The ACVREP Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) credential certifies specialists who teach safe, independent travel to people who are blind, have low vision, or have functional visual limitations. To earn it, you create an ACVREP account, apply for eligibility, schedule the exam after a mandatory 30-calendar-day waiting period, pass the exam (one free retake if needed), and then apply for certification. The current exam version launched on February 1, 2023. Fees include a $140 eligibility application and a $490 exam fee covering up to two administrations, and the certification is valid for five years.
What the COMS credential covers
The COMS credential certifies specialists who teach orientation and mobility to people who are blind, have low vision, or have functional visual limitations, across all ages and abilities.
ACVREP, the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals, describes the Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist as a specialist who works with people who are blind, have low vision, or have functional visual limitations, helping them reach goals for education, employment, and independence. A COMS may be blind, partially sighted, or sighted.
The role spans nonvisual, visual, physical, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects of mobility training. COMS professionals draw on a range of instructional techniques and match the approach to each learner, because no single strategy suits everyone.
Three requirements sit behind the credential: an extensive educational program, a supervised internship of at least 350 hours under an experienced COMS, and passing the certification exam. Certified specialists then recertify every five years to keep their knowledge current.
Official sources used: Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) - ACVREP — Certification description and four-step certification process
Eligibility and the application path
You apply online: create an account, submit an eligibility application, and upload the documentation your category requires before ACVREP declares you eligible.
Step one is creating an account on the ACVREP website. Step two is applying for eligibility through your account. The documentation you upload depends on your eligibility category and whether you have graduated.
If you apply in Category 1 and are still a student in an O&M program, you do not need to upload documentation to be declared eligible. If you have graduated, you must upload your completed and signed Clinical Competency Evaluation, and ACVREP must receive an official university transcript before you are declared eligible.
Category 2 Path A follows a parallel pattern. Current students need no uploads at the eligibility stage, while graduates must submit the Clinical Competency Evaluation, a Core Domain Checklist, and an official transcript.
Allow five days for ACVREP to review your application for completeness. If something is missing, you will be notified by email. Once your status changes, you will receive a notification that you are eligible. The handbook and the eligibility details page define the categories fully, so read them before you apply.
Official sources used: Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) - ACVREP — Certification description and four-step certification process
Scheduling, fees, and the retake policy
After eligibility, you schedule the exam through your account; a mandatory 30-calendar-day waiting period applies, rescheduling adds another 30 days, and the exam fee covers up to two administrations.
ACVREP requires a mandatory 30-calendar-day waiting period after eligibility before any candidate can sit the exam, though you can choose any business day thereafter. In your account, select the Schedule Your Exam link, choose the COMS exam, and complete the Exam Registration Form.
If you need no accommodations or private proctoring, the payment confirmation page gives you a voucher code and a link to the Webassessor test-taker platform, where you book your date. Be careful with changes: if you schedule a date and then reschedule, the system requires you to wait another 30 days.
If you need accommodations or a privately proctored exam, indicate this on the registration form, provide three preferred dates, times, and locations, and create a test-taker account. Upload supporting documentation, such as a letter from a physician or school counselor. ACVREP cannot schedule you until all documents arrive, and processing takes about seven business days.
If you do not pass on your first attempt, you are allowed one free retake. Schedule it through your account as soon as you are notified, and the system will recognize it as your free second administration.
All fees are listed in US dollars and are non-refundable once paid. Full and partial scholarships may be available to help with the exam fee through ACVREP's fee assistance program.
| Fee | Amount (USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility application | $140.00 | Paid when you apply for eligibility |
| Certification examination | $490.00 | Covers up to two exam administrations |
| Practice exam (COMS) | $65.00 | Ungraded, self-administered |
| Certification fee | $125.00 | Certification is valid for 5 years |
| Recertification application | $395.00 | COMS recertifies every 5 years |
| Recertification late fee | $75.00 | Charged automatically if the application is late |
Official sources used: Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) - ACVREP — Certification description and four-step certification process; Certification Fees - ACVREP — Fee schedule, refund and late-fee policies
What the exam measures
The exam draws on the official Body of Knowledge, spanning professional information, medical understanding, assessment, teaching of orientation and mobility skills, work with diverse learners, and professional practice.
ACVREP states that the COMS Handbook contains detailed information about the exam and the objectives its questions measure, so the handbook is your authoritative content map. The handbook's Body of Knowledge, published on the ACVREP site, organizes that content into competency areas you can study directly.
The Body of Knowledge is broad by design. The clinical practice competencies add a performance layer: planning and conducting individualized assessments and reporting results, instructional planning and sequencing, teaching across environments, monitoring safety and intervening when needed, facilitating independence and problem solving, and professional conduct including record keeping.
The four preparation areas below group those competency statements into a study plan. Treat them as priorities for review, not as a list of exam questions or published weights, which the retrieved pages do not provide.
- Assessment and travel goals: build an assessment plan that includes obtaining and interpreting medical, education, and rehabilitation reports; interviewing the consumer and relevant others; and selecting appropriate tools, materials, activities, and settings. The Body of Knowledge also covers interpreting eye reports and eye conditions, assessing present functioning across vision, senses, O&M skills, concepts, physical limits, and personal goals, and conducting ongoing assessment to monitor progress.
- Orientation concepts and environmental information: teach body, environmental, and spatial concepts and their link to purposeful movement; develop orientation through environmental features such as sun, sounds, and slopes; build spatial organization through cognitive mapping and spatial updating; and teach route planning, re-orientation after becoming disoriented, and familiarization to novel environments.
- Mobility instruction and safe travel: know the mechanics of locomotion; teach protective and human guide techniques and their rationale; select mobility systems by weighing advantages, disadvantages, and the consumer's needs, including human guide, long cane, dog guide, and electronic travel aids; teach cane skills such as two-point touch; and apply street crossing instruction in a sequence that moves from simple to complex, including intersection analysis, traffic controls, and public transportation.
- Professional practice and documentation: know the laws and regulations affecting O&M services, such as IDEA, rehabilitation laws, and the ADA; describe consumer and professional resources; understand the psychosocial impact of vision loss; adapt instruction for learners with additional disabilities and for cultural and age diversity; and maintain ethical conduct, on-time scheduling, and appropriate record keeping and reporting.
Official sources used: Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) - ACVREP — Certification description and four-step certification process; Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) Handbook - Body of Knowledge - ACVREP — Handbook Section 3, O&M Body of Knowledge and clinical practice competencies
How to prepare and practice
ACVREP sells a 142-question practice exam that mirrors the current exam's format, and publishes a study-strategies document; worked practice on the Body of Knowledge areas is the most reliable way to prepare.
The official COMS practice exam contains 142 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions and costs $65. It is tied to the updated COMS exam launched on February 1, 2023, so it reflects the current version. You take it unproctored on your own computer but must finish within four hours once you start, with no logging out, which simulates the actual testing environment.
The practice exam is not graded in the pass-fail sense. After you submit, you see which questions you missed, what you answered, what the correct answer was, and which knowledge area each question belongs to. That feedback tells you where to focus your review. ACVREP also offers a study-strategies document written by a subject matter expert, downloadable from the COMS page.
A sensible study routine, as advice rather than an official requirement: read the handbook's objectives first, study each Body of Knowledge area against real environments you can observe, then use the practice exam's knowledge-area feedback to close specific gaps. The two worked items below show how Body of Knowledge statements translate into exam-style decisions.
Worked practice
A new adult learner already travels independently on quiet residential sidewalks using two-point touch. The instructor plans the first street-crossing lessons at a simple, uncontrolled residential street, with signalized multi-lane intersections introduced only in later lessons. Which statement from the Body of Knowledge does this lesson plan reflect? A. Cane skills should be re-taught from the diagonal technique before any crossing is attempted. B. Street crossing instruction follows an appropriate sequence that moves from simple to complex environments. C. Orientation should rely on cognitive mapping before any mobility skills are taught. D. Low vision optical devices must be evaluated before outdoor travel can begin.
Show answer
B. Street crossing instruction follows an appropriate sequence that moves from simple to complex environments.
The Body of Knowledge explicitly calls for applying an appropriate sequence of street crossing instruction, from simple to complex, and for teaching consumers to analyze intersections in simple and complex environments. The instructor's plan does exactly that: an uncontrolled residential street comes first, and signalized multi-lane intersections follow. Option A invents a prerequisite the scenario does not require; the learner already uses two-point touch, one of the cane skills the Body of Knowledge names. Option C misreads the relationship between orientation and mobility; the Body of Knowledge treats concept work and mobility skills as parallel strands, not strict stages. Option D imposes a condition found nowhere in the retrieved competency statements; optical device instruction is one teaching area among many, not a gate on all outdoor travel.
Official sources used: COMS Practice Exam - ACVREP product page — Practice exam format, duration, and launch note for the updated exam; Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) - ACVREP — Certification description and four-step certification process; Certification Fees - ACVREP — Fee schedule, refund and late-fee policies
A worked item on assessment planning
The Body of Knowledge defines assessment planning as a sequence: gather and interpret reports, interview the consumer and relevant others, and then select appropriate assessment tools, activities, and settings.
Assessment questions test whether you can order the work correctly. The Body of Knowledge statement is specific: develop an O&M assessment plan that includes obtaining and interpreting medical, education, and rehabilitation reports; interviewing the consumer and relevant others; and selecting appropriate assessment tools, materials, activities, and settings. Assessment then continues over time, to monitor progress and decide when a learner is ready to move on.
Worked practice
An intern receives a referral for an adult with recent vision loss who wants to travel to a new workplace. Which sequence best matches the Body of Knowledge for planning the initial O&M assessment? A. Prescribe a long cane at the first meeting and set an independent bus-travel goal, then assess. B. Base all goals on the diagnosis in the eye report alone, since it is the authoritative medical document. C. Obtain and interpret the relevant medical, education, and rehabilitation reports; interview the consumer and relevant others; then select appropriate assessment tools, activities, and settings. D. Start by teaching route travel in the workplace, because goals must precede any assessment.
Show answer
C. Obtain and interpret the relevant medical, education, and rehabilitation reports; interview the consumer and relevant others; then select appropriate assessment tools, activities, and settings.
This mirrors the Body of Knowledge wording for developing an assessment plan: it combines report review, interviews with the consumer and relevant others, and deliberate selection of tools, materials, activities, and settings. Option A reverses the order; the Body of Knowledge says recommendations for services and mobility devices, such as a long cane, come after the assessment, based on identified needs. Option B overweights one document; eye reports inform the assessment, but the competency requires interpreting multiple report types and interviewing the consumer, because clinical diagnosis and functional travel needs are different things. Option D skips assessment entirely; instruction is sequenced from assessed abilities, needs, and goals, not before them.
Official sources used: Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) Handbook - Body of Knowledge - ACVREP — Handbook Section 3, O&M Body of Knowledge and clinical practice competencies
After you pass: certification and recertification
Once you pass, apply for certification in your account. Category 1 and Category 2 Path A applicants must first have their Clinical Competency Evaluation uploaded and official transcript received. Certification lasts five years.
After you are notified that you passed, log in and use the Apply for Certification link. Allow five days for the completeness review, and expect an email if documentation is missing. Your digital certificate appears in the My Documents section of your account, and the original arrives by mail within up to 14 days.
If you applied as a Category 1 or Category 2 Path A student, note the gate: you cannot be certified until you have uploaded your completed and signed Clinical Competency Evaluation and ACVREP has received your official university transcript. Plan for this before your exam date if you are finishing a program.
Recertification runs on a five-year cycle with a $395 application fee. A $75 late fee applies automatically if your recertification application is not submitted online before 11:59 PM Eastern time on the first day of the month in which your certification expires, with no exceptions. Multiple-certification discounts exist if you hold several ACVREP credentials.
Official sources used: Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) - ACVREP — Certification description and four-step certification process; Certification Fees - ACVREP — Fee schedule, refund and late-fee policies
Facts to confirm in the handbook before exam day
The retrieved ACVREP pages do not state the actual exam's question count, duration, or passing score; the COMS Certification Handbook is the document that contains them.
Three numbers candidates usually want remain unconfirmed here: how many questions the live exam contains, how long you are given, and the passing standard. ACVREP states that the COMS Handbook contains detailed exam information and the objectives measured, and the handbook is downloadable from the COMS page. Check it directly rather than relying on secondhand figures.
One useful reference point from a verified source: the official practice exam uses 142 questions in a four-hour session and is described as simulating the actual testing environment. Treat that as a feel for format and pacing, not as a confirmed specification of the live exam.
Similarly, the full definitions of eligibility categories and any jurisdiction-specific recognition rules sit outside the retrieved pages. If you study or work outside the United States, or your eligibility does not fit Category 1 or Category 2 Path A, contact ACVREP through your account before scheduling.
- Confirm in the handbook: live exam question count, duration, and passing score
- Confirm in the eligibility details: your category's exact documentation requirements
- Confirm with ACVREP directly: accommodations paperwork deadlines and any jurisdiction-specific questions
Official sources used: Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) - ACVREP — Certification description and four-step certification process; COMS Practice Exam - ACVREP product page — Practice exam format, duration, and launch note for the updated exam
Your next steps
Create your ACVREP account, download the handbook, and map your study plan to the Body of Knowledge before you pay any fee.
Start by downloading the COMS Certification Handbook and reading its exam objectives; it is the authoritative content and logistics document. Then create your account and submit your eligibility application with the documentation your category requires, remembering the five-day review window.
Use the mandatory 30-day waiting period productively: study the Body of Knowledge area by area, work through items like the two above, and schedule the official practice exam early enough that its knowledge-area feedback can still change what you study. Book your live exam date carefully, because rescheduling costs you another 30 days.
Official sources used: Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) - ACVREP — Certification description and four-step certification process; Certification Fees - ACVREP — Fee schedule, refund and late-fee policies; COMS Practice Exam - ACVREP product page — Practice exam format, duration, and launch note for the updated exam
Official sources used
Facts checked against ACVREP sources on 2026-09-17:
- Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) - ACVREP
- Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) Handbook - Body of Knowledge - ACVREP
- Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) Handbook - Scope of Practice - ACVREP
- Certification Fees - ACVREP
- COMS Practice Exam - ACVREP product page