Training & Qualifications for Optical Practice Support Staff:

Optical Practice Support
Level 3 Examination

To obtain the Level 3 Certificate in Optical Practice Support, a candidate must successfully sit 4 separate written papers, and achieve a mark of at least 40% in each to achieve a pass.

The papers are:

Paper 1: Managing People in Optical Practice
Answer 4 questions from of a choice of 7. Length of paper 75 minutes

Paper 2: General Optics and Optical Screening
30 – 35 Multiple choice questions. Length of paper 45 minutes.

Paper 3: Spectacle Lenses, Frames & Fitting
Answer 4 questions from a choice of 7. Length of paper 75 minutes

Paper 4: Principles of Contact Lenses
Answer 2 questions from a choice of 3. Length of paper 45 minutes.

Total exam time is four hours.

Brochure & Syllabus downloads

Passing the examination

To pass the examination, a candidate must achieve an average of 50% over the four papers, and a minimum of 40% in each individual paper.

A candidate gaining less than 40% in any one paper will be required to resit that paper, and obtain a minimum mark of 50% to pass.

Candidates will only be able to retake a paper three times, and only within three years of their first sitting that paper. Those who have still not achieved a pass by that stage will be required to re-sit the whole examination.

A candidate having to resit the whole examination will be able to rely on the "60/40" ruling outlined above to achieve a pass.

Grading

Results are not graded. A candidate either passes the examination, or fails it.

Prize

The SMC awards a prize during its annual Awards Ceremony in October to the candidate obtaining the best marks in the two examinations eld in December and June.