This COT cheat sheet distills the IJCAHPO Certified Ophthalmic Technician exam into a fast, printable rundown of the facts examiners weight most across all five official categories. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Pair it with the rest of your free COT toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
COT exam at a glance
- Written exam: 200 multiple-choice questions in 180 minutes (3 hours)
- Skill Evaluation: Computer-simulated, 7 stations, 120 minutes — required to earn the credential
- Scoring: Criterion-referenced (modified Angoff); reported pass/fail, no percentage published
- Cost: Approximately $325 examination package (verify current fees at jcahpo.org)
- Recertification: Every 36 months — 27 CE credits, minimum 18 IJCAHPO Group A
- Administered by: International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (IJCAHPO)
What’s on the COT cheat sheet
- Assessments (45%) — the clinical core — anatomy and history, visual acuity, fields, pupils and RAPD, tonometry, keratometry, motility, lensometry, retinoscopy, refinement, and biometry.
- Assisting with Interventions & Procedures (17%) — ophthalmic pharmacology, microbiology and sterilization, surgical assisting, and patient services and education.
- Imaging (15%) — OCT, fluorescein angiography, A-scan and B-scan ultrasound, corneal topography, and photography and videography.
- Office Responsibilities (14%) — equipment maintenance and calibration, medical ethics, legal and regulatory issues, communication, and administrative duties.
- Corrective Lenses (9%) — optics and prism, spectacle transposition and vertex distance, and contact-lens fitting.
How to use it in your final week
- Front-load Assessments — it is 45% of the written exam and contains six of the seven Skill Evaluation stations. If you master one category from the sheet, make it this one.
- Lock in the normal ranges and definitions that get tested cold: IOP 10–21 mmHg, cornea provides about two-thirds of focusing power, and the OD / OS / OU charting abbreviations.
- Rehearse the seven Skill Evaluation stations on real equipment while you review the facts behind them — the written cram and the hands-on prep reinforce each other.
- Read the whole sheet the morning of the exam for a final pass on transposition steps, the swinging-flashlight RAPD, and the modified-Angoff pass/fail scoring.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your COT practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
COT cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the COT cheat sheet downloads as a PDF with no sign-up and no payment. It sits alongside Career Employer's free COT practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so your whole Certified Ophthalmic Technician toolkit stays free.
It condenses the high-yield facts across all five IJCAHPO categories — Assessments (45%), Assisting with Interventions & Procedures (17%), Imaging (15%), Office Responsibilities (14%), and Corrective Lenses (9%) — into a quick-reference cram sheet, with the seven Skill Evaluation stations flagged so you review the written and hands-on parts together.
IJCAHPO does not publish a passing percentage. The 200-question written exam is criterion-referenced with a modified Angoff standard, so your score is judged against a fixed minimum-competency bar and reported as pass or fail. The cheat sheet focuses your review on the highest-weighted categories rather than a single number.
Yes — it lists the seven computer-simulated Skill Evaluation stations (lensometry, visual fields, ocular motility, keratometry, retinoscopy, refinement, and applanation tonometry) so you can pair fact review with hands-on rehearsal. Six of those seven skills also live in the written Assessments category, so studying them prepares you for both parts.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page and the PDF opens instantly — no account needed. Bookmark the page so you can pull it up again in your final week before the exam.
References
- 1.International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (IJCAHPO). “Certified Ophthalmic Technician (COT).” jcahpo.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.IJCAHPO. “Criteria for Certification & Recertification — COT Examination Content Outline.” jcahpo.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.IJCAHPO. “Certification FAQs.” jcahpo.org, 2026. ↑
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