roughly 6 or 8 weeks long. I took one and it was helpful but it moved too fast for me and I felt like I was getting lost and more confused.

Regardless, allow yourself a lot of time to study. There is a lot to know and digest. Also the ABO website has some practice modules and samples of what the questions are going to be like.

[optical24/7]

I’d be curious to know the level of math involved in the current exam. There has been a calculator ban on it for decades. All math you should be able to do in your head or scratch paper, simple math. The most math you should know (if it’s like told to me 20 years ago) is Prentice Rule, 1/3rd, 1/4 and 90 degree cyl power figuring. Knowing in crown glass basic power of convex curve vs concave surfaces.

It’s not till you got to the AC test that it got formula/calculation challenging. ( yea, you get to use a calculator for it).

Anyone who’s taken it recently, it would be good to hear from.

[KrystleClear]

I’d be curious to know the level of math involved in the current exam. There has been a calculator ban on it for decades. All math you should be able to do in your head or scratch paper, simple math. The most math you should know (if it’s like told to me 20 years ago) is Prentice Rule, 1/3rd, 1/4 and 90 degree cyl power figuring. Knowing in crown glass basic power of convex curve vs concave surfaces.

It’s not till you got to the AC test that it got formula/calculation challenging. ( yea, you get to use a calculator for it).

Anyone who’s taken it recently, it would be good to hear from.

According to the ABO website, the computers used for the test have an on-screen calculator. When consulting the Opticians on FB group, some people said they weren't allowed a calculator while many others said they were allowed one. I don't know if I am just dumb but I can't do sin/cos/tan type problems in my head. And for prentice's rule you sometimes need the oblique meridians formula which has sin in it for spherocylindrical powers. I'm not that good that I can do that in my head.

I'm taking my first crack at it March 30th. I've been led to believe I would have to have all these various formulas memorized (Snell's law, oblique meridians, etc etc) so it would be a relief if that wasn't the case. I'm just trying to primarily drill the prism stuff into my head as I feel pretty good about anatomy, vocab, lens/frame stuff.

[optical24/7]

Krystle, I can most assuredly say the basic exam does not use sin/cos/tan calculations. You won’t see that till the AC. As for oblique meridian calc’s the 1/3 approximation formula for cyl will be all you’ll need to know.