Part III PEPS Examination

Part III PEPS Examination to be Administered beginning August 2024

Released: August 25, 2023

The National Board of Examiners in Optometry is excited to announce the new Part III Patient Encounters and Performance Skills (PEPS) examination will launch in August 2024!

This new, restructured Part III exam is consistent with NBEO’s mission of public protection and will complement the Part I and Part II exams in assessing whether candidates are qualified to enter into the independent practice of optometry. It is the combination of these three exams that represents overall competency and ultimately enables a candidate to demonstrate the optometric knowledge and skills necessary to practice. Part III PEPS has been developed to not only evaluate essential skills but also to measure a candidate’s ability to apply evidence-based knowledge to patient care. The new exam moves beyond the assessment of the physical ability to perform the skill to also measure a candidate’s cognitive ability to interpret the result and apply that knowledge directly to patient care.



Registration for the Part III PEPS examination will open on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at 9:00 pm EST. Additional information including a computer software tutorial will be available February 2024.

NBEO is appreciative to all the individuals that have contributed to this 5-year process and looks forward to the launch of this new Part III examination!

For additional information, please visit the Part III PEPS Webpage


About NBEO — Established in 1951, NBEO is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization whose examinations are universally accepted for optometric licensure in the United States and accepted internationally. NBEO’s mission is to protect the public by developing, administering, scoring, and reporting results of valid examinations that assess competency in optometry.