USMLE & COMLEX Tutor in West Virginia

West Virginia's three medical schools are all public (school list). West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown, founded in 1903, is the oldest; Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine in Huntington (1977) is the other MD school; and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg (1972) grants the DO (school list). The DO school is the biggest of the three: WVSOM reports an annual enrollment of more than 800 students (WVSOM).

West Virginia University's school drew 6,314 applications for 115 first-year places in 2025-26, and 47.8% of its entering class came from West Virginia; Marshall received 3,026 applications for 82 places, and 57.3% of its class did (AAMC FACTS). The state counts 11 teaching hospitals, two each in Huntington and Wheeling and one in Morgantown (CMS teaching hospital list).

Medical schools in West Virginia

Several of these schools teach students at more than one site: West Virginia University School of Medicine also lists Charleston, West Virginia, Martinsburg, West Virginia.

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

Teaching hospitals in West Virginia by city

• Huntington: St. Marys Medical Center INC.; Cabell Huntington Hospital
• Wheeling: Ohio Valley General Hospital; Wheeling Hospital
• Morgantown: West Virginia University Hospitals
• Ronceverte: Greenbrier Valley Medical Center
• Bridgeport: United Hospital Center
• Martinsburg: City Hospital INC.
• Charleston: Charleston Area Medical Center INC.
• Parkersburg: Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital
• Bluefield: Bluefield Regional Medical Center

Facts about West Virginia

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; ABIM says to read rates from under 25 takers with caution.

• West Virginia University's School of Medicine limits its students to three attempts at each USMLE Step, and a failure on the third attempt ends in dismissal; a passing Step 1 is required to move into the clerkship phase. (West Virginia University)
• WVU's second-year spring term holds the NBME Comprehensive Basic Science Examination, after about 2 weeks of self-directed study, then about 3-5 weeks of Step Prep before USMLE Step 1. (West Virginia University)
• WVU students spend the first and second years in Morgantown and take their clerkships at one of three campuses: Morgantown, the Charleston Division or the Eastern Division in Martinsburg. (WVU School of Medicine)
• Marshall's Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine requires a passing USMLE Step 1 for promotion to Year 3; its Year 4 holds two weeks of emergency medicine, a two-week ICU selective, a four-week sub-internship selective and 28 weeks of electives. (Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine)
• WVSOM's Statewide Campus divides West Virginia into seven regions where third- and fourth-year students do their rotations; about 60 hospitals, clinics and medical centers take part. (West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine)
• At WVSOM, the third year is 40 weeks of clinical rotations, including eight weeks each of family medicine and internal medicine; the fourth year is 36 weeks, 12 of them electives, and can be done beyond West Virginia. (West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine)
• WVSOM reports an annual enrollment of more than 800 students, which makes it West Virginia's largest medical school by the state Higher Education Policy Commission's count. (West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine)
• In the 2025 Main Residency Match, programs in West Virginia offered 297 residency positions in 23 specialties, the most in internal medicine (80), family medicine (42), and surgery (27). (NRMP)

Sources: LCME, directory of accredited U.S. programs (checked October 29, 2026); AAMC FACTS, Table A-1, 2025-2026 (checked October 29, 2026); West Virginia University, graduate catalog: School of Medicine, MD (checked November 1, 2026); WVU School of Medicine, MD curriculum (checked November 1, 2026); Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, MSPE information (checked November 1, 2026); West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Statewide Campus (checked November 1, 2026); West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Pre-doctoral Clinical Education (checked November 1, 2026); West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, About (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).

WVU's own limit is three attempts, not six

West Virginia's medical board is one of the more generous in the country on attempts: six per USMLE Step or Step component (FSMB). WVU students never get near that number. The School of Medicine limits its students to three attempts at each Step, a failure on the third attempt ends in dismissal, and a passing Step 1 is required before a student can move into the clerkship phase (WVU catalog).

So for a WVU student the order of limits runs school first (three), then the USMLE program (four per Step), and only then the state board (six) (USMLE eligibility rules). That is why we treat a first Step 1 attempt at WVU as the one that has to count: we set the test date from practice scores, not from the calendar, and a student who is not ready by the end of the Step Prep weeks talks to the school about moving the date before sitting.

The Step 1 run-up in Morgantown and Huntington

WVU's second-year spring term is built around Step 1. Students take the NBME Comprehensive Basic Science Examination after about 2 weeks of self-directed study, use the score report to target their weak areas, and then get about 3-5 weeks of Step Prep before the USMLE itself (WVU catalog). Clerkships start in the summer that follows, at Morgantown, the Charleston Division or the Eastern Division in Martinsburg (WVU curriculum).

Marshall keeps the traditional order too: a passing Step 1 is required for promotion to Year 3 (Marshall MSPE information). With that few weeks between the last course and the exam, the useful work happens earlier. We start question-bank practice with WVU and Marshall students during the second-year organ-system courses, so the CBSE is a checkpoint rather than a first look, and we use its subject breakdown to split the final weeks between rescue topics and timed full-length blocks.

WVSOM's Statewide Campus years

At the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, the third and fourth years happen away from Lewisburg. The Statewide Campus divides the state into seven regions, with about 60 hospitals, clinics and medical centers taking part, and students choose a region as their home base (WVSOM Statewide Campus). The third year is 40 weeks of rotations, including eight weeks each of family medicine and internal medicine and four-week blocks in pediatrics, surgery, OB-GYN, psychiatry and emergency medicine; the fourth year is 36 weeks, 12 of them electives, and can reach beyond West Virginia (WVSOM pre-doctoral education).

A WVSOM student in Wheeling and one in Beckley sit the same COMLEX Level 2-CE, but they meet the material in a different order and with different teaching around them. We work from the student's own rotation sequence, so each block's reading lines up with the patients in front of them, and we add the USMLE only when the student's residency plans call for it.

Residency positions in West Virginia

Programs in West Virginia offered 297 positions in the 2025 Main Residency Match, across 23 specialties; internal medicine had the most, 80, followed by family medicine with 42 and surgery with 27 (NRMP). Residents in those programs later sit Step 3 or COMLEX Level 3, and internal medicine graduates the ABIM exam.

Which board exams West Virginia students take

West Virginia University School of Medicine (WVU) and Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine both grant the MD, so their students sit the USMLE: Step 1 first (reported pass/fail since January 26, 2022), then Step 2 CK and Step 3 (USMLE). Both hold LCME accreditation: Marshall since 1977 and WVU since before 1942 (LCME).

The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg is the state's only DO route, and its students work through COMLEX-USA from Level 1 to Level 3, with Level 2-CE between (NBOME).

The next exam after residency is ABIM's, for internal medicine. In 2023-2025, 96% of 55 first-time takers from the Marshall University School of Medicine Program in Huntington passed it, as did 88% of 75 from the West Virginia University Program in Morgantown and 90% of 30 from the Charleston Area Medical Center Program (ABIM).

West Virginia licensing rules that affect your exam plan

In West Virginia both boards ask for one year of training before a first license; the medical board also allows six attempts per USMLE Step or Step component, gives ten years to complete the USMLE and asks international graduates for three years of training (FSMB). The osteopathic board sets no limit on COMLEX attempts or time (FSMB).

West Virginia Medical board

West Virginia Osteopathic board

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

What West Virginia's rules mean for how you study

• West Virginia's six attempts are counted per Step or Step component, so ask the board how it counts a retake before relying on six; the USMLE program itself stops at four per Step (FSMB, USMLE eligibility rules).
• Only the USMLE carries a clock in West Virginia, ten years to complete it against no time limit on COMLEX, so MD students planning a research year should ask when the ten years start (FSMB).
• An international graduate needs three years of training before a first West Virginia medical license, against one year for others, so map the whole exam sequence onto that longer timeline (FSMB).

Many West Virginia students rotate, interview or match next door. West Virginia's neighbors on our list: Kentucky (2 MD, 1 DO), Maryland (3 MD, 1 DO), Ohio (6 MD, 1 DO), Pennsylvania (7 MD, 3 DO), Virginia (4 MD, 2 DO).

How much West Virginia searches for board prep

West Virginia ranks in the top five of 51 on every Google Trends term over the five years to October 2026: first for COMLEX, third for USMLE Step 2 and for shelf exam, and fourth for USMLE and Step 1.

First place for COMLEX is the top spot among all 50 states and DC, and it comes from a state with a single DO school, in Lewisburg, whose Statewide Campus spreads its students across seven regions.

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