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MUSC Excellence at the College of Medicine/UMA Students' passing rate higher than U.S. average by Jerry Reves, M.D. Dean, College of Medicine and Vice President, Medical Affairs We have several quality goals in our MUSC Excellence program, and one of them is for our medical students to surpass the national average on each step of the LCME exams.    We just received the final tabulation on our medical students’ performance on Step 1, and I am  pleased to inform you that our rising third-year students had a passing percentage of 95 percent (123 of 130). The national passing average for the 17,316 students who took the exam was 94 percent. Thus we attained our goal of surpassing the national exam performance mean.   Of course it is our students who achieved this mark, but they, as well as I, realize that the outstanding teaching and didactic skills of our faculty also played a major role. This College of Medicine goal is not just for the basic science departments, but also for the clinical departments, because increasingly on the part one exam many questions relate to clinical medicine, and many of our clinical faculty participate in small groups and larger settings of clinical correlation.    Our students did better than average in the subject areas of the cardiovascular system, anatomy, microbiology/immunology, pharmacology and the respiratory system.  There were 15 subject areas below the national average, however, so there remains work to be done.    My hat is off to students and faculty alike for reaching one of our quality goals for the year. Thanks to students and faculty, we shall continue to build on this success.     Friday, May 2, 2008 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.