COMLEX-USA

About COMLEX-USA

All osteopathic medical students are required to take COMLEX Levels 1 and 2. COMLEX Level 3 is taken during post-graduate medical training. The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) website provides the following description of the COMLEX exams:

"The COMLEX-USA series is designed to assess the osteopathic medical knowledge and clinical skills considered essential for osteopathic generalist physicians to practice medicine without supervision. COMLEX-USA is constructed in the context of medical problem-solving which involves clinical presentations and physician tasks." For additional information on the NBOME and COMLEX exams, please refer to the website.

Students take the COMLEX level 1 following completion of their second year and level 2 after completion of their third year. Level 3 must be taken after graduation and during residency.

First-Time Pass Rates for COMLEX-USA Level 1

Testing Cycle	First-Time Pass Rate	National Pass Rate
May 2018–April 2019	98.8%	93%
May 2019–April 2020	97.8%	94.3%
May 2020–April 2021	98.1%	93.7%
May 2021–April 2022*	94.4%	92.2%
May 2022–April 2023* as of July 26, 2022	96.9%	94.9%

First-Time Pass Rates for COMLEX Level 2 Cognitive Evaluation (CE)

Testing Cycle	First-Time Pass Rate	National Pass Rate
June 2018–May 2019	98.9%	95.6%
June 2019–May 2020	99.4%	96.8%
June 2020–May 2021	98.3%	96.5%
June 2021–May 2022*	97.6%	95%

First-Time Pass Rates for COMLEX-USA Level 2 Performance Evaluation (PE)

The NBOME indefinitely postponed the COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE in 2020. Please refer to NBOME for the latest information.

Testing Cycle	First-Time Pass Rate	National Pass Rate
March 2017–February 2018	92.4%	93.2%
March 2018–February 2019	92.8%	93.2%
March 2019–March 2020	90.4%	92%

First-Time Pass Rate for COMLEX-USA Level 3

Testing Cycle	First-Time Pass Rate	Number of Students
September 2018–December 2019	99.1%	229
January 2020–December 2020	98.7%	156
January 2021–December 2021*	97.5%	157
January 2022–December 2022* as of July 26, 2022	99.1%	105

^{*Data represent all test takers during the specified cycle. First-time test taker results for these cycles are not yet available from NBOME.}