The OCANZ COE August Results 2026 brought a proud moment for Lakshmi, an Indian optometrist who cleared the Written Exam after months of focused preparation. With a Bachelor's and Master's in Optometry, clinical experience, and a full-time job, she knew the exam would demand more than textbook knowledge.
Her journey offers valuable lessons for every Indian optometrist preparing for the Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand (OCANZ) Competency in Optometry Examination (COE). From choosing structured preparation to mastering the SAQ section, Lakshmi's experience shows how the right strategy can make a difference.
In this success story, we take inspiration from her preparation journey, the challenges she faced, and the practical techniques that helped her approach the exam with confidence. Come, let's get inspired.
Why Choose Australia for Optometry?
Australia offers internationally trained optometrists a well-established healthcare system, regulated registration pathway, and opportunities to work across clinical, community, corporate, and regional settings. The country had more than 7,000 registered optometrists in 2025, with the workforce continuing to grow.
- At the same time, Australia faces an important workforce distribution challenge. A recent Optometry Workforce Projection Study found that while the country has an overall surplus based on current service utilisation, regional, rural, and remote communities remain less well served.
- The country's optometrist workforce has grown close to 30% over the past several years, yet demand, particularly in regional Australia, continues to outpace supply
- Regional postings often pay 40 to 50% more than metro roles, a real option for internationally trained optometrists open to relocating outside the big cities
- Myopia management, Lakshmi's own area of interest, is one of the faster-growing clinical niches in Australian optometry, driven by rising screen time and childhood myopia rates
For someone like Lakshmi, already specialised in exactly the kind of care Australian clinics are leaning into more, the timing works in her favour.
OCANZ COE Preparation Course vs. Self Study: Which is Worth it?
Optometry, as Lakshmi puts it plainly, is "a very complex area." Between refraction, ocular disease, binocular vision, contact lenses, and clinical case interpretation, the syllabus itself isn't small, and most candidates coming straight out of an Indian BSc or MSc programme haven't been taught with the Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand (OCANZ) exam pattern in mind.
That's the gap Academically's OCANZ COE exam preparation course is built to close. Lakshmi finished the programme in three months, and what stood out to her wasn't just the volume of material, it was how it was organised. "All optometry subjects in a crisp way I have completed this course," she said. "It's like everything at one place, books, reference papers, PPTs, in a very simpler way." She specifically credited the faculty for taking a genuinely complicated subject and breaking it down without diluting it. What made it better was these faculties are globally licensed, some OCANZ-COE-qualified and AHPRA-registered optometrists practicing in Australia.
The other thing she noticed, and this matters more than it sounds like it should, is what the course deliberately left out. "The focus is not on teaching everything," she explained, "because students expect that there are so many subjects, so many topics, and everything will be taught. That is something we don't do. We focus on the topics that are most important for the OCANZ exam." When she sat the actual paper, that focus paid off directly. "Exactly what they have thought, basically the important topics, exactly the same I have seen in the exam."
How does the OCANZ COE feel like, for an Overseas Optometrist?
OCANZ COE is a qualifying licensure examination for an overseas optometrist. Going in as a first-time candidate, the pattern itself took some adjusting to. "It was very new because it's the first exam that too, from an Australian standpoint," she said. "I used to adapt to the pattern and all."
Her sharpest observation was about the MCQ paper specifically. In her attempt, the questions ran long, and she found them noticeably more time-consuming than the short-answer section.
"I felt MCQs are time-consuming because in this attempt there were lengthy MCQs," she said. "I felt that MCQs were a little bit confusing compared to the SQ exam." Her overall verdict on the exam pattern, though, was reassuring for anyone nervous about it: it's fair, provided you've actually prepared around the topics that matter, "exactly what they have thought."
Short Answer Questions (SAQ) Preparation Strategy
If there's one part of this interview worth bookmarking, it's Lakshmi's approach to the short-answer paper. Anyone who has attempted the OCANZ COE knows the SAQ section is where candidates either run out of time or run out of nerve. Eighteen questions, three hours, and a habit most Indian-trained candidates carry over from university exams: writing three or four pages for every ten-mark question.
The Short-Answer Question (SAQ) exam is a 3-hour written component of the OCANZ COE that focuses on clinical diagnosis and management.
Exam Overview
- Format: 18 short-answer questions, often featuring multiple parts.
- Duration: 3 hours.
Delivery: Conducted via online remote proctoring, allowing candidates to take it from their home country.
Lakshmi did something different, and it's worth spelling out step by step because it's genuinely replicable.
First, she read every question before answering any of them. No writing, no attempting, just a full pass through the paper to see what she was actually dealing with. "I just went through all the questions," she said. "I myself know which question I can able to answer really fast, quicker."
Then she sorted questions by difficulty in her head, jotting down the numbers of the tougher ones on her rough sheet and setting them aside for later.
She answered the easy ones first, and answered them lean. No long paragraphs, no padding. "For example, if they have asked to list out the diagnosis, I just written very crisp," she said. That's a habit shift in itself. The OCANZ SAQ doesn't reward essay-writing; it rewards precise, structured clinical answers.
Only then did she go back to the difficult questions, reading them twice and giving them the extra time they needed, now that the clock wasn't looming over every single answer.
The logic behind this, she explained, is almost psychological. "If I start writing from the first question, I don't know what the 18th question is, something will run in my mind, what is the next question, next question," she said. "If I get to know all the questions, I get to know the paper, and then I can simplify, from the easiest question to the toughest question." By reading everything upfront, her mind was subconsciously working through later answers even while she wrote the earlier ones.
Does Clinical Experience in Optometry Matter?
Ask Lakshmi what she'd tell a fellow optometrist staring down this exam, and the very first thing she brings up isn't the syllabus, it's clinical grounding. "As an optometrist, you should have a strong foundation in the basics, like optometry basics, and the clinical experience as well," she said. "I personally feel at least one to two years of clinical experience, if you have, you can able to understand the case histories and the clinical scenarios, image-based questions."
This tracks with how the exam is actually built. OCANZ isn't testing whether you've memorised a textbook. It's testing whether you can look at a case history or a clinical image and reason your way to a diagnosis the way a working optometrist would. Candidates who've spent real time in a clinic, like Lakshmi's years at L V Prasad, tend to have an instinct for this that pure classroom learning doesn't fully replace. Coaching sharpens that instinct and points it at the exam format; it doesn't manufacture it from nothing.
OCANZ COE Preparation Tips from Qualified Optometrist. Let's Hear From the Expert.
The third pillar Lakshmi mentioned was, unsurprisingly, practice, though she's candid that not everyone gets the luxury of time for it. She had about three months, squeezed around a full-time job, and she used every bit of it on writing practice specifically for the SAQ section. "Please practice the writing part, especially the SAQs," she urged.
And then there's a warning worth repeating word for word, because it's the kind of thing that quietly costs candidates marks. "Read the question carefully," she said. "OCANZ tricks you like anything. You feel that the question is very direct, and at the end they will add one sentence like 'except,' or 'not,' at all, choose the other option. So you have to understand the question very clearly."
It's a small detail, but it's the difference between a confident wrong answer and a correct one. Slowing down for that last line of a question, rather than assuming you already know where it's going, is a habit every OCANZ candidate should build early.
Why Choose Academically for OCANZ COE Preparation?
Lakshmi's experience lines up closely with how the OCANZ COE course at Academically is designed, built specifically around the two things she flagged as most important: knowing exactly which topics carry weight, and getting real practice writing SAQ-style answers under time pressure.
What sets the course apart
- Guidance from OCANZ-registered faculty who are practicing and settled in Australia
- AI-based mock test
- A curriculum mapped directly to the OCANZ MCQ and SAQ syllabus, so time isn't spent on topics outside the exam's actual scope
- Structured handouts, reference material, and PPTs that consolidate a genuinely dense subject into something manageable within a few months
- Dedicated SAQ writing practice, aimed at building the crisp, structured answering style OCANZ rewards
- Flexibility for candidates managing full-time clinical jobs alongside preparation, exactly the situation Lakshmi was in
When we asked Lakshmi what she'd say to the optometrists out there who assume this exam is unbeatable, her answer was warm but firm: "This exam is not at all complex. You can simplify it by understanding the pattern of the exam." She circled back to the same three pillars throughout the conversation, understand the pattern, keep your basics and clinical experience strong, and practice the writing consistently, before adding something more personal. "Being an optometrist, don't underestimate your power. You can do it. I have done it. So you also do it, please."
OCANZ COE Roadmap for Indian Optometrists
Indian Optometry Degree
└─► Hold a recognised 4-year Bachelor of Optometry (B.Optom) or a 3-year degree supplemented by at least one year of formal clinical experience.
Check OCANZ Eligibility & Documents
└─► Submit academic transcripts, degree certificates, syllabus details, and proof of clinical practice to OCANZ for an initial skills and qualification assessment.
Meet English Language Requirements
└─► Achieve the required minimum target scores in standardized English tests such as IELTS Academic, PTE Academic, or OET.
Apply for OCANZ COE Written Exam
└─► Register for the remote-proctored OCANZ written examination after securing a positive eligibility assessment.
Prepare for MCQ + SAQ
└─► Study high-yield clinical science topics, ocular diseases, optics, and practice time management for the multiple-choice and short-answer exam formats.
Sit the OCANZ COE Written Exam
└─► Complete the 3-hour Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) paper and 3-hour Short Answer Question (SAQ) paper remotely from home or an accredited test center.
Pass Written Exam
└─► Receive official confirmation of passing both written components, which qualifies you to move forward to the practical assessments.
Sit the OCANZ COE Clinical Exam
└─► Travel to Australia to undergo the in-person multi-station practical skills evaluation and live patient case examinations.
Receive COE / Complete Registration Requirements
└─► Obtain the final OCANZ Competency in Optometry Certificate and complete the mandatory online Cultural Safety Training module.
Apply for Optometry Registration in Australia
└─► Submit your COE credentials, background verification, and professional indemnity details to Ahpra (Optometry Board of Australia) for general registration.
Start Practising as an Optometrist in Australia
└─► Secure your skilled visa or employer sponsorship and begin clinical practice anywhere in Australia with high earning potential.
To Conclude With…
Lakshmi's story isn't a dramatic one, and that's exactly what makes it useful. There was no shortcut, no lucky guess, just a clear read of what the exam actually demands and a preparation plan built around that. Four years of real clinical grounding gave her the instincts. Three months of structured coaching gave her the exam-specific strategy. And a simple, disciplined approach to the SAQ paper, read everything first, answer the easy ones lean, save your time for the hard ones, turned three intimidating hours into something she walked out of with confidence.
For every Indian-trained optometrist looking at the OCANZ COE and wondering whether their own foundation is strong enough, Lakshmi's answer is unambiguous: it already is. What's usually missing isn't ability, it's a plan that respects both the syllabus and the clock. Get that right, and Australia's optometry workforce, along with the career and salary jump that comes with it, is well within reach.