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The Final Assessment - the Examiner’s view
Peter Chapman has written an insightful piece about the upcoming Final Assessments. As one of these “malevolent� examiners I have to re-iterate his point that actually we do want to pass the candidates and not fail them. Apart from anything else, failure requires more paperwork! Joking aside, we are not “out to get you�, our desire to pass you is definitely there.
Candidates need to remember that it is “fitness to practice� not “PhD�. It is entry-level optometry, nothing more, and nothing less.
As examiners, most of us remember our own PQE’s. It has been a decade since I sat mine, but the memory is still fresh!
With the cut-off date for the July sitting recently passed, what advice could I give you?
Firstly - work hard, but don’t run yourself into the ground. Take some time out.
Secondly – assume you are going to Glasgow. That way you will be prepared, and if you get Anglia or Aston you have the bonus of the extra time.
Thirdly - don’t spend all your time with your nose in a book. Three of the exams are practical or have a practical element. Three weeks of not using a slit lamp and then using one in the exam for the first time, is not advisable.
Fourthly- textbooks will name a condition and then describe it. In the exam you are given this reverse scenario. Ensure you can recognise conditions from signs/symptoms. Using index cards (and writing condition on one side, signs and symptoms on other) may be a useful technique.
Fifthly- the exams are competency based now. The emphasis is on management with less on theory and diagnosis. This does not mean you do not need to learn theory and diagnosis- you do!!
Sixthly- talk to your supervisors, other optoms, and each other.
On the day of your exams:
Dress smart, polish your shoes, do your tie properly, brush your hair. Smile, make eye contact, and be pleasant. Contrary to popular belief we are all human!
Listen to the question and make sure you understand it. Answer the question asked, not a different one. Only answer that question, don’t go off on an unnecessary tangent and even worse open a can of worms you don’t want opened!!
Take all your ophthalmic kit with you, and make sure it works. Spare batteries are always useful. Take your own watch, or clock. And please, please, please take a pen, and a spare pen. In fact take another pen, to lend to your examiner who may have forgotten to bring one!!
Know your timings for routine. Know e.g. at 10 minutes you should be starting ophthalmoscopy etc.
Think logically. In the ODA exam, the real life patients are not going to be urgent referral. Referring everyone is not “fit to practice�.
Use your hour in CDM wisely. Do not spend the hour faithfully copying out the record. This is a complete waste of time.
Wash your hands in contact lenses.
Good luck the end is in sight. You are at the final hurdle. Aim high and you will clear it!!
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You can download a copy of the papers used in each of the practical exams. To make it easier I have included them here:
College of Optometrists Routine ExamSheet
College of Optometrists CL Fit Exam Sheet
College of Optometrists CL Aftercare Exam Sheet
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Jane Macnaughton // May 21, 2007 at 1:40 am
In the Routine Exam I have always asked candidates if they want time checks, for example at halfway and 5 minutes before the end. I would encourage this. Just two though.
However, if the examiner forgets to inform the candidate that he or she is halfway through the exam, time keeping still remains the candidate’s responsibility.
Despite this exam being the ‘bread and butter’ of what we all do, running out of time is still a significant reason to fail.
Joy Myint // May 21, 2007 at 1:51 am
Agree!! I clearly remember as a newbie examiner being 2 minutes late with a time check and saying ” you have had 22 minutes” when the candidate has asked for 20. The candidate in question was unreasonably upset with my tardiness. When they failed to finish, and in fact failed due to a combination of reasons I expected to be hauled across the coals.
It is not the examiner’s responsibility- it is the candidate’s. So keep an eye on the time, and know your timings!
Jane Macnaughton // May 21, 2007 at 2:21 am
As time is a factor, then I would suggest that doing ophthalmoscopy earlier on in the Routine is also a good idea. The examiner must have competency 5.7 ticked off (‘the ability to examine fundi using direct techniques.’) if the candidate is to pass. Leaving it to the end could be cutting it fine. Whilst it is not a good idea to cut too many corners, failing to complete a Near Point of Convergence test, for example, is less likely to be a single reason to fail.
Jane Macnaughton // Jun 6, 2007 at 4:48 am
Dispensing Catalogue - CDM exam
I have had a couple of calls requesting where to find the lens catalogue for the CDM exam.
Go to the Norville home page and follow the link. Alternatively I have included it here
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