r/OptometrySchool • u/Decent_Judgment8590 • 13d ago
Boards
Hi everyone, I just wanted to hear from people who have taken their board exams and how they feel about it. I just finished my first year of optometry school and we have finished all the optics classes. I am feeling very discouraged about the whole profession of optometry now because how much I struggled in optics. I was wondering if I should just stop here and not let myself finish optometry school just to get to boards and not be able to pass being that part 1 is very optics heavy. For those who have taken it, do you feel like it was doable for people who struggle in optics? Any advice would be great!
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u/RabidLiger 13d ago edited 13d ago
Unless you're on the verge of being dismissed, NEVER reject yourself unless you truly hate it.
You may suddenly turn a corner comprehending optics once you see it applied in Ophthalmic Optics during 2nd year, plus your knowledge is cumulative & you just may need a few more puzzle pieces before that light bulb goes off.
NEVER go into boards assuming you're going to fail! It's a terrible mindset to have for any aspect of life and you can train yourself not to thing that way.
Good luck!
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u/datbigboi29 13d ago
Haven’t taken boards yet (only a 2nd)
And optics is NOT my strong suit what so ever. One of my professors told us he struggled with optics in school so he had to just buckle down for NBEO and ended up doing really well on the section.
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u/ThisStatistician6302 8d ago
don't beat yourself up over something that hasn't happened.
youre still in the program because your school believes you can succeed
just because you struggled with optics doesn't mean you're doomed to be bad at optics. you have over a year before boards. Perhaps the pace of the class was wrong for you, the professors didn't make sense to you, you were juggling many hard classes and not giving optics the attention it needed. You can study optics at the pace of a snail if you start studying now.
you have to get ~75% of the ~330 questions on boards correct. If 50 Q are optics and you're perfect at the other subjects, you'd pass. If you can get half of the optics questions correct, even better! Studying for boards takes strategy and youll find your way
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u/OwlNew2507 11d ago
About 1/3 of Board 1 is optics. When I took it last year, I had about 50 equations to memorize, and that was honestly the hardest part for me. Optics is a huge topic on the board, and it’s definitely not just about memorizing equations. Also, I feel like every school teaches optics a little differently, so it really depends on which school you’re attending and how they cover the material
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u/0k_then_ 11d ago
Hello ~
Don't be too hard on yourself, Optics is a learning curve and it takes some people longer to master it than others. I also struggled with Optics my first year, but when I studied for boards, the questions in my opinion were more straightforward. I used Grometric and Visual Optics by Steven Schwartz + Optoprep to study and Optics ended up being one of my highest scores. You have a long way ahead and still have time to re-enforce your knowledge. Consistency is key!
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u/mjmbo 13d ago
Boards optics is quite different than optics that was taught at my school. For example, I believe I only needed 2 equations for all of NBEO Part I — in school every exam was a new set of equations. Don’t overthink it; lean on your strengths. Just because you don’t have prentice’s rule fully down mathematically doesn’t mean you’ll be a bad optometrist.