The College of Optometrists

does anyone know the allowance we have on ret in the pqe exam. I assume it depends on whether the px is difficult and whether all candidates found it difficult. Does anyone know the actual tolerance levels?

Guidance says 1DS and 1DC and of a reasonable axis allowance for the cyl power.

I know they were considering changing that for the new system, as it is a huge allowance. On the thinking that if u got a patient which you could do no subjective on at all, and i guess no autorefractor, then giving them a whole dioptre out, if small Rx, could do more harm than good.

But in my routine exam, i ret'ed one eye +2.25 over corrected! and passed.

no excuse for being 90 degrees off axis.

if you're way off, you may be able to redeem yourself when retting the next patient, or in the viva if they ask you about it.

If the VA's are poor after ret,and improved by pinhole,you can ret again if you want,time lost by re-ret will be made up a quicker subjective,just get close to the px if you feel that your ret is poor