CPO™ Certification: How to Become a Certified Paraoptometric

An independent study tool for the AOA Commission on Paraoptometric Certification's Certified Paraoptometric exam. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the AOA or the CPC.

CPO certification requirements

The CPC asks for:

• A high school diploma or the equivalent. You don't upload it, but the CPC audits a random sample of applications.
• Six months of recent full-time work in eye care by test day: 40 hours a week, or the equivalent of 1,040 hours. The CPC doesn't publish an exact cut-off for “recent,” and its handbook says only “the eye care field,” so if your work was a while ago, part-time, or outside an optometry practice, ask the CPC at cpc@aoa.org whether it counts.
• A signed CPO Attestation Statement, the form that confirms your diploma and eye care work, uploaded with your application. If you work in eye care now, your employer completes and signs it. If you worked in eye care before but don't now, you complete the version for previously employed candidates yourself, listing that employer and your dates. Only CPO candidates need this form.

You don't need to be an AOA member. If you have at least three years of full-time eye care experience, or are in the final semester of, or graduated in the last five years from, a CPC-approved optometric assistant program, you may be able to skip the CPO and go straight to the CPOA: see how to get CPOA certified.

How to get CPO certified, step by step

1. Read the CPC's candidate handbook. The CPC calls its Paraoptometric Candidate Handbook mandatory reading, and sending an application confirms you have read its policies. It is updated during the year, so open the current edition from the CPC's page.
2. Pick a testing period. The CPO isn't offered year-round. It is given in two-week testing periods four times a year (recently February, May, August and November), and you apply for one of them. Applications are due about six weeks before the period opens. Miss that deadline and you can still apply, for a late fee, until a late deadline about two weeks later; after that, applications close. Dates change every year, so check the CPC's schedule.
3. Get your CPO Attestation Statement signed by your employer, or complete the previously employed version yourself, so it is ready to upload when you apply.
4. Apply online and pay. You apply through Professional Testing Corporation (PTC), which takes applications for the CPC, and you pay the exam fee by credit or debit card as you apply. Checks aren't accepted, and an application without payment isn't reviewed. Use a personal email address that no one else uses, because your results go there. Enter your name exactly as it appears on your unexpired, government-issued photo ID: a candidate whose name doesn't match gets no refund.
5. Watch for your Scheduling Authorization. PTC emails a confirmation when you apply. Once you are approved, it emails a Scheduling Authorization with your candidate ID number, from notices@ptcny.com. It starts sending these about 11 weeks before the testing period. Check yours when it arrives, and contact PTC about any error before you book. You can't book an exam appointment without it, so if yours hasn't arrived a few weeks before the period opens, contact PTC.
6. Book with Prometric. With your authorization, book through Prometric, the testing company that delivers CPC exams: either at a Prometric test center or as a live remote-proctored exam on your own computer, using Prometric's ProProctor app. Book soon after the authorization arrives, because seats fill. If you reschedule, you can switch between a test center and remote testing.
7. Test in your period. You take the exam in the testing period you applied for. To move to a later one, you file a transfer request and pay a transfer fee. If you neither test nor transfer, your application closes without a refund.
8. Get your results by email. You don't get a result at the end of the exam. About four weeks after the testing period closes, PTC emails a link to your official score report. It shows whether you passed, your total score and how you did in each content area, and if you didn't pass, it lists your weak areas. The report is password-protected and available for a limited time, so save a copy. Didn't pass? See retesting below.

The CPO exam at a glance

• Questions: 120 in total. 100 are scored; the other 20 are unscored pretest questions (questions being tried out for future exams), mixed in throughout, so treat every question as if it counts.
• Time: 90 minutes
• Where: at a Prometric test center, or at home (or another quiet, private space) with a live remote proctor through Prometric's ProProctor app
• When: four two-week testing periods a year; you apply for one
• Results: not at the end of the exam, but in an emailed score report about four weeks after the testing period closes, with your total score and how you did in each content area

Remote testing needs your own computer with a camera, a microphone and an internet connection that pass Prometric's ProProctor system check, and a private testing space that meets Prometric's rules. If your computer doesn't pass the check, you may not be able to start the exam.

What's on the CPO exam: the 5 content areas

The CPC introduced new CPO, CPOA and CPOT exams in 2025, built from a 2023 job task analysis (a survey of what working paraoptometrics do), and the content outlines changed. The CPC repeats that survey every three to five years and posts each exam's detailed outline on its website. The current CPO outline, the CPO Expanded Outline (CPC-approved April 22, 2024), has 5 areas, and Clinical Principles, Testing, and Procedures alone is 52.2% of the exam.

Here they are, heaviest first. Each links to its EyeTech Prep study guide: the opening of every guide is free to read, and the full guides come with the CPO, CPOA and Complete plans.

Study material written before 2025 may follow an older CPO outline. Check that anything you study from matches the current 5 areas, including Science of the Eye.

How to prepare for the CPO exam

Spend your study time where the weight is:

• Start with the CPC's exam study resources: the expanded outline and the AOA's study-resources checklist. The CPC notes that listing a resource there isn't an endorsement. AOA members get many study resources on AOA EyeLearn, the AOA's online learning site, at no charge, and some courses are open to non-members for a fee.
• Read the CPO study guides, heaviest areas first.
• Test yourself with 36 free CPO practice questions with answers, from every content area.
• When you want the full question bank, the CPO plan is $9.99 a month until you cancel. It includes the full CPO question bank across all 5 areas, unlimited mock tests weighted like the exam, and a timed exam simulation: 120 questions in 90 minutes. If you haven't used a free trial, your first 7 days are free, and you aren't charged if you cancel before the trial ends.

Renewing your CPO certification

CPO certification lasts three years and renews on a calendar-year cycle: earn it any time in 2025, for example, and renewal is due by November 1, 2028. Your renewal year is based on when you earned your current certification level, or when you last renewed it.

To renew, earn 18 hours of continuing education (CE) in each three-year cycle. The CPC's renewal guidelines say which courses count; start from its renewal page. Finish the hours by October 31 of your renewal year and submit them, with the renewal fee, by November 1. For each course, upload a CE form or transcript: a log you kept yourself, or an ungraded quiz, isn't accepted. The CPC doesn't track your CE, and credits from AOA EyeLearn aren't sent to it automatically, so keep your own records. Credits from an earlier cycle don't count.

A renewal sent after November 1 is late and carries a late fee. If the requirements still aren't met by the CPC's final late deadline later that year, your certification lapses. To get it back, you retest; within a year of the lapse, you can retest at your former level. The renewal guidelines say what happens if you wait longer than a year.

CPO certification FAQ

How long does it take to get CPO certified?

You need six months of recent full-time eye care work, or the equivalent 1,040 hours, by test day. Beyond that, the testing calendar sets the pace: applications are due about six weeks before a two-week testing period, and results come about four weeks after it closes, so allow about three months from the application deadline to your result.

How long is the CPO exam?

120 questions in 90 minutes. 100 are scored; the other 20 are unscored pretest questions mixed in throughout. The CPOA, by comparison, is 200 questions in 2 hours 15 minutes.

Do you need to be an AOA member to get CPO certified?

No. You don't need to be an AOA member to earn or keep a paraoptometric certification. If you work for an optometrist who is an AOA member, you can get free AOA staff membership through them. That membership includes AOA EyeLearn courses but doesn't change the exam fee or who is eligible.

Can I take the CPO exam without working in eye care?

No. The CPO requires at least six months of recent full-time eye care work by test day. It doesn't have to be your current job: if you worked in eye care before, you complete the previously employed version of the attestation form yourself. If you are in the final semester of, or graduated in the last five years from, a CPC-approved optometric assistant program, look at the CPOA instead, which you can take without the CPO: see how to get CPOA certified.

Can you take the CPO exam online?

Yes. You can take the CPO at home, or in another quiet, private space, with a live remote proctor through Prometric's ProProctor app, or at a Prometric test center. Remote testing needs your own computer with a camera, a microphone and an internet connection that pass Prometric's system check.

When is the CPO exam offered?

In two-week testing periods four times a year, recently February, May, August and November. Apply by the deadline for the period you want, about six weeks before it opens. The CPC's page has this year's dates.

How much does the CPO exam cost?

This page doesn't quote fees because the CPC can change them. The CPC publishes its current fees; start from the CPC's page. You pay the exam fee when you apply. A late application and a transfer to a later testing period cost extra, and each retest costs the full exam fee again.

When do you get your CPO exam results?

Not at the end of the exam. About four weeks after the testing period closes, PTC emails a link to your official score report, which shows whether you passed, your total score and how you did in each content area.

What score do you need to pass the CPO exam?

The CPC doesn't publish a fixed passing percentage. It sets the passing standard through a study in which a panel judges, question by question, how a just-qualified candidate would do (the Angoff method). It then uses a statistical adjustment called equating, so the standard stays the same from one version of the exam to the next. It isn't a curve: other candidates' results don't change yours.

What happens if I don't pass the CPO exam?

You can retest starting with the next regularly scheduled testing period, not the one you just tested in. Each retest needs a new application and the full exam fee. Your score report lists your weak areas, which shows you where to focus.

What is the difference between CPO, CPOA and CPOT?

They are the three levels of the AOA's career ladder for paraoptometrics, from entry level up. The AOA describes the CPO as showing that you understand the concepts used in optometric care, and the CPOA as showing that you can apply them. The CPO needs six months of recent full-time eye care work and a 120-question exam. The CPOA exam is longer: 200 questions in 2 hours 15 minutes. The CPOA is open to current CPOs with at least six more months of full-time eye care work as a CPO, to final-semester students and recent graduates (within five years) of CPC-approved optometric assistant programs, and to people with at least three years of full-time eye care experience whom the CPC approves. See how to get CPOA certified. The CPOT, the top level, has been a single exam since 2025 and is offered only in the May and November testing periods. The CPC also offers a separate coding certification, the CPOC.

Is a CPO the same as a COA?

No. They come from different organizations. The CPO is the AOA's entry-level certification for paraoptometrics, who assist optometrists. The COA® (Certified Ophthalmic Assistant) is IJCAHPO's entry-level certification for ophthalmic assistants, who work with ophthalmologists. Each has its own eligibility rules, exam and renewal. EyeTech Prep covers both: see how to get COA certified.

Is CPO certification accredited?

Yes. The CPC says its CPO, CPOA and CPOT exams are accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).

How long is CPO certification good for?

Three years, on a calendar-year cycle. To keep it, renew with 18 hours of continuing education each cycle; see renewing your CPO above.

Official sources

The CPC can change its rules at any time; these pages have the current versions:

• AOA: Paraoptometric certification
• Commission on Paraoptometric Certification: schedule, handbook and forms
• CPO Expanded Outline, CPC-approved April 22, 2024 (PDF)
• AOA: Step-by-step application checklist
• CPC examination study resources
• Maintaining and renewing your CPC certification
• Professional Testing Corporation: CPC applications
• Prometric: CPC exams

Questions about eligibility or renewal go to the CPC at cpc@aoa.org. Technical problems with the online application go to PTC, and exam appointments are booked through Prometric.