Sherman College of Chiropractic at a glance
- Program: Doctor of Chiropractic, 14 quarters (about 3.5 years), minimum 4,956 clock hours
- Campus: 2020 Springfield Road, Spartanburg, SC
- Enrollment: 381 total (2023)
- Cohort starts: January, April, July, October
A quarter-system calendar means more entry points
Where most chiropractic programs run on semesters or trimesters, Sherman enrolls new students four times a year. That shorter cycle changes how you should think about the boards: rather than one long runway to a single Part I sitting, Sherman students move through material in tighter blocks, which can mean less time between covering a topic and being tested on it, but also less time to let earlier material go stale before Part I and Part II come up.
Sherman's published NBCE result
Sherman reports a 90.7% NBCE pass rate, the share of graduates who passed all four Parts within 6 months of graduation, as a weighted average across the 2022-2025 period. That single aggregate figure is how Sherman discloses its student achievement data, rather than a breakdown by individual Part.
Built-in tutoring support
Sherman's student success department runs small-group tutoring in select basic-science subjects, keeping groups to 5 to 10 students with weekly-monitored performance tracking between tutors and the students they work with. The college also publishes general exam-prep guidance on its site. For subjects outside that in-house tutoring, most Sherman students still lean on outside board-review resources to round out their prep, the same way students at most programs do.
The weekly-monitoring piece is worth noting on its own. Rather than a one-time tutor assignment, Sherman tracks how each tutoring pair is progressing on an ongoing basis, which gives the student success department a chance to reshuffle groups or add support before a subject becomes a problem heading into Part I.
Planning the boards around 14 quarters
Across the profession, Part I opens once a student reaches their second year, and Part II follows in year three. Part III has to be completed within nine months of graduation, and Part IV within six. On a 14-quarter calendar, that spacing compresses compared to a traditional two-semester school, so it's worth mapping out, quarter by quarter, exactly which Part lines up with which point in your clinic rotation. Part IV is now held only at the NBCE's Assessment Center in Greeley, Colorado, so build travel time into whichever quarter you plan to sit it.
Sherman's results by class and first-time results by Part
Sherman College publishes its NBCE results in its Goals for Student Achievement document. Its recent editions give single-year figures for the classes of 2021 through 2025, the years behind the 2022 to 2025 weighted figure above, and an older archived edition lists 2011 through 2014 on an earlier basis that counted graduates who attempted an exam. The 2022 figure was revised in the most recent edition, so the latest version is shown and marked.
| Graduating year | Passed all Parts or licensed, of all graduates | Passed all Parts, of graduates who attempted an exam |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | — | 80.4% (37 of 46) |
| 2012 | — | 84.4% (38 of 45) |
| 2013 | — | 89.4% (42 of 47) |
| 2014 | — | 90.3% (56 of 62) |
| 2021 | 90.1% (91 of 101) | — |
| 2022 | 82.9% (97 of 117) † | — |
| 2023 | 90.8% (79 of 87) | — |
| 2024 | 95.8% (91 of 95) | — |
| 2025 | 94.5% (103 of 109) | — |
Sherman also posted first-time pass rates by Part for each exam session from Spring 2009 through Spring 2014. The school defines the number tested as first-time examinees.
Sherman first-time NBCE pass rate by Part and exam session, number passed of number tested
| Exam session | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | PT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2009 | 77.4% (24 of 31) | 61.9% (26 of 42) | 74.3% (26 of 35) | 88% (44 of 50) | 69% (29 of 42) |
| Fall 2009 | 100% (18 of 18) | 53.6% (15 of 28) | 73.3% (22 of 30) | 93.3% (42 of 45) | 55.6% (15 of 27) |
| Spring 2010 | 87.5% (21 of 24) | 45.7% (16 of 35) | 56.3% (18 of 32) | 80.6% (25 of 31) | 58.3% (7 of 12) |
| Fall 2010 | 75% (12 of 16) | 55.6% (10 of 18) | 70.3% (26 of 37) | 82.8% (24 of 29) | 85.7% (6 of 7) |
| Spring 2011 | 84% (21 of 25) | 70.4% (19 of 27) | 62.5% (5 of 8) | 95.2% (20 of 21) | 83.3% (10 of 12) |
| Fall 2011 | 85% (17 of 20) | 58.3% (7 of 12) | 80.6% (25 of 31) | 91.7% (22 of 24) | 84.6% (11 of 13) |
| Spring 2012 | 77.8% (21 of 27) | 71.4% (20 of 28) | 52.9% (9 of 17) | 100% (14 of 14) | 95% (19 of 20) |
| Fall 2012 | 85.7% (18 of 21) | 95.7% (22 of 23) | 93.5% (29 of 31) | 100% (24 of 24) | 96% (24 of 25) |
| Spring 2013 | 66.7% (26 of 39) | 77.4% (24 of 31) | 88.2% (15 of 17) | 82.1% (23 of 28) | 92.3% (24 of 26) |
| Fall 2013 | 72.7% (8 of 11) | 81.8% (18 of 22) | 82.5% (33 of 40) | 86.2% (25 of 29) | 91.7% (22 of 24) |
| Spring 2014 | 66.7% (40 of 60) | 67.6% (25 of 37) | 75% (15 of 20) | 87.5% (21 of 24) | 95.7% (22 of 23) |
† The school's archived pages show more than one figure for this year. The most recent published figure is shown. A dash means the school's files do not show a figure for that year.
Compare other chiropractic schools
Practice with ChiroEDU
ChiroEDU's practice exams are built to feel like the real computer-based test: domain-by-domain exams for Part 1 and Part 2 with four attempts each, four mock exams for Part 3 with radiology, and PT exams with item analysis. Interested in helping classmates prep? ChiroEDU is looking for student reps at every school.
Sources: Sherman College NBCE Part 4 in review · Sherman exam prep tips · Sherman research. Figures as published by the college; checked September 2026. The year-by-year tables above come from the school's own published disclosures, linked here as archived copies where the current page no longer shows them: archived copy, Apr 2011 · archived copy, Nov 2011 · archived copy, Jan 2012 · archived copy, Jul 2012 · archived copy, Feb 2013 · archived copy, Jun 2014 · archived copy, Dec 2014 · archived copy, Mar 2016 · archived copy, Jul 2025 · archived copy, Aug 2026. ChiroEDU is independent and not affiliated with Sherman College of Chiropractic or the NBCE.