The NBEO Part 1 tests three years of optometric education and requires a solid foundation of knowledge. My goal is for you to learn concepts and not memorize details. As we learn together, you should be able to summarize concepts and be able to “tell the story”.
The NBEO goal is to make questions “clinically relevant”- meaning they try to ask you questions that test whether your basic knowledge allow you to be a “safe optometrist”. Don’t worry about about details that you think you will never use as a doctor.
As you read and study textbooks and study guides think about the following:
1) Why is this important?
(ie this is something common like allergic conjunctivitis, or is this a deadly condition that I can’t miss like Giant Cell Arteritis?)
2) How am I going to remember this tomorrow? (if you think you won’t remember this lesson in an hour from now, think how does this make sense and how will I remember this 10+ years from now)
3) How can I connect concepts that I learn? (ie Lupus and Sarcoid might be similar vs different or how venous stasis retinopathy shows up as mid-peripheral hemes vs diabetic retinopathy generally shows up as peripheral hemes).
I encourage reading multiple sources. When I was in optometry school and learned something in lecture, read in a medical journal, and heard about it at conference – I knew it was important! If I only heard it once, it was something that I thought about, and would recall if somebody mentioned it to me, but probably wasn’t something I would use everyday.
As you study, visualize using this knowledge as a patient sits in your chair.
My course involves 3 methods of learning:
a) Case Presentations (diagnosis + treatment)
b) Patient Education (explaining medical conditions in simplistic (“Layman”) terms
c) Keywords (some descriptions are pathognomonic and words that unique to certain conditions)
Optometry Academy is free optometry board review websites.
Contact Us at IkedaOptometry@gmail.com
Optometry Academy 