title: Relationships between the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Achievement Test (COMAT) subject examinations and the COMLEX-USA Level 2-Cognitive Evaluation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The relationship between the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Achievement Test (COMAT) series of subject examinations and the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA Level 2-Cognitive Evaluation (COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE) has not been thoroughly examined.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the factors associated with performance on COMAT subject examinations and how COMAT scores correlate with COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE scores.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined scores of participants from 2 COMAT examination cycles in 2011 and 2012. According to surveys, most schools used COMAT scores in clerkship and clinical rotation evaluation, which were classified as being used for "high-stakes" purposes. We matched first-attempt COMAT scores with first-attempt COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE scores, and we conducted correlation analyses between the scores from the 7 COMAT subject examinations, as well as between COMAT and COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE scores. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to investigate how much variance in COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE scores was explained by COMAT scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2011 and 2012, respectively, 3751 and 3786 COMAT candidates had COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE scores (53.0% and 93.9%, respectively, had ⩾1 high-stakes COMAT score). Intercorrelations between COMAT scores were low to moderate (r=0.27-0.53), as hypothesized. Correlations between COMAT and Level 2-CE scores were moderate to high, with the highest correlations for internal medicine COMAT scores (r=0.63-0.65). All regressions showed internal medicine scores as the strongest predictor of Level 2-CE performance. Groups with high-stakes scores had larger adjusted coefficients of determination than those with low-stakes scores (eg, R(2)=0.63 vs 0.52, respectively, in 2011). For 2012 candidates with high-stakes scores, all predictors were statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The COMAT subject examination scores were moderately intercorrelated, as hypothesized, with higher correlations between COMAT and COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE scores. The COMAT performance was predictive of COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE performance.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cognitive Testing at the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) in Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Feiming
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cognitive Testing at the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) in Chicago, Illinois kkalinowski@nbome.org.
authors.forename: Kevin E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Kalinowski
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cognitive Testing at the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) in Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cognitive Testing at the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) in Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Bruce P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Bates
mesh_terms: D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D010021:Osteopathic Medicine / Q000193:education*; D014481:United States