Certified Paraoptometric (CPO) Practice Exam 2025

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Prepare for the Certified Paraoptometric Exam with our comprehensive quiz featuring multiple-choice questions. Each question is accompanied by hints and explanations, helping you build your knowledge and confidence. Get ready to excel in your career!

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How would a spectacle prescription with measurements sphere +2.50, cylinder -1.75, and axis 172 be written?

  1. +2.50 -1.75 x172

  2. -2.50 +1.75 x172

  3. +1.75 -2.50 x172

  4. -1.75 +2.50 x172

The correct answer is: +2.50 -1.75 x172

The spectacle prescription is typically written in a standard format that includes the sphere, cylinder, and axis. In this case, the sphere value is +2.50, indicating a plus lens required for hyperopia (farsightedness), and the cylinder value is -1.75, which represents the degree of astigmatism to be corrected. The axis of 172 specifies the orientation of the cylinder in degrees. For the correct format, the sphere measurement is listed first, followed by the cylinder measurement and the axis. The convention used for writing cylinder values includes the sign (positive or negative) before the actual number and the axis measurement follows with an "x". Therefore, the correct representation of the given prescription is +2.50 -1.75 x172, clearly indicating the positive sphere, the negative cylinder, and the axis of the cylinder. The other choices do not match the proper notation for writing a prescription, violating the established format. Hence, the given answer is correctly represented as A, affirming that this aligns with standard practices for documenting spectacle prescriptions.