American Board of Optometry Board Certification Examination OVERVIEW
General Practice (160 items)
The core of the examination is based in the following ten areas of general practice.

1. Ametropia/OphthalmicOptics(16%)
2. Pediatrics/BinocularVision/VisionTherapy(8%)
3. ContactLenses(13%)
4. Anterior Segment(15%)
5. Pre-and Post-operativecare(7%)
6. PosteriorSegment(12%)
7. OpticNerve/Glaucoma(12%)
8. Neuro-OphthalmicDisorders(5%)
9. VisionRehabilitation(5%)
10. Systemic Health (7%)

Areas of Emphasis (80 items)
In addition to the core examination, each candidate will select two of the following areas of emphasis, each of which will consist of an additional 40 items.

1. AdditionalGeneralPractice
2. ContactLenses
3. Pediatrics/BinocularVision/VisionTherapy
4. OcularDiseaseAnterior
5. Ocular Disease Posterior
6. VisionRehabilitation/LowVision/Neuro-OphthalmicRehabilitation

The computer based examination will be administered at Prometric Test Centers worldwide.

ST. LOUIS, Mo., October 26, 2010 ― The American Board of Optometry (ABO) today announced progress toward providing the first ABO Board Certification Examination in June 2011.

Phase 2 of the MyABO Web portal is now open, allowing Active Candidates to upload their Post-Graduate Activities to complete the 150-point requirement to qualify for the first ABO Board Certification Examination. The ABO Web site now also provides more details on the activities that qualify as Category 2 Education. With the many options in this category, optometrists may be closer than they think to attaining 150 points.

The results are in from the Job/Profession Analysis Survey that was sent to the profession on Oct. 8. Those results will be considered by the Examination Specifications Committee as they develop the examination content outline and determine the length of the examination.

Item writers will begin creating test questions in the coming weeks at a meeting with Prometric, ABO’s partner in examination development and delivery. As promised, the item writers have been carefully selected for their clinical experience in all areas of eye care.

The ABO Examination application and reservation system will open in January 2011, with the first exam offering during the first two weeks of June 2011.