The College of Optometrists

11 May 2006

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The College has today written to all pre registration trainees and their supervisors confirming when and how trainees will be notified of the results of their Final Assessment, which replaces the previous Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE) from July.

The Final Assessment, which consists of four sections, will take place over two half days. Pre registration trainees may submit an application to sit the Final Assessment when their Assessor has confirmed in writing that the minimum number of refractions and dispensings has been undertaken and that all the Stage 2 Core Competencies have been evidenced during the quarterly assessment visits.

An Assessment Board will meet to consider all results, and in particular to consider individually the quarterly assessment reports and Final Assessment results of those trainees who fail any section of the Final Assessment. No trainees will receive their results until the Assessment Board has met. The Assessment Board will meet immediately after each three-week sitting of the Final Assessment.

This approach to notifying results differs from the PQEII where trainees were given their results the same week they sat their Part B examinations. It means that, in common with the majority of exams, there will be a delay - of up to three weeks - between a trainee sitting his/her Final Assessment and receiving notification of the results.

Once trainees receive the results of their Final Assessment, those who have been successful will be eligible to apply for registration with the GOC immediately. This compares to the previous PQE system, when trainees had to have completed a year’s pre registration training before being able to register often meaning a gap of several weeks between passing their exams and registration.

Commenting on the new process, Chief Executive Bryony Pawinska said, “The Final Assessment is designed to be just that - a final check of a trainee’s practical, clinical and professional ability, which complements the work-based assessment that has been ongoing throughout the trainee’s pre registration period. Trainees, their employers and the public all need to be assured that the whole Scheme is fair and robust and the Assessment Board is designed to ensure that is the case.”