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Passing One Color Blindness Test, Failing in Another Test

Tim Taalenta · 16 September 2026

The same person can fail one color blindness test and pass the next. This does not always mean that one of the tests is incorrect. Color blindness tests are not a single tool; the conditions of the room also play a role, and the passing threshold is not determined by the test itself.

Two families of tests, two different questions

The pseudoisochromatic plate test, best known through the Ishihara book, is designed to screen for inherited red-green color blindness. Its standard book contains 38 plates: 25 with numbers and 13 with shapes or lines for participants who cannot read numbers yet. Shorter versions with 24, 14, and 10 plates are also available, and in practice, the examination can be simplified to just 6 plates.

The panel test works differently. In the Farnsworth Panel D-15, participants arrange 15 color chips in order from a reference chip, typically completing it in two minutes. The results are plotted as lines on a circular diagram. Lines forming a circle are read as not color blind, while lines crossing the center more than twice are read as having moderate to severe defects. The direction of the lines indicates the type of defect.

The most commonly overlooked difference: strong plates in the red-green group but not touching the blue-yellow group, while the panel arrangement can read it. Conversely, the sensitivity of D-15 is below that of Ishihara, so mild defects can pass in the panel even if they fail the plates. Clinical literature interprets this combination as information, not contradiction: participants who fail the plates but pass the panel generally do not encounter color difficulties in jobs that do not require color precision.

The room also determines the results

Examination guidelines include technical requirements that are rarely known to participants. The Ishihara book should be held 66 to 75 cm from the eyes, and responses are expected within 3 to 4 seconds for each plate. Minimum lighting of 200 lux for children and 600 lux or more for participants over 50 years old, with a light source at a 45-degree angle to the plate surface. Tungsten and yellow lights should not be used, precisely because participants with mild defects could pass under those conditions. Colored lens glasses should also not be worn during the examination.

The passing threshold itself is a number: errors on 6 plates or more are sufficient to declare someone color blind.

The determining authority is the institution

Some institutions state their thresholds openly. The 2026 Ministry of Transportation Cadet Admission Selection, through Announcement PG-BPSDMP 02 of 2026, requires normal visual acuity and no color blindness, either partial or total.

For driver's licenses, the formulation in Perkap 9/2012 Article 35 paragraph (2) is also explicit: no partial or total color blindness, in addition to visual acuity tested with a Snellen chart at a distance of about 6 meters and a field of vision of 120 to 180 degrees. What is then emphasized is not the list of requirements, but who the decision-maker is. Kompas.com quotes the Head of the SIM Subdirectorate of Korlantas Polri, Kombes Djati Utomo, stating that the authority to determine the limits of color blindness lies with the doctor who has received recommendations according to Article 11 of Perpol 5/2021 concerning the Issuance and Marking of Driver's Licenses.

Before concluding anything from a test result sheet, two things need to be confirmed first: which test was used, and whose threshold is currently applicable.

If you want an initial overview

An initial overview can be self-taken, with an honest note about its limits. The chip arrangement mode in the color arrangement test uses the principles of Farnsworth D-15 and reaches the blue-yellow group that is indeed not touched by the plate test. The results depend on your screen and lighting, do not replace an examination, and even a clean result cannot be used to state that your color vision is normal. The final confirmation still lies with the doctor, in a room with controlled lighting.

Sources

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Ditulis oleh Tim Taalenta