Relationship of osteopathic medical licensure examinations with undergraduate admission measures and predictive value of identifying future performance in osteopathic principles and practice/osteopathic manipulative medicine courses and rotations

Two hundred sixty-five students from four classes at one school of osteopathic medicine were studied to determine the correlation between several frequently used premedical admission criteria to predict performance on the early and current versions of the osteopathic medical licensure examinations. Further analysis evaluated the predictive value of the examination of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) and its successor, the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA (COMLEX-USA) in determining subsequent performance in the ascending levels of the examination sequence, as well as to predict performance in the courses and rotations of osteopathic principles and practice (OPP) and osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM). This study also investigated the relationship between the early and later parts of the osteopathic medical licensure examinations. Analysis showed that of all premedical parameters, only the Medical College Aptitude Test score was positively correlated with performance on COMLEX-USA. In addition, a positive correlation was demonstrated between the performance in either Level 1 of COMLEX-USA or in the earlier form of the NBOME examination Part I and subsequent performance on the current Level 2 of COMLEX-USA or the old NBOME Part II. Finally, analysis indicated that COMLEX-USA predicted performance in OPP knowledge and skills.