Correlation of scores for the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination with osteopathic medical school grades

Abstract

The authors evaluated construct validity of scores for the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX-USA), the examination used to evaluate osteopathic physicians for licensure. They computed correlations between students' grades in the first 2 years of osteopathic medical school and their scores on the COMPLEX-USA Level 1 (N = 187) and Level 2 (N = 86), as well as correlations between third- and fourth-year clerkship grades and the COMLEX-USA Level 2. Correlations of Level 1 scores with grades for years one, two, and the first 2 years combined were .74, .80, and .81, respectively; for Level 2, correlations were .59, .70, and .71. Correlation between clerkship grades and scores for the COMLEX-USA Level 2 was .26. The strong correlation between COMLEX-USA results and grades for the didactic curriculum in the first 2 years of medical school provides evidence for the construct validity of scores for the COMLEX-USA Levels 1 and 2.