NBEO Part I Pass Rates, National and by School

The most recent national report puts the first-time pass rate for NBEO Part I (Applied Basic Science) at 66.83%. That figure covers 1,628 graduates of US programs between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025. It comes from the NBEO Institutional Yearly Performance Report, which ASCO posted in February 2026.

A second national figure for 2024–2025 is 62.0%. It counts every first-time taker in the testing year, whether or not the candidate has graduated.

Why the numbers differ

Two different groups get counted. Each group gives its own national rate.

Graduates of one year

The NBEO report on the ASCO site counts only candidates who graduated between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025 and who attempted all three parts at least once. Its rate for US programs is 66.83% across 1,628 graduates. Its rate with Canadian candidates added is 66.87% across 1,636 graduates.

Everyone who tested in one year

Schools also post a national rate for all first-time takers in a testing year that runs from September 1 to August 31. That count ignores year of enrollment, year of graduation and graduation status. For 2024–2025 the rate is 62.0%. UMSL, Houston, MCPHS, Pacific, Drexel and NECO all post that figure.

The graduate report leaves out anyone who has not graduated or has not yet attempted all three parts. The testing-year rate includes them. So the two rates describe different groups of candidates.

One school under both counts

Ferris shows the gap at a single school. Ferris reports that 30 of 37 first-time takers (81.1%) passed Part I in the 2024–2025 testing year. The NBEO report lists Ferris at 63.64% across 33 graduates for 2024–25.

Figures that do not match

Ferris lists 65.7% as the national rate for 2024–2025 and describes the same testing-year count. UAB lists 66.0% for that year. Neither page explains the gap from 62.0%, and no source read for this page explains it.

NBEO’s own site

The report carries NBEO’s name, and ASCO hosts it. The page sitemap for optometry.org lists no pass-rate page.

Part I first-time pass rate by school

The table uses the graduate count, because one report gives it for every school. The three-year column pools the 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2024–25 reports and weights each year by its number of graduates. Rates appear to one decimal place, as the EyeKnowOD schools dataset stores them. Select a column heading to sort.

The 2024–25 column comes from the NBEO Institutional Yearly Performance Report for October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025. The three-year column comes from the NBEO yearly reports for 2022–23 through 2024–25, as posted by ASCO. Each cell shows the pass rate and the number of graduates counted.

First-time NBEO Part I pass rate by school, with the number of graduates counted
				Notes
Ferris State University Michigan College of Optometry	MI	63.6% of 33	74.0% of 100
Illinois College of Optometry	IL	71.7% of 99	71.0% of 335
Indiana University School of Optometry	IN	52.0% of 77	59.1% of 252
Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Optometry	PR	25.0% of 24	20.8% of 77
MCPHS University School of Optometry	MA	61.7% of 47	40.5% of 158
Midwestern University Arizona College of Optometry	AZ	70.0% of 60	79.8% of 178
Midwestern University Chicago College of Optometry	IL	56.5% of 46	56.5% of 154
New England College of Optometry	MA	64.7% of 116	66.2% of 349
Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry	FL	64.6% of 96	53.2% of 325
NSU Oklahoma College of Optometry	OK	76.2% of 21	77.0% of 74
Pacific University College of Optometry	OR	76.1% of 71	77.5% of 244
Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Drexel University	PA	59.2% of 130	54.8% of 416
Rocky Mountain University College of Optometric Medicine	UT	not published	not published	New program. No graduating class appears in these reports.
SCCO at Marshall B. Ketchum University	CA	74.4% of 90	75.7% of 276
Southern College of Optometry	TN	86.7% of 128	81.0% of 399
SUNY College of Optometry	NY	67.7% of 99	75.6% of 283
The Ohio State University College of Optometry	OH	95.0% of 60	93.6% of 188
UAB School of Optometry	AL	76.4% of 55	71.5% of 151
UC Berkeley Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry	CA	73.4% of 64	70.3% of 182
UIW Rosenberg School of Optometry	TX	52.4% of 63	53.4% of 178
Université de Montréal École d'optométrie	QC	not published	not published	Canadian program. It did not take part in the report.
University of Detroit Mercy School of Optometry	MI	not published	not published	New program. No graduating class appears in these reports.
University of Houston College of Optometry	TX	60.6% of 94	60.5% of 271
University of Missouri–St. Louis College of Optometry	MO	72.1% of 43	74.2% of 128
University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Optometry	KY	72.7% of 55	63.4% of 161
University of Waterloo School of Optometry & Vision Science	ON	75.0% of 8	95.1% of 41	Canadian program. The count covers only graduates who also sat the NBEO exams.
Western University of Health Sciences College of Optometry	CA	29.8% of 57	26.9% of 193

Part I practice exam

EyeKnowOD has a free 370-question Part I practice exam. Open the practice exam.

Sources

Each source was read on October 4, 2026.

NBEO Institutional Yearly Performance Report, October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025 (PDF hosted by ASCO). https://optometriceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Institutional-Report-2025-final.pdf
ASCO index of NBEO yearly institutional pass rate reports. https://optometriceducation.org/news/national-board-of-examiners-in-optometry-yearly-performance-report/
UMSL College of Optometry, first-time pass rate by test year. https://www.umsl.edu/divisions/optometry/about-us/national-boards.html
University of Houston College of Optometry, student outcomes. https://www.opt.uh.edu/education/doctor-of-optometry/student-outcomes.cfm
MCPHS School of Optometry, student achievement. https://www.mcphs.edu/academics/schools/optometry/student-achievement
Pacific University College of Optometry, student data. https://www.pacificu.edu/optometry-od/student-data
Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Drexel, NBEO pass rates. https://www.salus.edu/colleges/optometry/doctor-of-optometry-traditional-program/nbeo-pass-rates/index.html
New England College of Optometry, class profile and statistics. https://www.neco.edu/admissions/class-profile-statistics/
Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State, national board results. https://www.ferris.edu/optometry/faq/National-Board-Results.htm
UAB School of Optometry, student performance measures. https://www.uab.edu/optometry/home/about/student-performance-measures
NBEO page sitemap, optometry.org. https://optometry.org/page-sitemap.xml