Advice for COMLEX III

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DO_Surgeon

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I just registered for COMLEX III next month. I am a general surgery intern, and have had the majority of my non-surgical rotations. I just bought crush step 3 and the NMS q book. Anyone have any advice for studying (length of time, books, important topics, etc) What about the new computer format and how many questions do you need to pass?
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Ortho intern: losing medicine knowledge since June of last year. Comlex level 3: ~800

-2 weeks MTB3, comquest, and skimming through green OMM book
-30% of test was getting lucky on the guesses. A lot more out-of-the-blue, random questions than both level 1 and 2.
-would recommend studying less than a month because there are a lot of questions on test that do not correlate to your time and effort studying.
-test is not reflective of medical knowledge needed to be an intern
 
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emailcone said:
Random questions. Please pass. Please pass.
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This.

Took the COMLEX yesterday - some OMM (bunch of sacrum, which I ended up getting more confused about as the test went on), LOTS of peds and OB (seemed like everyone on the test was between the ages of 13 and 17, I swear), some gimme questions and a bunch of completely random stuff that I would never have studied. Strange ethical scenarios and a couple odd legal questions like on level 2. The clinical cases were kind of rough - I kept forgetting what they were probably looking for. I felt like it was a strange change of pace after hours and hours of multiple choice questions. I'm not really sure how I could have prepared for those differently. Hoping those were experimental. For prep I did 80% of combank with an average around 68%, which is supposedly above passing. I'm very hopeful that it was enough. Studied about 2 weeks, 2-3 hours per day. Level I&II scores in the mid-500's, psych intern. Fingers crossed.
 
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I took the test Tuesday as well and mine experience reflects the above post. I did comquest with a mid 60% average first time through. Around 80% average after going through some of the questions I got wrong. I'm just hoping those cases don't case me to fail. I had no idea what the questions were asking for on a few. Overall, not happy with the experience, definitely worse than step 2.

btw, I also never received notification of this new section. I went back, searched all of my deleted emails, nothing there. I would have had no clue if not for sdn, still though, I found out just a few days before my test.
 
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Daedra22 said:
This.

Took the COMLEX yesterday - some OMM (bunch of sacrum, which I ended up getting more confused about as the test went on), LOTS of peds and OB (seemed like everyone on the test was between the ages of 13 and 17, I swear), some gimme questions and a bunch of completely random stuff that I would never have studied. Strange ethical scenarios and a couple odd legal questions like on level 2. The clinical cases were kind of rough - I kept forgetting what they were probably looking for. I felt like it was a strange change of pace after hours and hours of multiple choice questions. I'm not really sure how I could have prepared for those differently. Hoping those were experimental. For prep I did 80% of combank with an average around 68%, which is supposedly above passing. I'm very hopeful that it was enough. Studied about 2 weeks, 2-3 hours per day. Level I&II scores in the mid-500's, psych intern. Fingers crossed.
Click to expand...

Alright, so I felt pretty bad after the exam... and ended up with a 693 (cross-posted results in the new experiences thread). Be it known that feeling bad does not mean that you won't pass.
 
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Passed!!!! So stoked. 60% combank first time. Then improved to 64% doing stuff over. That's it. I tried to read Master the Boards but only ended up reading Peds and Ob and Gyn. I had a one month family med rotation at a clinic that was done by 5pm. I basically studied for a month with the first half mellow with lots of days off (not studying) and the second half of month more aggressive nightly studying. Like as many questions as I could possible do. Sometimes able to do 200 and go over them. Always in blocks of 25 to 50 random and timed. I burned 5 vacation days and crammed the week before. I totally bombed the new section at the end but I was glad I reviewed the practice section online before. Looking back on it the last section wasn't that bad but during the exam I just got fried doing multiple choice and never really practiced transitioning to writing stuff down or answering questions like we so when we getting pimped. After the test I didn't feel like I totally failed it but I wasn't totally confident of passing because I was guessing on so many questions. My break down showed that I am glad that I reviewed omm and ob and Peds. I didn't review surgery that much and I did poorly on that part. For future generations it seems like for me it was a good idea to do this test early in intern year cuz I'm not going to remember this stuff later and I'm a psych resident so I'm not going to get anymore knowledge then what I bring in to residency and cramm on subjects like surgery and ob. Passed. It can be done. Good luck.
 
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emailcone said:
Passed!!!! So stoked. 60% combank first time. Then improved to 64% doing stuff over. That's it. I tried to read Master the Boards but only ended up reading Peds and Ob and Gyn. I had a one month family med rotation at a clinic that was done by 5pm. I basically studied for a month with the first half mellow with lots of days off (not studying) and the second half of month more aggressive nightly studying. Like as many questions as I could possible do. Sometimes able to do 200 and go over them. Always in blocks of 25 to 50 random and timed. I burned 5 vacation days and crammed the week before. I totally bombed the new section at the end but I was glad I reviewed the practice section online before. Looking back on it the last section wasn't that bad but during the exam I just got fried doing multiple choice and never really practiced transitioning to writing stuff down or answering questions like we so when we getting pimped. After the test I didn't feel like I totally failed it but I wasn't totally confident of passing because I was guessing on so many questions. My break down showed that I am glad that I reviewed omm and ob and Peds. I didn't review surgery that much and I did poorly on that part. For future generations it seems like for me it was a good idea to do this test early in intern year cuz I'm not going to remember this stuff later and I'm a psych resident so I'm not going to get anymore knowledge then what I bring in to residency and cramm on subjects like surgery and ob. Passed. It can be done. Good luck.
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What was your score, out of curiosity?
 
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Just finished the test, thought I'd share experience before I'm biased by scores in next 6 weeks. For context, I'm a 1st year IM resident in an MD program.

First thing is no new format for my test, it was 8MC sections of the usual COMLEX nonsense. A lot of ethics and strange law scenarios. The questions seemed more vague than I remember and the choices did not reflect real life at ALL. Eg : had a question about most appropriate immediate treatment in hyperK with peaked T waves, but calcium gluc was not a choice! A lot of this type of questions where your answer to most appropriate tx was like step 4-5 if it were real life and would be predicated on response to treatment and more historical context.

I did well above avg on I and II, but this felt a lot worse. Used combank 1.3 times (avg 71), skimmed green book, took COMSAE (>650) week before. This felt like a mess, curious to hear others thoughts/see score.
 
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swlabr1980 said:
Took it today. Typical NBOME horses**t.
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i couldn't say it better if i tried.

took it a few days ago. same old format of MC with last 15-20 questions per section being multiple sets of linked questions. for omm i couldn't bring myself to study chapman points so i didn't. actually, the only omm i studied was a 2 hours worth of VS and sacral dx the day before the test. felt like this and a very basic knowledge of spinal dx was enough to comfortably answer 90% of the omm.

edit: i had <5 biostat questions on my entire test.
 
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Passed with 806.

Definitely felt terrible as always after taking a comlex. I marked 224 questions that I was unsure about. Felt like every question had 2 right answers. I had tons of OMM, peds, ethics, OB. Barely any epidemiology.

Studied for 1.5 month: Used my notes from Uworld for step 2, read some of MTB, 2/3 of comquest questions, skimmed 1/3 of savarese once. A lot of the things I studied weren't on the exam. Just pure luck, be a good guesser and pray.
 
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Passed 689. IM intern. Crammed all of comquest Qbank in a week and a half averaging ~70% and read pediatric and OB/GYN sections in MTC. So many random questions and crap shoot ethic scenarios im not sure if I would have done much else different. Handful of cranial, not much chapmans or viscerosomatic points. A lot of HVLA set up questions. Make sure to review sacral stuff. I think only a total of two statistics questions on my whole test.
 
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Cowbert said:
Passed 689. IM intern. Crammed all of comquest Qbank in a week and a half averaging ~70% and read pediatric and OB/GYN sections in MTC. So many random questions and crap shoot ethic scenarios im not sure if I would have done much else different. Handful of cranial, not much chapmans or viscerosomatic points. A lot of HVLA set up questions. Make sure to review sacral stuff. I think only a total of two statistics questions on my whole test.
Click to expand...

interesting, i had no hvla set up questions and the majority of my omm was VS
 
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It looks like the next batch of scores are set to release March 3-5 based on the NBOME site. What time of day do the scores typically get released?
 
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Anybody else take the exam Feb 7th and hoping they release scores tomorrow?
 
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Anyone know if there are any PDF's out there to help with the exam prep? I heard some folks at my school talking about some step 3 PDF's, are those like study guides or something? At our school, we have a bunch of gunners so no one is really interested in helping anyone out unless it benefits them in some direct way.
 
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What is the point of having a "score release window" if NBOME is just going to wait until the last day to post the scores anyway? So frustrating.
 
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I passed! I felt like I failed when I walked out of the exam but you can never tell with these exams. For those wondering about when NBOME posts scores, the scores weren't released until 3:40pm Eastern time on the last day of the "score release window." Just like NBOME to make us sweat it out until the end of the last day.
 
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Passed, better than the first 2 levels, no clue how. Typical COMLEX, doesn't matter done FOREVER :zip:
 
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Passed. No sleep for 3 days before the test, who cares? It's done, good bye Comlex!. Never took days off. Went on a vacation for Christmas. Studied for 2 months an hour a day. Couple of weekends. First AID, Combank throughout the year, comquest at the end. Exam was more similar to comquest.
 
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I walked out of the Prometric center like most of you did, feeling like hot garbage and hoping not to retake that godawful thing. Passed with a 701, my highest score yet.

I studied moderately for about 4 weeks, about 1-2 hours on my workdays and 4-5 on the weekends. I did all of COMQUEST, averaged 85% on first pass, and re-read my notes from those questions 1.5 times. I skimmed through Master the Boards, read Savarese thoroughly twice in the last two weeks, and crammed the Chapman's points and viscerosomatic levels the last two days before the exam. If you pick one book, do MTB. I remembered missing a few questions and found the answers later pretty obviously in that book.

Done with the NBOME forever!!
 
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For inquiring fans that would love to know about some of the mysteries of COMLEX 3 scoring...two pieces of info through the grapevine received today:

1. A confirmed real score of 986
2. A confirmed COMLEX 3 range from NBOME stating "scores on Level 3 range from 9 to 999"
 
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swlabr1980 said:
A nine?!?! Holy ****.
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Yeah...I'm hoping these are theoretical highs and lows. Can't imagine how anyone could score a 9...or really anything under 250 to be honest. It may be like MCAT scoring where the high is 45 which no one ever gets and the low is 3 which also no one ever gets.
 
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Did comquest for 2 weeks prior to my exam for around an hour/day. Felt like I legitimately knew roughly half the questions on the test, narrowed down another 40% to 2-3 logical choices, and straight up guessed on the remaining 10% or so. Knew I passed when I walked out but didn't feel great, and ended up with 683. Typical COMLEX...feels great to be done with them.
 
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what is the association on average on COMQUEST and correlating scores?

(aka what should I aim for average to be above in order to pass - i am high 60%s currently)
 
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I got about the same, some times higher like low seventies. I passed comfortably, even after not sleeping foe three days prior.
 
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So Just took the exam on Monday
Would agree with amount of OMM (15%)
Most of the peds I had was GI related. Newborn with vomiting, bloody stool, infants and toddlers same story. Lots of OB and some GYN. Infectious disease was high yield. Had some cardiac exam questions. Not a lot of bio stats. I'd say 5-10% of questions were questions I would have never been able to prepare for so answered as best I could and moved on. Overall felt like it was a fair exam and most of the questions I wasn't able to answer off the bat I could have had I done more studying. The answers could be found in master the boards and questions I did. Used uworld 67% correct and about 600 comquest questions 80% correct.

Overall fair test ( with respect to COMLEX standards)
IM (GI>cards> nephro> everything else and very little pulm) >peds >OB/GYN> Infectious disease> OMM> everything else.
Will update in a couple weeks with results. Really hope I don't have to take that thing again by then end I just felt like I was clicking random answers and every question seemed the same and meshed together.
 
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Took this bad boy today. Thoughts...

- This was a classic COMLEX exam in most ways - short stems with seemingly inadequate info, weird/obscure qs, multiple correct answers, way too much OMM, poor quality imaging, the works. Everything you love to hate about the COMLEX was there, although these things do seem to be improving somewhat (more on that below).

- The heaviest subject was definitely peds (perhaps 40% of the exam), followed by OBGYN, with OMM and medicine splitting most of the rest. There was a smattering of psych and barely any biostats (perhaps 3 total qs). Ethics, as always, had its 3-5 qs per block. Surprisingly, optho (of all things) had a larger than usual presence on my exam; it probably had 3qs per block, and they were not easy by any means. Medicine qs: GI>>ID>>cards>heme/onc. There wasn't much renal or pulm, and just a touch of endo and rheum qs.

- There were definitely some dominant 'themes' on my exam:
- Medicine: GI bleeds (up/down/all around; people had blood pouring from every orifice), IBS, WPW, B12 deficiency (know ALL about it), GI imaging
- OBGYN: STDs, infertility, contraception, primary and secondary amenorrhea
- Peds: child abuse, rashes, failure to thrive, exanthems. Surprisingly ZERO qs on pediatric milestones.
- OMM: almost entirely viscerosomatics, cranial and Chapman's points. (I wasn't expecting so much cranial and thus there was definitely some guesswork going on in that department.)
- Optho: glaucoma, AMD

- The quality of the questions has improved marginally. I didn't find any misspellings, grammatical errors, missing phrases, or other editorial gaffes this time around (this is a step up from previous experiences). The writing style and clarity of the questions seemed to be somewhat better overall. The early blocks actually had a lot of USMLE-esque multistep questions that seemed very well written, but the later blocks reverted to the classic 'murky' COMLEX style with short stems, inadequate info etc. Maybe the early blocks were the experimental ones?

- There's still plenty of WTF qs. These almost always involved topics that were well-covered in review books; they just took everything a step farther than what you had likely learned or forced you to apply your knowledge to novel situations. Maybe 30-40% of the test were qs I narrowed down to two good options and went with whatever option seemed more reasonable.

- Ethics qs were either very obvious or very obtuse, the latter featuring bizarre scenarios where there probably was no objective 'best answer'.

- Medicolegal qs were never obvious and featured laws I'd mostly never heard of (why do these questions even exist? Are they trying to get us to learn about this stuff by googling it after the test?)

- The 'video exhibits' were generally pointless. Why do I need to burn 18 seconds watching a pt say 'ow' to palpation in the RLQ when you can just say that in the stem? Furthermore, there was one video where a pt let out a totally blood-curdling scream to palpation that seemed just a bit excessive (or maybe I should be thankful for it - it did wake me up a bit).

- There were no CCS cases on my exam.

All in all: Like most COMLEX exams, I felt like complete garbage by the end of the exam but knew I had probably answered enough questions to at least pass. I 'studied' for a month but since most of that month was spent on an ICU service with overnight call, most studying really happened within the last week. Finished 90% of COMBANK with 74.6% avg. Used primarily Boards and Wards (which was actually really clutch; it's underrated, shame so much of it is outdated now) with Crush Step 3 and FA for step 3 to fill in. Given that I'm ACGME IM, passing is all I care about (nobody in IM fellowships cares about step 3 scores). I'd be happy with a 351. Knowing this, however, the COMLEX roulette wheel will probably give me an 893 or something totally ridiculous (or worse, a 194). We'll see what happens.
 
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COMQUEST or COMBANK for level 3?

Also any utility in purchasing Uworld considering I'm not taking usmle?
 
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Forget uworld. Not necessary for this test.

I think COMBANK was decent overall but I would have more confidence in it if it weren't riddled with typos and explanations that look like they were typed out as fast as possible with zero editing. I really disagreed with some of their 'correct' answers too.
 
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MSUSpartan642 said:
Any idea how long it takes them to get scores back? Took the exam on the 6th.
Click to expand...

I took it on April 6th; NBOME says May 18-25th as release period for scores. I felt pretty crummy, as always, coming out of that damn exam. I probably counted three solid blocks that I feel like I was doing well, three where I was like WTF, and I can't even remember two of the blocks (wasn't in that order). Tons of Peds, mainly what vaccine could've prevented presenting symptoms, a few OB, and IM was a lot of EBV/Mono (I had multiple repeats about this one; starting doubting myself!), respiratory, a couple audio cardiac auscultation, meningococcal meningitis treatment and prophylaxis, and I had OMT on every block primarily counterstrain (which I really just had to think through because unfortunately I didn't focus on), only had one question about likelihood ratio, one question on pneumothorax in a crashing patient. That's about what I can remember at this point. Again, came out feeling crummy. Here's hoping...
 
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I seriously can't believe they make us wait till intern year to take this exam. I'm not sure how I will be able to regurgitate OMM and Peds/Ob/Psych stuff with the limited time I'll have. I'm moving across states, so its even more limited.
 
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OR4life said:
COMQUEST or COMBANK for level 3?

Also any utility in purchasing Uworld considering I'm not taking usmle?
Click to expand...

I used COMQUEST. Very few of the concepts from that bank were on the real exam. However, a few of my co-residents who used COMBANK said the same thing. I think Master the Boards was a better study source for COMLEX III.
 
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