CPOA™ Certification: How to Become a Certified Paraoptometric Assistant

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

CPOA certification requirements

The CPC lists three routes to the CPOA. You need to meet just one.

A few more rules:

• Keep your CPO current. On the CPO route, your CPO must be current on the day you test. If it is due for renewal in the year you want to take the November exam, renew it early, well before the November application deadline, so the CPC can confirm you are eligible. In 2026 the CPC asked for those renewals by September 1; the current handbook has this year's date.
• The experience route needs approval first. Your current employer completes the CPOA Reference Form, and you send it with your résumé to the CPC, separately from the exam application, at least a month before the application deadline. The CPC must approve it before you apply, and the review takes about four to six weeks, so send it well before that minimum. The CPC emails you the result, and an approval lasts one year. Paraoptometric assisting must be your main job.
• Students need an approved form. If you are in the final semester of a CPC-approved program, request a student eligibility form from cpc@aoa.org and get it approved by the CPC before you apply. The CPC's candidate handbook lists the approved programs.
• Upload proof of your route. With your application, upload one of these: your current, unexpired CPO certificate; your graduation certificate from a CPC-approved optometric assistant program; or your CPC-approved CPOA Reference Form letter. For final-semester students, the program director can send the CPC a list of eligible students in place of a graduation certificate. The CPO Attestation Statement is for CPO candidates only.
• No AOA membership needed. You don't have to be an AOA member to earn or keep the CPOA.

How to get CPOA 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 CPOA 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 route's paperwork ready. Have your CPO certificate or graduation certificate ready to upload. On the experience route, the CPC must approve your CPOA Reference Form first, so send it well ahead of the application deadline; as a final-semester student, get your student eligibility form approved first.
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 CPOA exam at a glance

• Questions: 200 in total. 180 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: 2 hours 15 minutes (135 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 CPOA 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 CPOA outline, the CPOA Expanded Outline (CPC-approved April 22, 2024), has 5 areas, and Clinical Principles, Testing, and Procedures alone is 50% 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 CPOA and Complete plans.

CPOA study material from before 2025 may follow a retired outline. Check that anything you study from is for the 2025 or later exam.

How to prepare for the CPOA 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 CPOA study guides, heaviest areas first. The CPO study guides cover the same areas at the entry level.
• Test yourself with 30 free CPOA practice questions with answers, from every content area.
• When you want the full question bank, the CPOA plan is $19.99 a month until you cancel and includes everything in the CPO plan. It adds the full CPOA question bank across all 5 areas, unlimited mock tests weighted like the exam, and a timed exam simulation: 200 questions in 2 hours 15 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 CPOA certification

CPOA 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.

CPOA certification FAQ

Do you need a CPO to take the CPOA exam?

No. A current CPO is one of three routes. Final-semester students and recent graduates (within five years) of a CPC-approved optometric assistant program can apply without one, and so can people with at least three years of full-time eye care experience whose CPOA Reference Form the CPC has approved.

How long is the CPOA exam?

200 questions in 2 hours 15 minutes. 180 are scored; the other 20 are unscored pretest questions mixed in throughout. The CPO, by comparison, is 120 questions in 90 minutes.

What is the difference between the CPO and the CPOA?

The CPO is the entry level and the CPOA the next 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 asks for six months of recent full-time eye care work and a 120-question exam. To take the CPOA you need one of three things: a current CPO plus six more months of full-time work as a CPO; a CPC-approved optometric assistant program, in its final semester or within five years of graduating; or at least three years of full-time eye care experience that the CPC approves. Its exam is longer, 200 questions. Both exams cover the same content areas, weighted differently. See how to get CPO certified.

Can you take the CPOA exam online?

Yes. You can take the CPOA 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 CPOA 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 CPOA 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 CPOA 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 CPOA 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 CPOA 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.

Do you need to be an AOA member to get CPOA 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.

What happens to my CPO when I earn the CPOA?

Your renewal year follows your current certification level: it is based on when you earned that level or last renewed it. For how your CPO is shown once you hold the CPOA, ask the CPC at cpc@aoa.org.

How long is CPOA 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 CPOA above.

What comes after the CPOA?

The Certified Paraoptometric Technician (CPOT), the top level. There are two ways to qualify. One is to hold a current CPOA on test day and have at least six more months of full-time eye care work as a CPOA, with your employer signing a reference form. The other is to have graduated in the last five years from, or be in the final semester of, an optometric technician program accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE). Since 2025 the CPOT has been a single exam, offered only in the May and November testing periods. EyeTech Prep doesn't offer CPOT prep.

Is CPOA certification accredited?

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

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
• CPOA 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.