Reporting back from the ABO-AC!

**OPTIDONN** · 05-20-2007, 01:16 PM

OK I'm about 90% sure I failed this test! Lots of questions regarding magnification, prism imbalance, vertex distance, slab off. I knew these but for some reason either my brain was not working or some one slipped some crack into my coffee but I could not get the answers to match mine! It can easily take up the full 3 hours alloted for the test so if you plan on taking this get good and get FAST! with the formulas. There were some lasik questions which kind of surprised me. All in all the test was not that hard, don't get me wrong it was not easy, but waking up at 5:30 am and working on a few hours of formulas can be quite the endurance exercise!

It was only me and Altean, forget her screan name, taking the advanced test. We got in line went down stairs and looked at her dumbly when they couldn't find her name on the list. Apparently we had our own room. So we had to go upstairs and have our own little two person orientation. It was well worth it. Does any one know what percentage you can get wrong and still pass? Doesn't really matter I know I'll be back in the fall taking it again.

**Snitgirl** · 05-20-2007, 03:30 PM

Darn, I knew I should've jumped on it and taken the test while the formulas were all still fresh in my brain coming out of the BC schooling.....

You probably did better than you thought you did Optidonn:cheers:

**HarryChiling** · 05-20-2007, 08:57 PM

Hey Donn, if at first you don't suceed, try try again. I missed it by wo points the first time around and I thought I failed miserably so you could have passed it by two points and thought you failed it. If you do fail it sign up for the next one and chalk this one up as a recon on the test.

RA · 05-21-2007, 10:25 AM

How was the anatomy aspect of the test. Was it really in depth or just the basics?

:)

**OPTIDONN** · 05-21-2007, 11:07 AM

Almost none. There were some questions regarding the muscles of the eye but that was about it.

RA · 05-21-2007, 11:24 AM

I've been knocking myself out studying anatomy

Hmmm,. I guess it's good to know anyway.
:)

**OPTIDONN** · 05-21-2007, 08:07 PM

What book have you been using for studying? If it's the ACE book there is a great deal of anatomy in there which can be a bit misleading as there are very few anatomy questions. Forget the anatomy and get FAST with those formulas. I have had most of the memorized for quite a while and felt that was good enough! Trust me, not only do you need to be familiar with them but you have top be fast and accurate. I spent way too much time running through the same formulas over and over again. That takes up alot of time!

RA · 05-22-2007, 08:37 AM

...for the info. One of my in-laws is a physics/chemistry teacher. Looks like some tutoring might help.
:)

**Fezz** · 05-22-2007, 08:42 AM

OPTIDONN-

1.) Did they have the formulas printed in the back of the test?
2.) Did they give you a calculator to use? What kind?

**OPTIDONN** · 05-22-2007, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Fezz

OPTIDONN-

1.) Did they have the formulas printed in the back of the test?
2.) Did they give you a calculator to use? What kind?

Yes there were some formulas at the back of the test but not all and we did get a calculator but I forget what brand.

**HarryChiling** · 05-22-2007, 12:56 PM

It's a scientific calc (sin, cos, tan, x², etc.)

**Darryl Meister** · 05-22-2007, 02:55 PM

Yes there were some formulas at the back of the test

Are you guys serious? They actually give you the formulas to use for test? This makes it sound as though they are only testing your ability to use a calculator correctly...?

**HarryChiling** · 05-22-2007, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by Darryl Meister

Are you guys serious? They actually give you the formulas to use for test? This makes it sound as though they are only testing your ability to use a calculator correctly...?

They are not actually usefull to solving any of the problems on the test, or so I found. The questions would ask for more accurate answers and the equations in the back were often to check the work. I think the first time around I may have failed because I used those to find the answers, and they never matched and if you rounded the answers from those formulas I think it would lead to you picking the wrong one of the two most approprite lookign answers.

**OPTIDONN** · 05-22-2007, 03:43 PM

They did not include all of the formulas needed. There were at least one or two that I used that were not in the back of the book. Plus the formulas were simplified. If some one's banking on the formulas in the back of the book to get them through the test, chances are they will fail.

**Darryl Meister** · 05-22-2007, 05:23 PM

Are you guys saying that the differences between the multiple choice answers were actually smaller than the differences between the exact formulas and the approximate formulas given? If so, you would have to see something like: A) +10.48 D or B) +10.50 D for something like the vertex distance approximation. Maybe you guys could provide an example?

**OPTIDONN** · 05-22-2007, 05:50 PM

I wish I had a few examples. There were a few that were really darn close and some where the answer seemed obvious. Like I said just looking over the formulas will not gaurantee you'll pass. For example formula's that require you to convert mm to m. Pretty easy but I kept forgetting :hammer:. The fact that they need to be converted was not indicated. They do make it easy by providing some of the formulas and to be honest the test was a little easier than I thought it would be but for some reason my answers were not matching theirs so I spent so much time running through them over and over again.