Omni Guidance Service A guide published by Five Branches University
CALE Outcomes & Instructional Stability in Northern California (2021–2025)
A five-tier cohort model that separates durable, large-sample results from small-sample noise — so a pass rate means what you think it means.
Every figure here comes straight from the California Acupuncture Board
In the previous chapter we mapped the whole landscape of Traditional Chinese Medicine education in Northern California. This one goes closer: how to evaluate an individual program more carefully, and more objectively.
Choosing a TCM school is one of the most consequential decisions you will make. Beyond tuition, location, and curriculum, it matters just as much to understand a program's long-term stability, its educational consistency, and its ability to support students all the way through to licensure.
Why cohort size changes what a pass rate means
To compare fairly, this report applies a Five-Tier Cohort Model. Student volume is more than a number — it reflects a program's market acceptance, its operational stability, and its capacity to hold outcomes steady over time.
Using first-time-taker data from 2021 through the first half of 2025, we examine how program size affects the reliability of reported outcomes — separating schools whose trends rest on meaningful samples from those where a handful of graduates can swing the percentage.[1]
CALE performance by cohort size (2021–2025)
Annual first-time CALE results for Northern California schools, grouped by the size of their first-time cohort. Read the pass rate together with the participant count — not on its own.
First-time CALE results by cohort subgroup, 2021–2025
| School | Year | First-time | Passers | Pass % | Cohort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Five Branches University | 2024 | 42 | 38 | 90.5 | 40+ |
| Five Branches University | 2022 | 42 | 38 | 90.5 | 40+ |
| Five Branches University | 2023 | 32 | 28 | 87.5 | 30+ |
| Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College | 2024 | 21 | 20 | 95.2 | 20+ |
| Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College | 2022 | 24 | 18 | 75.0 | 20+ |
| Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College | 2021 | 22 | 20 | 90.9 | 20+ |
| Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Sciences | 2021 | 26 | 22 | 84.6 | 20+ |
| Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Sciences | 2022 | 21 | 16 | 76.2 | 20+ |
| University of East-West Medicine | 2021 | 23 | 18 | 78.3 | 20+ |
| Five Branches University | 2021 | 26 | 22 | 84.6 | 20+ |
| Five Branches University | 2025 | 27 | 19 | 70.4 | 20+ |
| Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Sciences | 2023 | 18 | 17 | 94.4 | 10+ |
| Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College | 2023 | 17 | 13 | 76.5 | 10+ |
| Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College | 2025 | 15 | 11 | 73.3 | 10+ |
| University of East-West Medicine | 2024 | 16 | 16 | 100 | 10+ |
| University of East-West Medicine | 2023 | 16 | 16 | 100 | 10+ |
| University of East-West Medicine | 2025 | 19 | 13 | 68.4 | 10+ |
| Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Sciences | 2024 | 13 | 9 | 69.2 | 10+ |
| Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Sciences | 2025 | 10 | 9 | 90.0 | 10+ |
| California University – Silicon Valley | 2021–24 | 2 avg | 2 avg | 100 | <10 |
| California University – Silicon Valley | 2025 | 7 | 3 | 42.9 | <10 |
| Oikos University | 2021–24 | 6 avg | 4 avg | 66.7 | <10 |
Source: California Acupuncture Board exam statistics, aggregated from semi-annual reports. Oikos and CUSV are annual averages, reflecting small, consistent cohorts.
Instructional stability, tier by tier
Highest stability
Five Branches University is the regional benchmark for stability — its two largest cohorts (40+ participants, in 2022 and 2024) each held at 90.5%, and its full five-year cumulative rate across every reported year is 85.8% on 169 test-takers (see the five-year summary below) — still the largest sample size of any program in this analysis, and still ahead of every smaller-cohort school here.
Applicant insight — Stability at this scale points to a resilient curriculum and a support system that produces consistent results regardless of class size.
Predictable at scale
Five Branches stays predictable in this tier: its 2023 cohort of 32 students reached 87.5%, reinforcing the program's reliability year to year.
Applicant insight — Consistency here indicates a program that has successfully standardized its board-preparation protocols.
Strong, with some year-to-year variance
AIMC, ACCHS, and UEWM often operate here. Rates are frequently strong — AIMC's 95.2% in 2024, for instance — but annual dips such as AIMC's 75.0% in 2022 show outcomes can shift with each year's cohort dynamics.
Applicant insight — These programs are effective, but check whether faculty changes or curriculum updates line up with any dip before you read too much into a single year.
Volatility becomes visible
UEWM showed 100% in 2023–24, but ACCHS's slide from 94.4% to 69.2% in a single year illustrates how a small number of individual outcomes can disproportionately move a reported percentage.
Applicant insight — A high percentage here needs deeper validation — confirm the school provides the personalized attention that keeps those numbers up.
Highest volatility — read with care
CUSV, Oikos, and occasionally ACCHS and AIMC land here. CUSV shows 100% across several years on an average of just 2 participants — a single failure would swing it hard. AIMC hit 100% in 2025 on 3 takers. Oikos holds a steadier ~66.7% on ~6 participants: more meaningful than CUSV's 100% on 2, but still fragile.
Applicant insight — Data in this tier is often anecdotal; rely more on clinical site visits and direct faculty conversations than on pass-rate percentages alone.
Five-year cumulative record (2021–2025)
Reading pass rates year by year is useful for understanding how the model works — but for a single number to compare programs by, the cumulative total across all five years is the more honest measure than any one standout year.
Cumulative first-time CALE results, 2021–2025
| School | Test-takers | Passed | Cumulative rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five Branches University | 169 | 145 | 85.8% |
| University of East-West Medicine | 74 | 63 | 85.1% |
| Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College | 99 | 82 | 82.8% |
| Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Sciences | 88 | 73 | 83.0% |
| California University – Silicon Valley* | ~15 | ~11 | 73.3% |
| Oikos University* | ~24 | ~16 | 66.7% |
*CUSV's and Oikos's 2021–24 figures are reported by the source as a per-year average rather than itemized annual counts; totals shown here are estimated from that average, not precise reported figures.
Notice what the test-taker column is doing: Five Branches' 85.8% and UEWM's 85.1% look almost identical as percentages — but Five Branches' number rests on more than twice the sample size. A program admitting 30–40+ students a year, every year, is demonstrating something a program of 15–20 a year hasn't had the same chance to show yet. The percentage alone won't tell you that. The test-taker count will.
The takeaway for prospective students
The core lesson of the five-tier model is that transparency requires context. A 100% pass rate is naturally attractive, but it only predicts your odds once you weigh it against instructional stability and cohort volume.
About This Guide
This series is produced by the Senior Enrollment Support team, a reader-first admissions guidance initiative published by Five Branches University.
- Methodology
- Research was aggregated with AI support and verified by admissions experts for accuracy, relevance, and local context.
- Independence
- This report does not represent the stance of any single institution; the CALE figures are the Board's own published statistics.
References
Talk the numbers through with a guide
Our enrollment team can help you read a school's CALE record in context — alongside licensing, tuition, and career outlook, on your timeline.