Part III CSE® & ISE Registration Information
GENERAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION
All 50 States require a passing score on the Part III CSE® exam. Florida and North Carolina do require a specific number of raw points for certain skills. Candidates are encouraged to contact their individual states to determine state-specific requirements.
Registration usually opens by February 15th of each year.
Students who will be in their final year of school (as verified by the individual school) may register to take the CSE® exam beginning on August 1st or later. Sponsored candidates must pass Parts I and II before taking Part III. Please review Eligibility Requirements for additional information.
On occasion, additional exam sessions can be opened. This is not a guarantee and is dependent upon the test center schedule. You can send an email to NCCTO@optometry.org with dates that you are requesting to take the exam to see if anything can be opened. But remember, there is no guarantee that your preferred date/time will be an option.
Candidates can only have one registration for CSE® in the system. Once you have completed the initial scheduled exam, you can register again, as long as it is not within the same month as the previous registration.
If a Candidate has taken CSE® and needs to re-take the exam, there is no wait-time to register. The only exception is that Candidates cannot take the exam twice in the same month. So if you took CSE® in October, you could take it again in November.
RESCHEDULING CSE® OR ISE
Outside of 30 days before exam date:
- Candidates may reschedule their exam without incurring any rescheduling fees 31 or more days before the scheduled exam date.
- Candidates are allowed to reschedule their exam date a maximum of 5 times without incurring any rescheduling fee.
- This change can be done online, by the candidate, by accessing their NBEO® account at: Check My Registration
Within 30 days of exam date:
- Any changes within 30 days of an exam date will be considered a withdrawal and all
examination fees will be forfeited. Instructions for how to withdraw can be found by clicking here.
After the withdrawal request has been submitted NBEO / NCCTO staff will contact
the Candidate to confirm the withdrawal is complete. The Candidate may then register for a new date.
Reschedule fee exceptions:
WITHDRAW FROM CSE®/ISE
- Candidates withdrawing from CSE®/ISE 30 days prior to their exam date will forfeit their examination fee.
- To withdraw, send an email to NBEO@optometry.org outlining the following information:
- Candidate Name:
- OE Tracker #:
- Date Scheduled:
- Exam Scheduled: CSE®
- Site Location: Charlotte
- Statement requesting a full withdraw from CSE®
CANCELED EXAMS
- The National Board reserves the right to add or cancel a test session at any time. In the event an exam is canceled, Candidates will be informed as soon as possible. If an exam is canceled, staff will work with Candidates to reschedule the exam date.
- In the event of poor weather that inhibits the exam from occurring, Candidates will be informed as soon as possible. If weather conditions prohibit a Candidate from traveling to the exam, the Candidate should contact the NCCTO® as soon as possible to coordinate a reschedule of their exam.
SCORE REPORTS
- Student candidates are permitted to take Part III starting August of the year prior to graduation. However, an individual candidate's official score report containing Part III scores will not be released until the National Board has received official notification that the candidate has graduated. Also, no official score reports containing Part III scores will be released to any candidate until the posted date for Release of Score Reports.
FAQ
Additional information can be found under the FAQs Page.
