Using Osteopathic Medical School Institutional Data to Establish the Correlation Between Academic Performance and...

The rapid increase in the number of osteopathic medical schools creates a highly competitive medical school environment as each osteopathic medical school seeks to enroll top-performing students. This results in osteopathic colleges' need to be innovative in the academic support interventions they provide to help increase their student's chances of successfully passing their Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Exam (COMLEX) level 1 and 2 board exams on their first attempt. A correlation analysis was performed of the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine's (ACOM) class of 2024's (188 students) pre-matriculation metrics, including Grade Point Average(GPA), Science Grade Point Average (SGPA), and Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), performance in each course, and on two specific exams to determine if causality or correlation existed between these variables and first-time Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Exam (COMLEX) level 1 and level 2 pass rates. Using the Spearman correlation (significant at the p<0.01 level) reveals that, if a student was in the lowest quartile in any of the following courses, they were at risk of failing COMLEX level 1: medical biochemistry (00.156), neuroanatomy (00.168), cardiology (00.275), renal (00.176), respiratory (00.235), or gastrointestinal (00.209). The lowest quartile performance in neuroanatomy (00.228) and gastrointestinal (00.154 - significant at the p<0.05 level) correlates to a first-time failure of COMLEX level 2. Specific Interventions have been developed for students in the lowest quartile of the courses identified in the findings of the institutional data analysis to better prepare them to pass the COMLEX level 1 and level 2 board exams.