ABO and NCLE Exam Day: What to Bring and What to Expect

Bring one valid, unexpired government photo ID that shows your signature, in a name that matches your registration exactly. Arrive at least 30 minutes early: ABO-NCLE’s handbook says candidates 15 or more minutes late are not admitted and get no refund. Everything else goes in a locker. The exam is 125 questions in 2 hours with a built-in scientific calculator, and you see a preliminary result as soon as you finish.

Last checked Nov 2, 2026. Confirm fees and dates with the certifying body. optical.education is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by ABO-NCLE. Disclaimer.

These rules come from ABO-NCLE’s October 2026 Basic Exam Handbook and apply to the ABO Basic (NOCE) and NCLE Basic (CLRE) exams. Test centers are run by Prometric. If anything here differs from your confirmation email or the current handbook, follow those.

The week before

• Reread your appointment confirmation email: exam name, date, time and test center address.
• Check that the name on your ID matches your registration exactly. Fix any mismatch with ABO-NCLE before test day.
• Plan the drive, including traffic and parking. The handbook notes that Prometric cannot validate parking.
• Try Prometric’s exam tutorial, which ABO-NCLE recommends. It shows the highlight, strikeout, calculator and mark-for-review tools.
• Need to move the appointment? ABO-NCLE charges $75 per change to the window, date, time, or location, paid by phone to the ABO-NCLE office.

What to bring

Bring one valid, unexpired ID showing your signature and a photo taken within the last 10 years. The handbook lists:

• a driver’s license or a non-driver state ID from a U.S. state, D.C. or a U.S. territory
• a passport
• U.S. military ID

Leave the ABO-NCLE approval notice at home if you like; and it does not count as ID. If you show up without acceptable ID, you are turned away and your eligibility window ends.

Leave most things at home. Phones and other electronics, paper, pens, bags, purses, hats, books, food and drinks (water too) cannot go into the testing room. Lockers are provided, but you are responsible for what you put in them. The handbook suggests soft earplugs, or you can use the headphones the center provides. If you bring a sweater or jacket into the room, you must wear it.

Arrival and check-in

• Arrive at least 30 minutes before your appointment for ID checks and check-in.
• Arriving 15 minutes or more late means you cannot test and you lose the fee.
• Before you start, you confirm you have read the Candidate Handbook and agree to its conditions.
• Check on screen that you were given the exam you registered for.
• People who aren’t testing cannot stay in the waiting area, so arrange your ride ahead.

In the testing room

• The exam is closed book. You may not copy questions or take notes about the content out of the room.
• Use the on-screen scientific calculator for optics math.
• No breaks are scheduled. You can leave for the restroom or water, but you sign out, you cannot leave the building, and the clock keeps running.
• You can’t ask about exam content. Report any problem (noise, a computer fault) to the proctor right away. The handbook says that if ABO-NCLE finds it could have affected you, you choose between retesting in the next administration and having the exam scored.

Timing and navigation

You get 2 hours for 125 multiple-choice questions, about 58 seconds each. Some questions are unscored pretest items, and you cannot tell which. Unanswered questions count as wrong and there is no guessing penalty, so answer every one.

• A countdown clock sits top-middle on screen. Notices appear at 30, 15 and 5 minutes left.
• You can move back and forth, mark questions for review, and see which questions are done, blank or flagged with the “Flag” button.
• “Finish Section” ends the exam after a confirmation pop-up. You can’t go back after that.

A good routine: answer every question on the first pass, mark the slow math ones, then go back with the time you have left. Practice that pace on timed ABO questions or NCLE questions before test day.

If you test remotely

The ABO and NCLE Basic exams can also be taken through Prometric’s ProProctor remote proctoring. You need a computer with a camera, microphone and internet connection that can run the ProProctor app. The handbook’s remote rules:

• Restroom breaks are allowed, but the timer runs and ABO-NCLE reviews the recording. Suspicious activity can reverse your result.
• You may use your own whiteboard: white, no larger than 8½ × 11 inches, with no more than three dry-erase markers and an eraser. Erase everything at the end. The proctor checks.
• If you need the exam for a state license, check with your state board first that it accepts a remotely proctored exam.

After you finish

You see your result on screen right away, and an email report usually arrives within a few hours. ABO-NCLE sometimes runs “health checks” on an exam, and then the on-screen result is preliminary until the official result is released. The exams are criterion-referenced: you pass by meeting the set passing standard, not by beating other candidates. If you don’t pass, the retake rule is: wait 14 days after a failed attempt; after a third failed attempt, wait 90 days. Confirm retake fees with ABO-NCLE.