Looking for advice on how to study and prepare for the OBCE state board exam? Here are some thoughts and advice after getting licensed as a chiropractor in Oregon.

I first took the Oregon Board Exams after graduating from University of Western States in 2016. The school does a good job of teaching the necessary material (including the esoteric Obstetrics & Gynecology, Proctology, and Minor Surgery portions) and their close connection with the board offers a few opportunities to ask questions and get useful information about the test. But if you’re coming from out of state, it can feel very confusing… and there aren’t an abundance of resources to guide you, unless you have some close contacts who recently went through the ordeal themselves.

I maintained an active license in Oregon even after my wife and I moved to South Dakota. But after a few years, I decided it wasn’t worth the few hundred bucks a year to maintain¹ and let my Oregon license lapse. A few months later, my wife told me she wanted to move back to Oregon. So I had the pleasure of repeating the license application and exams.

The application process has changed² since 2016, but the test seemed to be about the same as I remember it.

In this post I’ll discuss the application process, how to study and prepare for the exams, and what it was like taking the exams.

Disclaimer: I wrote this shortly after taking the exams for the second time in 2021. This is only my recollection of the process. I have no insider information from the board and things may very well have changed by the time you read this.

TL;DR:

Honestly, if I had to do it over, I’d just sit the exams without even studying to get a clear picture of what is on them. Then, I’d study and pay to sit them again. I studied for 2–3 hours a day for a month, and it probably would have saved me a lot of time for only $150 extra. 😝

OBCE License Application

In a word, frustrating.

When I first got my license in 2016, I thought the process had some glitches. It was inconvenient having to meet with the board in person at an orientation meeting for new licensees held quarterly.³ It was also frustrating that none of the paperwork could be done online.

Five years later, not much has changed. Despite the move to computer-based testing, nearly everything else is done the same—old fashioned print paper and snail mail. It goes a bit like this:

Download the applicant packet from the OBCE website⁴.
Fill out the application form by hand.⁵
Mail the application.
Wait. ⏳
Get fingerprints taken for your background check. (You’ll get an email instructing you when and how to do this.)
Wait. 🕰️
Receive instructions to apply for the board exams.⁶
“Apply” for the board exams via NBCE. When you do, they will send a request to the OBCE for approval.⁷
Wait 2–3 days. 🗓️
Receive notification that you have been approved by the OBCE.⁸
Try to schedule only to realize that you are now “applying” to schedule your exam.
Wait 2–3 days. 🪦
Aha! Now you can actually schedule each exam. And pay for them, separately.

If you haven’t read the above mentioned Applicant Packet (PDF), there are 3 parts to the board exam:

Oregon Ethics and Jurisprudence. This exam covers the state laws that regulate chiropractic. It is open book and non-proctored, meaning you can take the exam on your computer from home with another browser window open to the state statutes.
Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Genitourinary
Minor Surgery and Proctology

Both of these exams are proctored and taken at a testing center. And they are very unique to Oregon, so read about what’s on them.

Board exam prep

The content of each exam is broad and vague. The OBCE website provides very little information other than “required” and recommended texts. But these are significant textbooks covering at least a semester’s worth of coursework each.

There’s more detailed info on the NBCE website than the OBCE’s, as far as what’s on the test. These outlines are better than nothing, but even that is too vague to be very helpful.

Current Diagnosis & Treatment Obstetrics & Gynecology, 12th Edition

By DeCherney, Alan H., Roman, Ashley S., Nathan, Lauren, Laufer, Neri

Buy on Amazon

Textbooks

Instead of Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment, which is quite broad, I opted for Current Diagnosis & Treatment Obstetrics & Gynecology, 12th Edition. It’s specific to OBGYN and more than enough. Honestly, though, it’s ridiculous to read through 1,000+ pages to find the relevant info. I only read a handful of pages.

UWS offers quarter-long courses that are based on each of these tests, so students get an upper hand here. I don’t think it’s worth spending the time (or the tuition) to enroll or audit these courses just to get your license.⁹ There used to be drop-in board review sessions taught on evenings or weekends by school faculty for a moderate fee (in the ballpark of $20–30 per session, if I recall), but these were pre-computer-based testing when exams were administered on a regular schedule. Now you can take them whenever you can get a spot at the testing center, and I haven’t heard whether anything like this is still available.

Study Guides

The Ethics & Jurisprudence exam is based on the Oregon Statutes and Rules available online [PDF]. OBCE includes the official Minor Surgery study guide [PDF] on their website. But they don’t provide any helpful material for the other exams.

There are study guides that get passed around by students that are actually very helpful. They aren’t too dissimilar to the ones I used in 2015/16 (Minor Surgery, OBGYN) – in fact, those are still valid.

Seek out a current student or recent UWS grad to get your hands on them. They’re not the prettiest guides, but they’re helpful.

My best recommendation is to find a clinic near you that participates in the Western States’ community-based clinical education program (internships). Their student interns will be clued into what to expect on the boards and will have the latest study guides to share.

Study Hacking

My best advice, if you can afford an extra $75… just take the exam. Best case–you get lucky and pass the first time around. Worst case–If you fail, you’ll know what’s on the test and be able to study more effectively. I studied a few hours a day for a few weeks and still had to take the OBGYN portion a second time. I honestly think you can save a ton of time studying by having a much better idea what’s on the test.

Taking the exams

While the Oregon board exams are administered by the NBCE, they are proctored by Prometric, a testing company with sites across the United States and around the globe. Their procedures make the experience feel very high stakes, so if you’re already an anxious test taker, you’ll want to come early and well prepared.

⏩︎

Okay, it’s taken me a fair bit longer to finish this blog post and, at this point, I’m not sure my memory retains much helpful info about the actual testing process. Read the Prometric guides for how to be ready for test day. You’ll want to bring only the minimally necessary things (ID, keys, water) and leave everything else in your car. There is a (very) small locker to place your belongings before going in. Other people in the center will be taking other tests and may appear even more stressed out than you—don’t let it psych you out.

Otherwise, please leave a comment below if there are burning questions you haven’t been able to find answers for. Or, if you’ve been studying for the exams and things have markedly changed,¹⁰ leave a comment with your experience! Thanks.

Best of luck!

Notes

we had no plans to move back at the time ↩︎
Unfortunately, the application process continues to be horribly inefficient, despite moving to computer based testing, but more on that later… ↩︎
Little did I know how much more inconvenient it would be in South Dakota. Seriously, driving 4 hours to the literal middle-of-nowhere Chamberlain, SD to listen to board members read off of a printed PowerPoint… ugh. ↩︎
Which may or may not be up to date. I downloaded it, emailed the office with some questions, and they informed me the application had recently been updated and I must have the old version. ↩︎
You can fill it out on the computer–which I did–but you have to print a hard copy anyway, and frankly, it takes longer to fiddle with the text boxes and check boxes and initials on the computer than it would to write everything out by hand. ↩︎
Hold on, didn’t you just do that? No, apparently not. You applied for your license. Now you must apply to take the exam through the NBCE. ↩︎
…even though you wouldn’t be able to apply for the exams if they hadn’t already approved it. sheesh 🤦🏻‍♂️ ↩︎
yes, the same people who had initiated the process in the first place. ↩︎
Now, if you’re one of the rare individuals who actually plans to deliver babies, perform pelvic exams, or lance boils and treat hemorrhoids, by all means take the courses! ↩︎
I’ve heard the OBCE is planning on going fully online for the application process, which would be excellent. ↩︎