USMLE & COMLEX Tutor in Columbia

Columbia's medical school is the University of Missouri School of Medicine, the public MD school founded in 1841 (school list). The LCME has accredited it since before 1942, and its next full survey is due in 2031-32 (LCME).

It is a school for Missourians: in 2025-26 it had 3,677 applications for 136 first-year places, and 85.3% of the entering class came from the state (AAMC FACTS). The CMS teaching hospital list names University of Missouri Health Care on One Hospital Drive in Columbia (CMS teaching hospital list).

Facts about Columbia

Accreditation: LCME directory; applications, places and in-state share: AAMC FACTS, Table A-1.

ABIM internal medicine certification exam by residency program: ABIM residency program pass rates.

• The University of Missouri School of Medicine teaches its first two years through patient-based learning in small groups, with minimal lectures and no department- or discipline-based courses. (University of Missouri School of Medicine)
• Mizzou's third year holds seven core clerkships: neurology runs five weeks, psychiatry six, and family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and surgery seven weeks each. (University of Missouri School of Medicine)
• Mizzou's fourth year requires three four-week advanced clinical selectives (one surgical, one medical), four four-week general electives and a four-week Advanced Biomedical Sciences course. (University of Missouri School of Medicine)
• The University of Missouri catalog requires every medical student to take Step 1 at the end of the second year and pass it before beginning the fourth year, and to pass Step 2 CK before graduation. (University of Missouri catalog)
• Up to 136 students are admitted each fall at the Columbia campus and up to 32 at Springfield, which becomes a four-year regional campus from the 2027-28 academic year. (University of Missouri School of Medicine)
• In Columbia, Mizzou students train mainly within MU Health Care, which the school describes as a Level I Trauma and STEMI Center with a new Children's Hospital and more than 20 primary care clinics. (University of Missouri School of Medicine)
• The Springfield clinical campus, opened in 2016 with CoxHealth and Mercy, takes 28 third-year and 28 fourth-year students a year; by fall 2030 it is to hold four classes of 32, with more than 670 students across both campuses. (University of Missouri)

Sources: LCME, directory of accredited U.S. programs (checked October 29, 2026); AAMC FACTS, Table A-1, 2025-2026 (checked October 29, 2026); University of Missouri School of Medicine, medical education curriculum (checked November 1, 2026); University of Missouri catalog, School of Medicine (checked November 1, 2026); University of Missouri School of Medicine, Springfield campus (checked November 1, 2026); University of Missouri, Board of Curators Springfield vote (checked November 1, 2026); ABIM, residency program pass rates 2023-2025 (checked October 29, 2026).

Patient-based learning, then Step 1 at the end of year two

Mizzou teaches its first two years through patient-based learning, a method the school says was largely pioneered at MU: small groups work through realistic patient cases, lectures are minimal and there are no department- or discipline-based courses (Mizzou curriculum).

That format prepares students for Step 1 better than many expect, because Step 1 questions are clinical vignettes too. What it does not hand you is a lecture-by-lecture list of high-yield facts, so in the second year we add a question-bank plan that follows the organ systems the cases covered and checks the disciplines case work can leave thin, such as pharmacology, microbiology and biochemistry. We also spread NBME practice exams through the second year, so the first full-length test a student sits is never the real one.

The school's catalog sets the timing: every student takes Step 1 at the end of the second year and must pass it before beginning the fourth year, and must pass Step 2 CK before graduation (University of Missouri catalog). The catalog also lists an independent-study course for full-time Step 1 review, with regular knowledge check-ins and one-on-one meetings with learning specialists; a student who sits Step 1 before the course ends spends the rest of it preparing for clerkships.

Seven clerkships of five to seven weeks

The third year holds seven required clerkships: neurology runs five weeks, psychiatry six, and family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and surgery seven weeks each (Mizzou curriculum). Short blocks leave little slack, so the five-week neurology rotation gives two weeks less to prepare for its end-of-rotation exam than the seven-week blocks do, and we plan its review before the rotation starts.

Students on either campus can join the MU Rural Scholars Program and take up to four core clerkships at partner sites across the state (Mizzou curriculum).

The fourth year requires three four-week advanced clinical selectives, one surgical and one medical, four four-week general electives and a four-week Advanced Biomedical Sciences course, taken in Columbia, in Springfield or on away rotations (Mizzou curriculum).

Columbia or Springfield

Mizzou admits up to 136 students each fall at the Columbia campus and up to 32 at Springfield, and applicants state a campus preference when they apply (Mizzou Springfield campus). In Columbia, students train mainly within MU Health Care, which the school describes as a Level I Trauma and STEMI Center with a new Children's Hospital and more than 20 primary care clinics.

Springfield opened in 2016 as a clinical campus with CoxHealth and Mercy and takes 28 third-year and 28 fourth-year students a year, who spend their first two years in Columbia (University of Missouri). From the 2027-28 academic year it becomes a four-year regional campus (Mizzou Springfield campus); by fall 2030 it is to hold four classes of 32, with more than 670 students across the two campuses (University of Missouri).

The university says the curriculum on both campuses is identical, with some lectures livestreamed and recorded in both directions (University of Missouri), so the Step 1 date and the clerkship lengths are the same whichever campus a student lists.

Medical school in Columbia

University of Missouri School of Medicine lists 416 students on Wikipedia.

School list: LCME and COCA lists, via the list of medical schools in the United States, checked October 2026.

Teaching hospitals in Columbia

On the CMS teaching hospital list (October 2026):

• Univ of Missouri Health Care, One Hospital Drive, Columbia, MO 65212

Other teaching hospitals near Columbia

The same CMS list has three more teaching hospitals in the Columbia ZIP region, useful for electives and away rotations: Moberly Regional Medical Center (Moberly); Fulton Medical Center (Fulton); Fulton State Hospital (Fulton).

The exams Columbia students take, in order

Mizzou grants the MD, so the series is the USMLE: Step 1 at the end of the second year, reported pass/fail since January 26, 2022, then Step 2 CK before graduation and Step 3 in residency. NBME shelf exams close the third-year clerkships.

Internal medicine residents at the University of Missouri-Columbia program also sit ABIM's exam: in 2023-2025, 87% of 68 first-time takers passed it (ABIM).

Missouri board rules for Columbia graduates

FSMB's summary for Missouri gives three attempts at USMLE Step 3 (FSMB). The USMLE program allows four attempts per Step (USMLE eligibility rules), so by that summary Step 3 is the one exam where Missouri's board is tighter than the exam program.

After two failed Step 3 attempts, a Columbia graduate has one left under Missouri's rule, even though the USMLE program would allow two more (FSMB, USMLE eligibility rules).

How much Columbia searches for board prep

Google Trends ranks the Columbia-Jefferson City metro area 2nd among US metro areas for “shelf exam” searches over the past five years, with a score of 79 out of 100 (retrieved October 2026). It is the only search term this page lists for Columbia, and Google counts Jefferson City in the same result. Scores are relative, not counts of students.

• “Shelf exam”: number 2 among US metro areas (Columbia-Jefferson City), score 79 of 100