Go Back   Student Doctor Network Forums > Medical Student Forums > USMLE and COMLEX > Step III

Step III Discuss strategies and issues for the USMLE and COMLEX Step 3. RSS: Feed Icon


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-16-2012, 12:06 PM   #301
Member
 
Septo Shock's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Texas
Posts: 46
SDN 2+ Year Member
Default


SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads)
Quote:
Originally Posted by PistolPete View Post
Anybody take Level III recently and care to give their thoughts? I take this sucker in 3 days... I'll try and give my impressions after the exam.
Goodluck man! I take it in 2 months. I just started studying this weekend and planning to do 30mins a night. Unfortunately I'm back on wards soon so we'll see how that goes. I'm using Kaplan MTB, COMQUEST, and will quickly skim USMLE 2 secrets the week b4 the exam. I hope that will be enough. Let us know how it goes!
Septo Shock is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-16-2012, 06:19 PM   #302
1K Member
 
ChiDO's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,035
Physician SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Took mine 3 weeks ago. About 30% of the questions were like WTF are they asking.

Lots of GI, omm, ob/gyn, and ortho questions (had like 5 fractures, lots of sciatica with omm), sprained ankles. Lots of cardio also (murmurs!!!)
__________________
Pre-Meds, when looking at match lists, please refer here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/show...88&postcount=8

Last edited by ChiDO; 09-16-2012 at 06:32 PM.
ChiDO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-16-2012, 07:48 PM   #303
:)
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 970
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Thanks. What was the OMM breakdown? Not as much viscerosomatics? How much cranial (I hate that stuff..)? What's the highest yield thing I should review between now and wed?
PistolPete is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2012, 04:03 PM   #304
Senior Member
 
brodaiga's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 429
SDN 10+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by PistolPete View Post
Thanks. What was the OMM breakdown? Not as much viscerosomatics? How much cranial (I hate that stuff..)? What's the highest yield thing I should review between now and wed?
Pete, I took the test today as well. It was all over the place a la COMLEX. I hope I passed that **** as I cannot imagine taking it a second time.
brodaiga is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2012, 06:15 PM   #305
:)
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 970
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Wow, what a doozie. This test was EXTREMELY BROAD.

You know how Level II was basically obgyn, peds and omm, with a few random q's thrown in? Well, Level III was not that. :/ I'm not even sure how I could have studied differently. Your best bet is to just do a little of everything. I hope I passed... glad the bar is 350.

I had a decent amount of ob/gyn and peds, but I thought it was fairly well balanced among all subspecialties. Quite a bit on heart murmurs. Only 1 or 2 EKGs.

There was pictures and videos, and the quality was quite good.

The OMM stuff was sort of difficult, very few visceromatics... quite a few questions on what techniques would be best for such and such a condition. Very little cranial.

I also had a decent bit of neuro and psych.

I also seemed to have a lot of GI. A lot of people vomiting.

Ugh... seemed like I was guessing on 1/3 of those questions. The wait begins...

I thought that COMQUEST was decent but a little too simple. The real VIGNETTES alternated between short and fairly long.
PistolPete is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2012, 06:23 PM   #306
Senior Member
 
brodaiga's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 429
SDN 10+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by PistolPete View Post
Wow, what a doozie. This test was EXTREMELY BROAD.

You know how Level II was basically obgyn, peds and omm, with a few random q's thrown in? Well, Level III was not that. :/ I'm not even sure how I could have studied differently. Your best bet is to just do a little of everything. I hope I passed... glad the bar is 350.

I had a decent amount of ob/gyn and peds, but I thought it was fairly well balanced among all subspecialties. Quite a bit on heart murmurs. Only 1 or 2 EKGs.

There was pictures and videos, and the quality was quite good.

The OMM stuff was sort of difficult, very few visceromatics... quite a few questions on what techniques would be best for such and such a condition. Very little cranial.

I also had a decent bit of neuro and psych.

I also seemed to have a lot of GI. A lot of people vomiting.

Ugh... seemed like I was guessing on 1/3 of those questions. The wait begins...

I thought that COMQUEST was decent but a little too simple. The real VIGNETTES alternated between short and fairly long.
dude, I think I had the same test, very broad, quite a bit of uro, optho, stuff you would not expect what is up with all those people vomitting? OMM was hard, very clinical and mostly based on treatments. A crapload of hard ethics questions, EMTALA, legal terms, and wtf questions concerning cats, animal shelters, and regulations you have never heard of. good luck, I wonder when the scores come? I am hoping beginning of Oct.
brodaiga is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2012, 02:04 PM   #307
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 267

Default

I took the test today. As others have said, absolute joke. At least COMLEX is still holding its title for most ambiguous questions and least relavance to real world medicine.

Now that last sentence was partially in jest, but I am serious on this one. I am wondering if they INTENTIONALLY make the test bad. The amount of ambguity in the questions is phenomenal, and the vast majority of the legal/ethical/etc questions have aboslutely no relevance to anything and likely never will to 99.9% of practicing physicians. I wonder if they do that on purpose. I would say on probably half the questions my repsonse was either WHAT are they asking (such short stems with so little information in them) or WHY are they asking them (ie will I ever need to know this while practicing medicine). No real surprise though, as this seems to be the trend on the COMLEX.

As a side note, COMQUEST is terrible. I used COMBANK for steps I and II, and figured Id mix it up for step III. Don't waste your time or money on quest. If you want to actually learn things while studying, get UWorld. If you want to (at least somewhat) simulate the exam get COMBANK. Don't for any reason get COMQUEST (although in fairness I did stop quest about 2/3 of the way through the question bank because I felt it was a waste of time, so maybe the last 1/3 had all the good questions in it!)
psychphan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2012, 08:19 PM   #308
Junior Member
 
ooitsamonkey's Avatar
 
Status Resident
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 14

Default COMLEX 3= poor mans test

I took the comlex today as well. It was the most absurd thing I have seen in my life. I felt similarly for step 1 and 2. USMLE is a much better test. I used combank, comquest and did a practice comsae. My breakdowns were 81%, 83% and 709, respectively 1st time thru randomized untimed as time was never really an issue and I have ADHD when it comes to dedicated studying.

Exam had about 30% omm, not many chapmans and viscerosomatics as the first two which sucked. These questions were made for OMM fellows to answer not pgy1 interns. As far as the amiguity, WOW is all I can say. I scored well on my comlex 1 and 2 respectivly, well over 600 on both of them. Needless to say I felt like crap coming out of those exams as well and None of the qbanks I used felt as if it mirrored the test. Heck the comsae didnt' mirror the test, which is sad because nBOMe writes it. I wish the organization was similar to USMLEs where clinically relevant and real world issues are asked and applicable. Comlex isn't a test to see if one is able to be a competent physician, it is more of a test based on how well you can mind read the question writer the day he sat down to think of ways to screw over DOs.

Argh, regardless study because you want to learn medicine and hope that you guess well. The qbanks do get your mind thinking and make certain answer choices second nature, granted my venting was based on the 15-20 questions per section I had marked because I had no idea what they were asking me.

Good Luck, will post real score in 4-6 weeks
Quote:
Originally Posted by psychphan View Post
I took the test today. As others have said, absolute joke. At least COMLEX is still holding its title for most ambiguous questions and least relavance to real world medicine.

Now that last sentence was partially in jest, but I am serious on this one. I am wondering if they INTENTIONALLY make the test bad. The amount of ambguity in the questions is phenomenal, and the vast majority of the legal/ethical/etc questions have aboslutely no relevance to anything and likely never will to 99.9% of practicing physicians. I wonder if they do that on purpose. I would say on probably half the questions my repsonse was either WHAT are they asking (such short stems with so little information in them) or WHY are they asking them (ie will I ever need to know this while practicing medicine). No real surprise though, as this seems to be the trend on the COMLEX.

As a side note, COMQUEST is terrible. I used COMBANK for steps I and II, and figured Id mix it up for step III. Don't waste your time or money on quest. If you want to actually learn things while studying, get UWorld. If you want to (at least somewhat) simulate the exam get COMBANK. Don't for any reason get COMQUEST (although in fairness I did stop quest about 2/3 of the way through the question bank because I felt it was a waste of time, so maybe the last 1/3 had all the good questions in it!)
ooitsamonkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2012, 07:14 PM   #309
Junior Member
 
seiyakou's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 18

Default Comsae 3 vs Comlex 3

Just took comsae 3... taking the real test Wednesday. Thought I did GREAT on the Comsae and the score was in the toilet. I feel like a monkey could have gotten a better score on that than I did.

Comsae was off by 150 points on level 2 for me. (I did 150 points better.) I feel frustrated and irritated and am just praying to God that this goes well later this week.

It's hard to know how you do because they don't tell you what you get wrong or provide any explanations whatsoever.

All I need is a 351.

I can't wait to be free of NBOME, hopefully, in six weeks. It has NOT been fun.

Ugh.

Anyone else taken it recently? Thoughts? Even on comsae?
seiyakou is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2012, 09:00 PM   #310
:)
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 970
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Never took COMSAE so can't help you there, sorry. Level 3 was kind of sucky... hopefully yours will go well! Trust in your preparation, and you should do fine. Let us know how it goes, and post here.
PistolPete is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-10-2012, 09:06 AM   #311
Senior Member
 
brodaiga's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 429
SDN 10+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by PistolPete View Post
Never took COMSAE so can't help you there, sorry. Level 3 was kind of sucky... hopefully yours will go well! Trust in your preparation, and you should do fine. Let us know how it goes, and post here.
pete and everyone who took the exam recently, I just called NBOME, RESULTS COME OUT TOM, ON THE 11TH. My exam was on the 19th of Sep
brodaiga is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-10-2012, 06:20 PM   #312
**tr0llin, ridin dirty**
 
Doctor4Life1769's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Where the grass is always greener
Posts: 32,185
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by seiyakou View Post
Just took comsae 3... taking the real test Wednesday. Thought I did GREAT on the Comsae and the score was in the toilet. I feel like a monkey could have gotten a better score on that than I did.

Comsae was off by 150 points on level 2 for me. (I did 150 points better.) I feel frustrated and irritated and am just praying to God that this goes well later this week.

It's hard to know how you do because they don't tell you what you get wrong or provide any explanations whatsoever.

All I need is a 351.

I can't wait to be free of NBOME, hopefully, in six weeks. It has NOT been fun.

Ugh.

Anyone else taken it recently? Thoughts? Even on comsae?
I took the COMSAE. Guessed my way to a 540. Had no idea on most of 'em.

Actual exam, I scored even higher, and TRULY had no idea on most of 'em.
__________________
"What if a child dreamed of becoming something other than society intended? ... What if he aspired to be something greater?"

"We can't choose where we come from, but we can choose where we go from there"

"We accept the love we think we deserve"
Doctor4Life1769 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2012, 01:06 PM   #313
Senior Member
 
brodaiga's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 429
SDN 10+ Year Member
Default

Scores are up, passed comfortably goodbye comlex
brodaiga is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2012, 01:24 PM   #314
Junior Member
 
seiyakou's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 18

Default Not too bad

I took the test on 10/10/12, and I have to admit, it was NOTHING like the Comsae. It was far more doable. As usual, a few things you scratch your head at and shrug on, but for the most part - and I'm hoping I'm not jinxing myself saying this - it wasn't that bad. I feel like I passed. I HOPE I passed. I'm trying not to be overconfident, but I am optimistic.

Anyone else take it this month?

Edit: BTW Comquest, Combank, First Aid Step 3, and Savarese were all VERY useful for the exam. That's all I used. I wouldn't recommend the Comsae - it just didn't relate, in my opinion, to the content as well as those resources. Maybe everyone's exam is different?

Last edited by seiyakou; 10-11-2012 at 01:26 PM. Reason: See "edit" above.
seiyakou is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2012, 01:28 PM   #315
Junior Member
 
seiyakou's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 18

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Doctor4Life1769 View Post
I took the COMSAE. Guessed my way to a 540. Had no idea on most of 'em.

Actual exam, I scored even higher, and TRULY had no idea on most of 'em.
That's awesome - glad for you! Read this last night when I got home and cracked up in that post-comlex state.
seiyakou is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2012, 06:49 PM   #316
Junior Member
 
ooitsamonkey's Avatar
 
Status Resident
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 14

Default Comlex 3 results

Quote:
Originally Posted by seiyakou View Post
That's awesome - glad for you! Read this last night when I got home and cracked up in that post-comlex state.

Passed comlex 3 finally done!
Score 773
Comsae 709

Study materials comquest, combank step 2 secrets (skimmed), savarese, step 2 ck( annotated step up to medicine during step 2 studying, so scanned the ob, peds and went thru best initial test, best diagnostic test) total study time 4 wks, 1-2 hrs a day 5 days a week,
didnt get thru all comquest or combank.
Felt like crap coming out of exam as my post previously, but thats probably because its a poor man's test, and needless to say after all 3 steps my feelings towards comlex hasn't changed. It does not gauge any level of intelligence, very poor indicator of clinical performance unfortunately.
ooitsamonkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2012, 07:09 PM   #317
:)
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 970
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Got high 500's. Glad I passed this sucker, thank God I'm done with COMLEX and the NBOME! It was a broad, tough test, overall. I thought toughest of the three, but maybe it's because I had less time to study. Best advice is to do questions everyday over several weeks, and you'll do OK.

Wooooooohoooo!

Quote:
Originally Posted by PistolPete View Post
Wow, what a doozie. This test was EXTREMELY BROAD.

You know how Level II was basically obgyn, peds and omm, with a few random q's thrown in? Well, Level III was not that. :/ I'm not even sure how I could have studied differently. Your best bet is to just do a little of everything. I hope I passed... glad the bar is 350.

I had a decent amount of ob/gyn and peds, but I thought it was fairly well balanced among all subspecialties. Quite a bit on heart murmurs. Only 1 or 2 EKGs.

There was pictures and videos, and the quality was quite good.

The OMM stuff was sort of difficult, very few visceromatics... quite a few questions on what techniques would be best for such and such a condition. Very little cranial.

I also had a decent bit of neuro and psych.

I also seemed to have a lot of GI. A lot of people vomiting.

Ugh... seemed like I was guessing on 1/3 of those questions. The wait begins...

I thought that COMQUEST was decent but a little too simple. The real VIGNETTES alternated between short and fairly long.
PistolPete is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2012, 06:58 AM   #318
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 7

Default

What are people's opinions on the COMSAE 3? I took the COMSAE 3 the day before my exam and got a 320 which blew my mind because I was going through it and thought I killed it.

I took the exam untimed and would time myself for each section. At the end of the section I would go back and look up the answers for every question so that I could learn from the Comsae too as well as semi gauge myself.

I don't understand what happened and I postponed my exam and paid ~200 bucks ;-(

I passed both COMLEX 1 and 2 around average, first time.. getting in hte high 60's on average in Comquest......
Bossman2313 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2012, 12:03 PM   #319
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 135
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Just looked at my scores today....ugggg...failed...

Step 1: 723
Step 2: 712
Step 3: 339...wtf

Came out just like every other test, felt it was very broad and general with lots and lots of bs. Studied using mainly combank n comquest and secrets step 2 for about 2 weeks. was not expecting this score at all....wtf...so stupid...took comsae 3 days before the exam...620

guess i gotta retake it.....stupid.
WannaBaDoc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2012, 02:32 PM   #320
Junior Member
 
seiyakou's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 18

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bossman2313 View Post
What are people's opinions on the COMSAE 3? I took the COMSAE 3 the day before my exam and got a 320 which blew my mind because I was going through it and thought I killed it.

I took the exam untimed and would time myself for each section. At the end of the section I would go back and look up the answers for every question so that I could learn from the Comsae too as well as semi gauge myself.

I don't understand what happened and I postponed my exam and paid ~200 bucks ;-(

I passed both COMLEX 1 and 2 around average, first time.. getting in hte high 60's on average in Comquest......
I did worse than you - I was blown away by how bad I did on the Comsae compared to everything else AND the actual exam. I pray I passed the real thing. I felt okay walking out of it, but I'm trying not to be overconfident. I'm praying I passed.
seiyakou is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2012, 03:29 PM   #321
:)
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 970
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Oh man, so sorry to hear that... at least you can take solace and know that no one cares about Level 3. Only negative is that you gotta pony up the money again.

This just goes to show how bad of a test the COMLEX is and how random it can be.

Keep the faith, you will pass it on another attempt.

Quote:
Originally Posted by WannaBaDoc View Post
Just looked at my scores today....ugggg...failed...

Step 1: 723
Step 2: 712
Step 3: 339...wtf

Came out just like every other test, felt it was very broad and general with lots and lots of bs. Studied using mainly combank n comquest and secrets step 2 for about 2 weeks. was not expecting this score at all....wtf...so stupid...took comsae 3 days before the exam...620

guess i gotta retake it.....stupid.
PistolPete is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-13-2012, 09:25 AM   #322
Junior Member
 
seiyakou's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 18

Default

If it's any consolation, I scored in the mid-500's on both 1 and 2 and am hoping I'm north of 351 on this one. In the case of the NBOME, cry and the world cries with you.

Update: Passed!

Quote:
Originally Posted by PistolPete View Post
Oh man, so sorry to hear that... at least you can take solace and know that no one cares about Level 3. Only negative is that you gotta pony up the money again.

This just goes to show how bad of a test the COMLEX is and how random it can be.

Keep the faith, you will pass it on another attempt.

Last edited by seiyakou; 11-12-2012 at 02:28 PM.
seiyakou is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-17-2012, 10:44 PM   #323
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 7

Default

Let me know how it goes, seiyakou!
Bossman2313 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2012, 02:25 PM   #324
Junior Member
 
seiyakou's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 18

Default

Scores are up til Oct 11. Took it Oct 10 (yay!) - passed comfortably. Praise God that's over!

[x] Step 1
[x] Step 2 CE
[x] Step 2 PE
[x] Step 3

GOODBYE NBOME!
seiyakou is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2012, 07:04 PM   #325
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 5

Default The plain and simple truth about Level III

I recently took Comlex level 3 and I wanted to share my experience. I finished comquest at 78% first time average, combank with 73% average untimed mode. I scored a 230+ (i'll leave it at that) on USMLE step 2 and below 450 on Comlex step 2 with my OMM actually being above average on the score report.

Whenever I finish a 40 question combank or comquest test, I can assure myself of my overall score within 10% almost 99% of the time, meaning I know I would get 30-32/40 correct and that would for the most part be my score every time. However, when I took comlex level 3, I can guarantee myself that there is no possible way I scored above 55% correct on that examination. I wrote a tally at the end of each section of questions I had "marked" and the total was 120, meaning any 1/5 of those answers could have been correct. I could guarantee 100 were correct. That leaves 180 questions where I would give myself no more than 1/2 chance of being correct. Based on this total calculation I got 225/400 at most which comes out to 56.25%. I spent a whole month reading kaplan master the boards, comquest, combank, savarese with all the practice tests in the back and if I took the test again I dont think its possible to score above 60%, unless I was a physician practicing for ten years and took a month off to study.

Test breakdown: 15% cardio, 10% GI, 10% Pulm, 20% peds, 10% ob/gyn, 5% OMM (which comprised of positional questions that you could not reason or you can not find in savarese, with one chapman point, and 3 viscerosomatic reflexes at most) 5% were questions on what the most proper organization to contact first after seeing a patient (CDC, local health authorities, police, etc...) and 25% completely random you will never see in medicine. 5 Questions about hepatitis markers but on combinations you have never seen in your wildest dreams, that do not exist ( I never knew you could be immunized and still have an active infection, you can have +IgG, +IgM, +core antibody, - core antigen, you name it, just draw any combination of markers out of a hat and what's the diagnosis). Unfortunately, there is no logical thinking or reasoning on this examination. For example, let's say you're a gunner and you know a certain dose of a "supplement" is the recommended dose to prevent osteoperosis in post-menopausal women, well guess what, whatever the true number is on UpToDate won't be an answer choice, I'll leave it at that.

Here's my frustration; if Combank states the average is 67% overall for users and comquest is 70% for users, I can guarantee you the average for the COMLEX Level 3 can not be more than 50% overall as compared to those other qbanks!!! If people actually score 70% correct on COMLEX, the comquest and combank true averages should be 90% and I would say a safe passing score on combank should be 85% because you will get 20% less correct on the actual COMLEX THAN ON THOSE qBANKS, I GUARANTEE IT.

But there can be no way that 50% can even be a passing score on a national board exam. Even the COMSAE you could reason 90% of the questions and if you look up the correct answer you can say "oh wow that was easy if I just thought it through." But about 1/3 of the questions on the comlex level iii can not be reasoned.

I would appreciate your guys thoughts and your experiences after the test with your actual scores and how you truly felt compared to doing the qbanks. Anybody here think they even got within 10% of the questions correct on the actaul COMLEX than they did on lets say comquest or combank?? Because I know for sure I did about 25% lower on the actual exam.
PrimaryCare is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2012, 09:30 PM   #326
Member
 
Status: Pre-Medical
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 29
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

I also took the exam last month. Still waiting for my result. I used comquest for my q bank and averaged 75%. Totally agree with above breakdown regarding exam content. My issue with the exam lies with omm. Have in the past scored above average with omm on prior examinations. However, I honestly don't think I'll even get near borderline on this exam. Questions were not representative of omm I saw on prior exams. Very few chapmans questions and many questions regarding positions. Really got a kick out of the omm questions with video exhibits. Totally didn't expect that! In regards to other questions I'd say about 25% wtf questions. I do remember the the hep b question series and feel somewhat encouraged I wasn't the only one who thought they were tricky. I definitely made some stupid mistakes on this exam. I thought the pediatrics and obgyn questions were fair. I went into this exam hoping to just pass and my prep was fairly minimal. I wish I spent more time on omm prep but time will tell. In regards to % correct needing to answer to pass this thing I really can't venture a guess.
goodstuff33 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-2012, 09:21 PM   #327
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 5

Default

The Standard Deviation is 121 on Comlex level 3, even though a 350 is passing, it's equivalent to a 400 on step 2 because still 10% will fail with a standard deviation of 121. It doesn't matter that the cut off level is 350 because the bottom 10% will fail no matter what. Basically, 10/100 residents will fail this exam, the only way to study for this exam and score above 70% correct is a minimum of 6 months clinical experience in an FM outpatient setting, doing an OMM fellowship, and minimum 6 months of clinical experience each in cardiology, GI, pediatrics (wards and office), and ob/gyn. There is no resource, book, or manual to answer any of the questions.
PrimaryCare is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-27-2012, 02:34 PM   #328
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 135
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by WannaBaDoc View Post
Just looked at my scores today....ugggg...failed...

Step 1: 723
Step 2: 712
Step 3: 339...wtf

Came out just like every other test, felt it was very broad and general with lots and lots of bs. Studied using mainly combank n comquest and secrets step 2 for about 2 weeks. was not expecting this score at all....wtf...so stupid...took comsae 3 days before the exam...620

guess i gotta retake it.....stupid.
Step 3: 609

So ya, spent another 3 weeks studying a littler harder...did comquest again...read step up 2 to step 2 and secrets step 2. The test once again was all over the place.. videos of omm, murmur audios, ect. Heavy on peds, oom, and ob/gyn. I am unsure on what happened during the first exam. Glad this is over. Back to residency.
WannaBaDoc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2012, 01:11 AM   #329
Just living the dream....
 
Soccer171983's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 175

Default

IF anyone needs advice feel free to PM me. Just took it today and have used a ton of resources to study throughout intern year.
Soccer171983 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2012, 01:13 AM   #330
Just living the dream....
 
Soccer171983's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 175

Default

that test kicked my butt haha.

Last edited by Soccer171983; 12-16-2012 at 01:14 AM. Reason: double post
Soccer171983 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2012, 01:13 AM   #331
Just living the dream....
 
Soccer171983's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 175

Angry

Quote:
Originally Posted by WannaBaDoc View Post
Step 3: 609

So ya, spent another 3 weeks studying a littler harder...did comquest again...read step up 2 to step 2 and secrets step 2. The test once again was all over the place.. videos of omm, murmur audios, ect. Heavy on peds, oom, and ob/gyn. I am unsure on what happened during the first exam. Glad this is over. Back to residency.
thats funny that you mentioned that because that is exactly what I saw today!!!
Soccer171983 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-06-2013, 05:51 AM   #332
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 226

Default

Hi All,
I am applying this year for FM residencies. I am registered for both DO and MD matches. I want to know if the qbanks are quite different for comlex and USMLE step 3 like they are for the step 2. I got a bit burned by step2 CE because I feel I did not spend enough time studying for it. Now, I would like to buy an annual subscription for a qbank but unsure if I should wait till I figure out which exam (comlex 3 or usmle 3) I will be taking. If the exams are different, I will wait. Any advice will be appreciated.
cheruka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-06-2013, 06:50 AM   #333
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 38
SDN 2+ Year Member
Default Comlex III experience

Step I: 505
Step 2: 580s-ish
Step 3: 528 (roughly)
For step 3, studied 3-4 hours per day x 1 month, the week of the exam studied 8 hours per day Mon-Thursday and on Friday took exam (I'm a psych resident with an easy schedule). Studied com bank, conquest, first aid (found step 2 more helpful than step 3), savarese. Took comsae and scored within 20 points of real exam, felt like it was not representative or real exam though (much fewer ambiguous questions than on real thing). Felt like total crap after taking the exam, much less confident than on other two. Good luck! Feel free to pm me with any questions!
axm028400 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-06-2013, 07:19 AM   #334
Senior Member
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 210
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

If you're a DO, there's absolutely no point in taking the USMLE Step 3. Take COMLEX 3 - only 1 day exam vs 2 days with USMLE. The COMLEX series is absolutely horrendous but it's not too tough an exam to pass with a half decent prep. Do COMQUEST, study Savarese, and learn as much as you can during your internship and you'll be fine.
cbest is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2013, 06:21 PM   #335
1K Member
 
DragonWell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,680
SDN Emeritus Moderator SDN 7+ Year Member
Default

Took Comlex III on 12/3/12 and got results today.

Very surprised. 943/99.

Had about 2 weeks to study off and on while I was on elective and jeopardy and went through Comquest once with avg around 75%. Other than that, I studied the books I used for Step 2, mostly peds, ob/gyn (I'm an IM resident). Went through the green book a couple times and redid some of the OMM questions from Comquest. I felt like comquest did a good job of representing the OMM part of the test. Lots of random stuff on the test that didn't seem to be in any books, but some seemed like I had maybe encountered during residency/med school at some point.

So happy to be finished with the NBOME forever.
__________________
LECOM-B: MS1 MS2 Step 1 MS3 Step 2 CE Step 2 PE Match Step 3
DragonWell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2013, 04:19 PM   #336
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 226

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by cbest View Post
If you're a DO, there's absolutely no point in taking the USMLE Step 3. Take COMLEX 3 - only 1 day exam vs 2 days with USMLE. The COMLEX series is absolutely horrendous but it's not too tough an exam to pass with a half decent prep. Do COMQUEST, study Savarese, and learn as much as you can during your internship and you'll be fine.
Thank you! I contacted my school and they told me the same thing. Got the combank and comquest annual subscriptions today
cheruka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2013, 09:07 PM   #337
Atypical agent
 
IDBasco's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
Posts: 652
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Didn't know a 900+ score was even possible.

I ended up with a 708. How, I have no idea. I took comsae before studying and barely got a passing grade. Did combank, read my weaker sections of step 2 secrets maybe twice and reviewed some of the stuff in Savarese. My combank score was only 1% above the average, so like 69%.

And like everyone else says, it was an awful test that I really wasn't sure I had even passed. Very different from comlex 2 that I was sure I passed and ended up getting a little shy of 600 on.

Beginning to think NBOME uses a random number generator for scores.
IDBasco is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2013, 11:53 PM   #338
1K Member
 
DragonWell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,680
SDN Emeritus Moderator SDN 7+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by IDBasco View Post
Beginning to think NBOME uses a random number generator for scores.
Agreed.
DragonWell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2013, 03:30 AM   #339
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 226

Default

I am a 4th year waiting for the match. So, I was always to not to worry about drug dosing in comlex step2. Also heard step3 is where they may ask about dosing. Now I am finding out step3 is a lot like step 2. I bought combank and it is the same as what I used for step2. So, can someone here tell me how step 3 is different from step3? Also, I am thinking about buying the comsae and looking at it to figure out. You think this is a good idea?
cheruka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-14-2013, 12:53 PM   #340
Junior Member
 
WhaaDoo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 5

Default

Who thought that they failed and actually passed comfortably? I need some comfort here!
WhaaDoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-25-2013, 11:54 AM   #341
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 258
SDN 7+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by WhaaDoo View Post
Who thought that they failed and actually passed comfortably? I need some comfort here!
I thought I failed Step III but got a 527. You did great! Relax! Good luck.
MedicineMan99 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-27-2013, 04:41 PM   #342
Senior Member
 
Gpan's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 494
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Passed with the highest score out of 3 Board Exams. Done with COMLEX FOREVER !!!!! Good luck to all.
Gpan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-2013, 09:31 AM   #343
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 8

Default

how long for scores to be released? Just took step3 yesterday, echo everyone's thoughts as above, totally random material, honestly no point in studying except to brush up on OMM. good luck to everyone
bigdoc12 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-12-2013, 10:40 PM   #344
Not so Lil Murph Dog
 
Marthea007's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Brownsburg, IN
Posts: 618
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MedicineMan99 View Post
I thought I failed Step III but got a 527. You did great! Relax! Good luck.
Did you take the comsae? If you did what did you get? I took step 3 on 4/29 and the wait is killing me!
__________________
LMU-DCOM Class of 2012. YEA BABY!

Quote:
Originally Posted by JPHazelton View Post
"And thou would shutteth uppeth or feel the wrath of my footeth in your asseth"

JPHazelton 4:20
Marthea007 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2013, 08:52 AM   #345
Senior Member
 
bigyihoroi's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 214
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

It seems like most of you guys only re-used materials for step 2 to prepare for COMLEX Level 3. Do most of you guys think it's sufficient? I have no incentive to buy new books for level 3 except qbank
bigyihoroi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-19-2013, 05:22 AM   #346
I need more coffee.
 
ShyRem's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Where I hang my hat.
Posts: 9,691
Physician SDN Senior Moderator SDN Gold Donor Follow My Twitter SDN 7+ Year Member
Default

I only did qbank. I do hear people not in internal or family tend to do more extensive review but I thought my intern year in medicine was enough learning and just did the qbank.
__________________
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
ShyRem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2013, 06:36 PM   #347
Rock God
 
digitlnoize's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,906
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marthea007 View Post
Did you take the comsae? If you did what did you get? I took step 3 on 4/29 and the wait is killing me!
Any idea when we're supposed to find out? I took it then too!
digitlnoize is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Yesterday, 01:59 PM   #348
Professional Insomniac
 
singinfifi's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
MDApps: View Profile
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: FL
Posts: 588
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by digitlnoize View Post
Any idea when we're supposed to find out? I took it then too!

Me too. That test was awful. Beyond which every dang video exhibit crashed my computer. I rebooted twice and changed machines once.
__________________
This seemed like a good idea at the time....
Med School [x] , Step I [x], Step II [x], Match [x], Internship [ ], Step III [ ], PGY 2 [ ], PGY 3 [ ], PGY 4 [ ], Boards. [ ], NEUROLOGIST [ ], Fellowship Match [ ], PGY 5 [ ], PGY 6 [ ], Attending [ ]!
(seriously though? Best decision I ever made)

Rose351Tch: you turn me ON
=========
SinginFifi:Funny, I would have thought I did more damage to the magic when I ran into a giraffe.............
singinfifi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Yesterday, 05:16 PM   #349
Not so Lil Murph Dog
 
Marthea007's Avatar
 
Status: Resident
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Brownsburg, IN
Posts: 618
SDN 5+ Year Member
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by singinfifi View Post
Me too. That test was awful. Beyond which every dang video exhibit crashed my computer. I rebooted twice and changed machines once.
I have no clue when it's supposed to come out. I know that last scores were released on a thursday so I'm hoping for this Thursday. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thought that test was completely awful. Did you get all of the HIV questions? I swear mine had at least 10 of them.
Marthea007 is offline   Reply With Quote

Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 12:00 AM.


Comments are closed.