North Carolina, Oklahoma, Alabama and New Mexico examine every applicant, including licensed optometrists; Oklahoma, Alabama and New Mexico do so once a year. Louisiana's exam applies when its discretionary waiver is not granted. Arkansas, West Virginia and North Dakota interview endorsement applicants, and Mississippi gives its law exam only in January and July.
A license by endorsement or on NBEO scores is a paper process: the board reviews your file and issues the license. A minority of states add something you have to show up for. Some examine every applicant, licensed or not, and several of those give their exam once a year. Others interview applicants at a board meeting. Neither is hard to pass for a practicing optometrist, but both put a fixed date on your calendar, and the paperwork deadline for that date often falls months earlier. Miss it, and the license waits for the next sitting.
Which states examine every applicant?
North Carolina
The board's words: "To practice in North Carolina you must take and pass our licensing exam, we do not have a reciprocity/endorsement policy." Licensed optometrists sit the board's clinical-practicum exam like new graduates, and the board also requires NBEO Parts I, II, every Part III PEPS section, TMOD and the ISE. The exam runs twice a year; the 2027 dates are Feb. 18-21 and Aug. 20-23. Applications are due 60 days before the exam and files must be complete 30 days before. The exam application fee is $1,000, and a winter exam with fewer than 10 eligible applicants is deferred to the next date. See North Carolina optometry licensing without endorsement.
Oklahoma
"Licensure in Oklahoma is obtained by the passage of the Oklahoma State Board Exams." The exams are given once a year at Northeastern State University's Oklahoma College of Optometry; the 2027 exams are tentatively set for July 24, 2027. Online registration opens April 1, 2027, and transcripts, a letter of good standing from every state where you have been licensed, a CPR certificate, NBEO scores and fingerprint cards must reach the board by June 15, 2027. Candidates need NBEO Parts I, II and TMOD and must have passed NSU's Laser Therapy for the Anterior Segment course, or be an NSU graduate. The exam fee is $200, non-refundable. See Oklahoma's once-a-year board exam.
Alabama
Every applicant, including licensed optometrists applying by reciprocity, sits the Alabama Standard Examination for Licensure, given once a year in July. The 2026 sitting was July 18; the 2027 date had not been posted. The notarized application and $500 fee are due at least 30 days before the exam, and the written exam covers Alabama optometry law and board regulations. Reciprocity applicants cannot receive the temporary license offered to new graduates.
New Mexico
Since 1995 every candidate has taken the board's licensing exam: jurisprudence plus a clinical practicum, with 75 percent needed on each section. New Mexico does offer expedited licensure to optometrists from eligible states who hold TPA certification, but the holder must still pass the next scheduled board exam to renew. The exam is given once a year (July 18 in 2026), and the application and licensing fee is $775.
Where is a state exam one of two routes?
Louisiana may waive its exam for an applicant licensed in a state whose standards equal Louisiana's; that waiver is discretionary. Everyone else takes the board's in-person exam, held once a year in July in Shreveport, with written law and advanced procedures sections and a practical with YAG capsulotomy, YAG iridotomy, SLT, injection and lid stations. The exam also includes an ungraded question-and-answer interview with board members.
Florida's exam route requires the Florida Practical, taken with NBEO Part III; experienced optometrists generally use MOBILE endorsement instead.
Kansas grants reciprocity without examination under K.S.A. 65-1505(d) to optometrists with three years of practice, a Kansas law exam and liability insurance. The statute lets the board require a clinical practice exam only when it deems one necessary, so do not plan on one, but do not rule it out.
Which states interview applicants?
- Arkansas: endorsement applicants, who need three of the last four years in practice, appear in person at a board meeting and take the Arkansas jurisprudence exam the same day. Posted dates are Nov. 19, 2026, June 10, 2027 and Nov. 18, 2027. Optometric physician certification also requires a 100-hour internship under a board-certified ophthalmologist, recorded in the board's logbook. See Arkansas licensing: the interview and shadowing log.
- West Virginia: after the file is complete, the board sets an interview, usually at its February, May, August or November meeting, in person or by video when approved.
- North Dakota: endorsement applicants sit an oral interview unless the board waives it, and the board may require a practical exam of any applicant.
- Montana: a non-routine application may require a personal appearance at a board meeting and can take up to 120 days.
- South Carolina: a board appearance may be needed if personal history answers raise questions.
Do any law exams run on a fixed calendar?
Most law exams can be taken any time, often online through NBEO. Mississippi's cannot: its written jurisprudence exam is held only on the second Saturday of January and of July, and reciprocity applicants must pass it. Missing a sitting delays licensure about six months. Maine's 30-minute board exam for its exam route is scheduled by appointment once the application is complete, with the notarized application and $300 fee due at least 30 days before. See which states give their law exam through NBEO.
What do the state exams cost?
| State | Exam or application fee | When |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | $1,000 exam application fee | February and August |
| New Mexico | $775 application and licensing fee | Once a year |
| Alabama | $500 examination fee | Once a year in July |
| Louisiana | $500 licensing exam | Once a year in July |
| Maine (exam route) | $300 application and exam fee | By appointment |
| Oklahoma | $200 exam fee, non-refundable | Once a year |
These are board fees, paid by you directly; NBEO fees for any part you still need, such as the ISE in North Carolina, are separate.
Can you work in the state while you wait for the exam?
Rarely as an optometrist. North Carolina requires an intern permit for anyone working there before licensure in any role other than technician. Alabama does not give reciprocity applicants the temporary license it offers new graduates. New Mexico is the exception: its expedited license lets an eligible optometrist practice before the next annual exam, which must then be passed to renew. In most exam states, the date you can start seeing patients is the date the license issues after the exam.
How do you plan around a once-a-year date?
Work backward from the document deadline, not the exam.
- Set the deadline that matters. For Oklahoma in 2027 that is June 15, not July 24. For Alabama it is 30 days before the July exam. For North Carolina it is 60 days before the exam to apply and 30 days before to be complete.
- Start the slow items first. Transcripts sent by schools, letters of good standing from every state, fingerprint cards that arrive by mail and NBEO score reports all take weeks.
- Check the prerequisites. Oklahoma's laser course and North Carolina's ISE must be done before you can sit, and NBEO releases ISE results about two months after the exam.
- Know the refund rules. North Carolina refunds the fee minus $100 if you withdraw before the completion deadline, nothing after, and a no-show forfeits the fee. Oklahoma's $200 is non-refundable.
- Read the small instructions. New Mexico asks candidates to list, at least 10 days before the exam, any New Mexico optometrists they know or would be uncomfortable being examined by.
What does an exam-state application cost with us?
Our Exam or Interview State License Application is $799 per state. It covers everything in a standard application plus exam registration, deadline calendaring and the prerequisite checks above. You sit the exam or attend the interview yourself and pay the board's exam fee directly. The $149 readiness review tells you whether any state on your list has a fixed date you need to plan around. See pricing, the out-of-state licensing hub, or the state license index.
Common questions
- Does North Carolina have optometry license reciprocity?
- No. The board says it does not have a reciprocity or endorsement policy, so licensed optometrists take its clinical-practicum exam, given in February and August.
- When is the Oklahoma optometry board exam?
- Once a year. The 2027 exams are tentatively set for July 24, 2027, with documents and fingerprint cards due June 15, 2027 and online registration opening April 1, 2027.
- Does Kansas require a state exam for optometrists licensed elsewhere?
- Not as a rule. Kansas grants reciprocity without examination to optometrists with three years of practice who pass a Kansas law exam; the board may require a clinical exam only if it deems one necessary.
- Do I have to appear in person for an Arkansas optometry license?
- Yes. Endorsement applicants interview in person at a board meeting and take the Arkansas jurisprudence exam the same day.
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