USMLE & COMLEX Tutor in Montana

Montana has no MD school of its own. Its osteopathic school on our list is the Great Falls campus of Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM), which opened in 2023; TouroCOM itself dates to 2007 and also teaches in Harlem and Middletown, New York (AACOM). The MD route is WWAMI. Each class, 30 Montana students start the University of Washington School of Medicine's program at Montana State University in Bozeman and spend their first 18 months there, and 1,167 Montanans have studied through it since 1973 (Montana State University).

590 WWAMI faculty taught at Montana hospitals and clinics in the last year (Montana State University). Montana programs offered 44 residency positions in the 2025 Match: 22 in internal medicine, 19 in family medicine and 3 in psychiatry (NRMP).

Medical schools in Montana

Schools based in other states also teach in Montana: University of Washington School of Medicine (MD, based in Seattle, Washington) lists a campus at Bozeman; Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine (DO, based in Parker, Colorado) lists a campus at Billings; Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (DO, based in New York City, New York) lists a campus at Great Falls. DO students on those campuses take COMLEX-USA.

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

Teaching hospitals in Montana by city

• Billings: Billings Clinic; St. Vincent Healthcare
• Missoula: St. Patrick Hospital; Community Medical Center
• Kalispell: Logan Health Medical Center

Facts about Montana

ABIM internal medicine certification exam by residency program: ABIM residency program pass rates; ABIM says to read rates from under 25 takers with caution.

• 30 Montana students per class begin Montana WWAMI, the University of Washington School of Medicine program at Montana State University in Bozeman, and spend their first 18 months there in the Foundations phase. (Montana State University)
• Montana State University reports that 1,167 Montanans have received medical education through Montana WWAMI since 1973 and that 65% of WWAMI physicians return to Montana to practice. (Montana State University)
• 590 WWAMI faculty taught at Montana hospitals and clinics in the last year, according to Montana State University. (Montana State University)
• Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine announced pre-accreditation for its Great Falls campus on September 20, 2022, with 125 students expected in a first class starting in July 2023, in a 100,000-square-foot building. (Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine)
• AACOM lists 231 students enrolled at TouroCOM's Great Falls campus in 2024-2025, 126 of them first-year matriculants. (AACOM)
• TouroCOM's Montana clinical sites are in Great Falls and neighboring communities, as well as in neighboring states. (AACOM)

Sources: Montana State University, Montana WWAMI newsletter (checked October 29, 2026); Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, Montana campus announcement (2022) (checked November 1, 2026); AACOM, TouroCOM Montana profile (checked November 1, 2026); NRMP, 2025 Main Residency Match by state and specialty (checked October 29, 2026); ABIM, residency program pass rates 2023-2025 (checked October 29, 2026).

Great Falls: a new osteopathic campus, its first classes still in school

Touro announced pre-accreditation for the Great Falls campus on September 20, 2022, with 125 students expected in a first class starting in July 2023, in a 100,000-square-foot building with an anatomy lab and a simulation center (TouroCOM). The college said the campus would train primary care physicians for Montana, with a special focus on underrepresented groups, especially Native Americans.

By 2024-2025 AACOM listed 231 students enrolled in Great Falls, 126 of them first-year matriculants (AACOM). With the first class entering in 2023, no Great Falls class has graduated yet, so none has reached residency or COMLEX Level 3. Its board results will be a new series, and we plan with each student from their own practice scores rather than a school history that does not exist yet.

Rotations across Montana and its neighbors

TouroCOM says its Montana clinical sites are in Great Falls and neighboring communities, as well as in neighboring states (AACOM). The campus also took over the former McLaughlin Research Institute, now the Weissman Hood Institute at Touro, which works on neurogenetics in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other degenerative nerve diseases.

Rotations spread over a large, rural region mean long drives and different hospitals for each clerkship. Each core rotation still ends in its COMLEX or NBME subject exam, and a student in a small-town clinic has fewer classmates nearby to study with. One-on-one tutoring by live video (Zoom or Google Meet) fills that gap: the same tutor follows the student from site to site, and we fit shelf exam blocks around the clinic day.

Montana's residency market is small. Its programs offered 44 positions in the 2025 Match, in only three specialties: 22 in internal medicine, 19 in family medicine and 3 in psychiatry (NRMP). That is fewer positions than one Great Falls entering class has students, so many Montana-trained students will match out of state, which makes a strong Level 2-CE, and for some an added Step 2 CK, the scores that carry their application.

Which board exams Montana students take

Montana's one school in the table, TouroCOM's Great Falls campus, grants the DO, so its students sit COMLEX-USA: Level 1, Level 2-CE and Level 3 (NBOME).

The University of Washington School of Medicine lists a campus in Bozeman (school list), and its MD students sit the USMLE: Step 1, reported pass/fail since January 26, 2022, then Step 2 CK and, after graduation, Step 3 (USMLE).

In 2023-2025, 88% of 24 first-time takers from Billings Clinic Program in Billings passed ABIM's internal medicine exam, and ABIM says to read rates from fewer than 25 takers with caution (ABIM).

Montana licensing rules that affect your exam plan

In Montana's FSMB entry, every limit sits on the USMLE. The attempt rule names only Step 3, the time limit is 7 years to complete the USMLE, and for COMLEX the board lists no limit on attempts or time. Before a first license it asks for completion of an approved residency program (FSMB).

Source: FSMB state licensure requirements, checked October 2026; confirm with the board before relying on them.

What Montana's rules mean for how you study

• After a failed first try at Step 3, Montana allows no more than five additional sittings (FSMB). The USMLE program stops at four attempts per Step (USMLE eligibility rules), so the program's cap is the working limit.
• Montana gives 7 years to complete the USMLE, with exceptions possible for MD/PhD candidates (FSMB). The wording does not say when the seven years begin, so ask the board before a research year or a leave of absence.
• A DO student who sits only COMLEX meets no Montana cap on attempts or time (FSMB). If you add USMLE Steps to compare with MD applicants, read the USMLE lines for those exams too.
• Before a first Montana license the board asks for completion of an approved residency program, or 3 years for international medical graduates (FSMB), so an IMG should plan on the full three years.

Many Montana students rotate, interview or match next door. Montana's neighbors on our list: Idaho (0 MD, 1 DO), North Dakota (1 MD, 0 DO), South Dakota (1 MD, 0 DO), Wyoming (0 MD, 0 DO).

How much Montana searches for board prep

Montana's best Google Trends rank is COMLEX, 7th of 51 among the 50 states and DC. The USMLE terms sit far lower: 37th for Step 1, 46th for Step 2 and 49th for USMLE overall, with shelf exam near the middle at 24th (Google Trends, October 2021 to October 2026). That tilt toward the osteopathic exam fits a state whose only school in the table is a DO campus, opened in 2023, with out-of-state DO schools listing campuses there too.

Source: Google Trends, United States, past 5 years, retrieved October 2026; ranks show relative interest, not student numbers.