# Memorizing the eye test chart **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2001, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603 "2001-02-08T12:25:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/1 "2001-02-08T12:25:54Z")
Is the eye test chart standard, and therefore could you memorize it line by line in order to pass the test? ---
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/2 "2001-02-08T12:41:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krispy Original \* > \*\*Is the eye test chart standard, and therefore could you memorize it line by line in order to pass the test? \*\* No, they have a few different ones. Yes, you could sneakily look at the one he’s got set up, and memorise the lower lines quickly. In this way, the money you spent on the test could be used to get yourself a faulty prescription, and you could stumble around half blind. Of course, it might be cheaper to just not go to get your eyes tested at all? ie. Why on earth would you want to ‘cheat’? ---
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/3 "2001-02-08T12:44:48Z")
presumably, Krispy’s talking about cheating on the exam for, say, a driver’s license. ---
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/4 "2001-02-08T12:52:17Z")
Oh. Don’t they actually ask you to read stuff from the car in a drivers license test? Like a car license plate from a distance? I can’t really think of a good reason to cheat, instead of just getting a correct prescription. Maybe to be an airline pilot, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/5 "2001-02-08T13:06:35Z")
You presume correctly galt…hypothetically of course. How many different versions of the chart are there? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/6 "2001-02-08T13:23:02Z")
depending on which state you’re in, you may be overreacting. I live in MI. Back yonder in my youth, I had a friend who was legally blind (had coke bottle bottom glasses with little extensions on 'em), and he had a valid MI drivers license. I’ve always **told** them to mark “corrective lenses” 'cause I don’t **want** to be driving without my glasses. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/7 "2001-02-08T14:07:31Z")
FWIW, Tommy Lee Jones pulls this stunt to get certified in “Space Cowboys”. And if Clint Eastwood says it’s OK, it’s OK! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/8 "2001-02-08T14:37:22Z")
I am also legally blind (although thanks to new plastics technology I no longer wear Coke bottle glasses), and I have a valid Illinois Driver’s license. When I first got my license, way back when, I passed the eye exam wearing my glasses, and ever since then nobody’s ever checked. It just says “must wear corrective lenses” on the license. And, being a safe driver, I get an automatic renewal by mail. When I’m 80, I’m going to be one of those “elderly drivers whose vision was never checked”. 😃 **KO,** are you having to go in for a renewal? If it said “corrective lenses” on your old license, they may not even ask you. They might just transfer it. Why not call the Driver’s License facility and ask them if a vision test will be required? ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/9 "2001-02-08T14:41:11Z")
I did this to pass the USMC physical. Worked for a short time. Trust me on this, they all started with a big “E”. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/10 "2001-02-08T16:16:03Z")
Cheating on an eye exam for a license would seem to be a pretty stupid idea to me as you do need to see the road, don’t you? When asked to read the bottom line on it I usually just say ‘made in Hong Kong’ this usually gets a laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/11 "2001-02-08T16:51:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by muttrox \* > \*\*FWIW, Tommy Lee Jones pulls this stunt to get certified in “Space Cowboys”. And if Clint Eastwood says it’s OK, it’s OK! \*\* My memory says it was not Jones, but Donald Sutherland who pulled that off so well. In any case, it was a great scene. ---
**Author:** ![messiah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@messiah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/messiah)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/12 "2001-02-08T17:24:38Z")
I have one good eye and one bad one (in terms of vision that is, I don’t have an evil eye, transplanted from the socket of a mass voyeur or something). A few years back I needed to pass a physical in order to obtain a private pilots licence. When it came to the eye test, the doc made me cover one eye (the evil one) and read a line from an eye chart, which I just managed to do. He then made me cover the other eye (saint tereseye) and asked me to read the same line backwards. Of course I couldn’t make out a thing but having just read the line one way, was able to remember the characters and simply recited them backwards from memory. So I passed the examination. I just wonder how many pilots/train drivers/space shuttle captains are out there, who sneaked through the backdoor like me. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/13 "2001-02-08T19:26:05Z")
My mom lost most of her sight when she was little and was legally blind. She couldn’t even see past her hand let alone across the room so she would memorize the chart just to get by I guess. At least at that time, it was always the same chart. This was before they figured it out and had her start doing those physical exercises to strengthen her vision. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/14 "2001-02-08T19:36:02Z")
I’m not asking on my behalf…I’ve got 20/20. Someone I know though is getting a license for the first time and has one bad eye and will have to read the chart one eye at a time. …so the question remains…how many versions of the chart exist? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/15 "2001-02-08T22:00:53Z")
I recently underwent a vision test where, at one point, they just showed the first row–i.e., the giant ‘E’. My vision is so bad I thought the three bars on the ‘E’ were separate lines. The test was for a Lasik evaluation; I’m having it done in a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorizing-the-eye-test-chart/53603/16 "2001-02-08T22:17:07Z")
Since this thread is asking for information on how to do something very dangerous and probably illegal, I’m closing it.