FAICO: The Online Theory Examination

 Part 1 of the FAICO exam is the online screening exam.

For me, this was conducted at a computer centre in Bangalore (you can select your center when you apply; the options are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore). 

The Hall ticket will be sent u by email and u will have to bring a printout of it with u. (Just showing it to them on the mobile will not be enough, because u have to submit the hall ticket at ur centre). The hall ticket will have your exact centre address and exam timing. 

 I recieved my hall ticket around 5 days before the exam. But AIOS did send me an email around 3 weeks before the exam saying that my centre would be in Bangalore, so that I could make travel arrangements.

You give the exam on a computer terminal. There were 14 terminals in the hall. U can sit anywhere u want. U enter a username(AIOS Membership number, if i remember correctly) and password (which they provide) to  begin the test.

1 hour, 60 MCQs. 4 options for each question, choose one option. No negative marking. U can leave the hall whenever u finish the test.

(One thing to note here is that, the circular posted on the AIOS website said there would be 100 questions, but there were only 60. I don’t know if this was only for glaucoma or for everyone in general. So, people who gave exams in other specialties, please clarify regarding this)

 You have to get at least 70% correct to qualify for Part 2.

The software used for the examination is pretty convenient:

•  The left side of the screen gives you an color coded overview of all the questions including how many questions in total, which questions you have answered, which questions you have left to answer, which questions have you flagged to come back to later. 
• There is a numbered icon for each question and you can go back to any question, any time. 
• You can also change your response to any question any time. 
• You can jump to any question by clicking on the numbered icon of that question and it will be displayed on the right side of the screen.
•  The right side of the screen has the current question you are working on along with the 4 options. 
• You have options to go to the previous or next question or to flag the question in case you want to come back to it later.

• There is a timer on the top of the screen and the software automatically stops the exam after one hour.
• There is an "end test" button along with the last question. U can press this when you are done with the exam.

The list of successful candidates were displayed the very next day on the AIOS website. You will receive your score by email in 2-3 days.