Advice for COMLEX III

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

DO_Surgeon

Senior Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2003
Messages
337
Reaction score
0
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?

Members don't see this ad.
 
I'm planning on studying for this during May/June and taking it ASAP during intern year this year. Anyone have good luck using UWorld instead of COMBANK/COMQUEST BS? I can't bring myself to give those two companies any more $ for their crappy question banks. I'm thinking UWorld + Savarese and call it good.
 
For people who took the comlex III is it exactly like comlex II where there are 8 sections with 50 multiple choice questions for each section? I heard there were sections you had to do some fill ins but I don't know if that was true? Could someone clarify. Thanks and congrats to everyone who passed!
 
I'm planning on studying for this during May/June and taking it ASAP during intern year this year. Anyone have good luck using UWorld instead of COMBANK/COMQUEST BS? I can't bring myself to give those two companies any more $ for their crappy question banks. I'm thinking UWorld + Savarese and call it good.

I am just sticking with COMBANK/COMQUEST. I think USMLE III may be a little different than COMLEX in terms of style of test and questions. They also have OMM questions and I kind of need questions to remember OMM than just reading severase.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
The thought of spending any more money on COMLEX-specific study aids makes me nauseated. I think I'm just going to UWorld it and read Savarese, again. Then have a Savarese-burning party (or take it to the shooting range) when I'm done.
 
For people who took the comlex III is it exactly like comlex II where there are 8 sections with 50 multiple choice questions for each section? I heard there were sections you had to do some fill ins but I don't know if that was true? Could someone clarify. Thanks and congrats to everyone who passed!
Go to the NBOME website. It explains the new 8th section and has practice questions.
 
Just did level 3 today. Was a crapshoot of OMM and Ob/Gyn and peds as expected but with the same level 2 material. Comquest/bank and Saverese is really all you need.

What was really unexpected though was the CDM. That was really, really bad. I did the practice exam and even then, not happy with the vague presentations on the actual exam. In terms of time and number of questions, they're worth at least twice normal questions (26 vs 50). It's kind of a crap shoot when you don't know whether you really need this CT/procedure or not because of the limited information. Because if you're wrong, you get no points and that's a lot of points to miss. If you're right, you still need to have all the other correct answers to get points.

I hope it's only worth 1/8th of the test. Anyone know how much that section is worth?
 
Anyone know how well COMSAE phase 3 correlates? I took it today and got 700+, take Part 3 tomorrow.

I, like others, think the CDM section is a joke, the practice test was really really horrible.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Anyone know how well COMSAE phase 3 correlates? I took it today and got 700+, take Part 3 tomorrow.

I, like others, think the CDM section is a joke, the practice test was really really horrible.

Late to the game...but my COMSAE 3 score was identical to my actual COMLEX score

And yes...the CDM section was a complete joke
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I studied for my emergency medicine in-service exam which was toward the end of February (using hippoEM and rosh review) and then very inconsistently studied using First Aid for comlex 3, used Combank but didn't finish it. Paged through the green book a little. Test was March 28 I think. I took a practice test which I believe estimated my score in the high 800s, I don't remember exactly.

Level 1 - 752
Level 2 - 899
Level 3 - 994

Yeah...I don't have a good explanation other than it was important to me to do well on the in service so I studied hard and I think that's what made the difference for me.
 
Last edited:
Tons of OMM, which I'm quickly losing, but otherwise not horrible.

The CDM cases were pretty awful, but I think I did OK on them.

Took the beast a few days before tax day

Questions were not that bad

I agree the CDM cases were terrible
And what made them worse is when you advance and you get imaging results that you had no need to order
Will be interesting seeing how it is scored and what effect it has in overall score
Mine had not to terribly much OMM tons of viscerosomatics



Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Took the beast a few days before tax day

Questions were not that bad

I agree the CDM cases were terrible
And what made them worse is when you advance and you get imaging results that you had no need to order
Will be interesting seeing how it is scored and what effect it has in overall score
Mine had not to terribly much OMM tons of viscerosomatics



Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Got my score today: 786!!

Glad to be done with the NBOME.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Members don't see this ad :)
Got my score today: 786!!

Glad to be done with the NBOME.
Wow!!!! Go you!!!


Also got my score yesterday
Did not do as stellar as you but passed and improved over step 2
Considering all that was going on in my life in the month up to when I took it I will take that and run


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Wow!!!! Go you!!!


Also got my score yesterday
Did not do as stellar as you but passed and improved over step 2
Considering all that was going on in my life in the month up to when I took it I will take that and run


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Hey, I'm honestly just happy I passed. Since there's essentially no need for anything higher than that 350 with this test.

Could have used the score on part 1 or 2 though.

Congratulations to you as well, no more NBOME!
 
I stalked this board partly out of anxiety and partly out of procrastination so I will give my feedback.

Studied for ~7 days (used vacation) probably on average 6 hours

I would read a section in Step Up to Step II --> completed 25 questions in Combank --> read same section in Master the Boards III --> completed 25 questions in Combank --> move on to next section.

Rinse and repeat until done with question bank. My average was 75-80% on Combank. I used it more as a barometer of understanding rather than a study tool.

Comlex I: 570's
Comlex II: 500's
Comlex III: 750's

Per usual, felt terrible coming out of the test. Not sure if I passed and was convinced I f*cked up pretty much every section on the CDM (or whatever the last part is called).

Hope this helps out some of the other dummies on here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Took Level 3 last month. Got the email. “Passed Exam.” Bye-bye SDN!! :) (who am I kidding, I'll still be around. But yes, helloo beach!!).

For what it's worth, here's my $.20:

GLOSSed over the NBOME’s blueprint of topics (both Dimension 1 and 2) here: http://www.nbome.org/Dimension_1_outline.asp

There are certain listed topics on there that you could easily overlook or pooh-pooh them while studying/reading your desired study book or QBANK, as they may not think it is important, but when you take your test, it will likely show up on your exam in some form.

The Clinical Decision-Making (CDM) cases of Section 8. I went through the NBOME's CDM tutorial : http://www.nbome.org/cdm/exam.asp , and the UWORLD Step 3 CCS cases (which kinda-sorta helped, but those were definitely more...involved?).

UWORLD Step 3 Qbank – only had time to go through the whole bank once (except for the biostats section - I thought the COMQUEST Biostat Qs were enough to learn from), read all answer explanations, and used the note-taking feature in the QBank on most of the questions, or on the answer explanations I thought were interesting tidbits to study. In doing so, I generated my own “cram knowledge table” out of my notes, which was printable and that I could read through on my downtime on my smartphone or tablet.

Then, I used COMQUEST. Also only had time to go through this bank once, and read all answer explanations too. I took notes on some of the answer explanations also using the note-taking feature on most questions and generated a "cram knowledge table" doing this too, particularly for the OMM, OB/GYN, and Peds sections.

Savarese OMT Review/Green book – Only went through all 4 appendices that consisted of questions (and answer explanations) at the back of the book.

I didn't have time to read all of Master the Boards Step 3 book and was unable to do the COMSAE. Oh well...

If you want more thoughts/rants/advice/opinions or have questions, at anytime, PM me.

May the odds be ever in your favor...

and thank you, fellow SDNers posting on this thread.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Took Level 3 last month. Got the email. Logged in. Saw the “Passed Exam.” Bye-bye SDN!! :) (who am I kidding, I'll still be around. But yes, hello beach!!).

For what it's worth, here's my $.20:

GLOSSed over the NBOME’s blueprint of topics (both Dimension 1 and 2) here: http://www.nbome.org/Dimension_1_outline.asp

There are certain listed topics on there that you could easily overlook or pooh-pooh them while studying/reading your desired study book or QBANK, as they may not think it is important, but when you take your test, it will likely show up on your exam in some form.

The Clinical Decision-Making (CDM) cases of Section 8. I went through the NBOME's CDM tutorial : http://www.nbome.org/cdm/exam.asp , and the UWORLD Step 3 CCS cases (which kinda-sorta helped, but those were definitely more...involved?).

UWORLD Step 3 Qbank – only had time to go through the whole bank once (except for the biostats section - I thought the COMQUEST Biostat Qs were enough to learn from), read all answer explanations, and used the note-taking feature in the QBank on many questions I got wrong or on the answer explanations I thought were interesting tidbits to study. In doing so, I generated my own “cram knowledge table” out of my notes, which was printable and that I could read through on my downtime on my smartphone or tablet.

Then, I used COMQUEST. Also only had time to go through this bank once, and read all answer explanations too. I took notes on some of the answer explanations also using the note-taking feature on each question and generated a "cram knowledge table" doing this too, particularly for the OMM, OB/GYN, and Peds sections.

Savarese OMT Review/Green book – Only went through all 4 appendices that consisted of questions (and answer explanations) at the back of the book.

I unfortunately didn't have time to read all of Master the Boards Step 3 book and was unable to do the COMSAE. Oh well...

If you want more thoughts/rants/advice/opinions or have questions, at anytime, PM me.

May the odds be ever in your favor...

and thank you, fellow SDNers posting on this thread.

What did you think of UWorld compared to COMBANK? I'm an incoming EM intern, and I was thinking of only using UWorld for Step 3 + Savarese.
 
What did you think of UWorld compared to COMBANK? I'm an incoming EM intern, and I was thinking of only using UWorld for Step 3 + Savarese.

I think the UWORLD Step 3 Qbank was great for gaining general knowledge and building up your own knowledge bank in pt. management. I do feel it had a hand in getting me get over the 350 hump. It's also nice that the full functionality of UW's QBank is accessible on any web browser, and you can now change the background color, which is nice for us night owls. For those of us savvy with a smartphone or tablet, the recent update to the iOS or Android Apps now let you change the background color to black or sepia if you tire of the white background (finally!), increase the font size, and also allows you to adjust the contrast of the text and background to reduce eye-strain as you forever read questions and explanations. While some here may disagree with me and/or think UW is overkill, and that their questions are usually harder or presented differently than COMLEX ones, that's probably true. But, I still feel, in retrospect, that it was the right thing to use to whip me into shape in the long run. Definitely takes a lot of time to read and absorb their answer explanations, though (took me about 2-3+ months because of work, life stuff, giving my poor eyes some rest, and using the note-taking feature on several questions).

Whichever QBank you do, there's always stuff you will see on your exam that you can't anticipate or that the Qbank may not have covered. You just have to accept that (very likely it could be an experimental question), and make your very best guess (or mark that Q, move on, and come back after you've gone through the whole block) before that clock runs out of time. Still, I believe what worked for me was doing practice questions and reading the explanations. I felt this was far more effective for me than reading a review book or watching videos. Both Qbanks have their pros and cons you can probably read about in the previous 13+ pages of this thread or elsewhere, and indeed, this exam continues to vary on being goofy or tricky on how they ask you questions and the information provided. But, if I had to do it all over again, and choose one Qbank for how well it helped me hone in/"feel" for that best/most likely answer choice and providing me general knowledge to help me reason, rationalize, and to eliminate all the other choices, I'd vote for UW again. I still felt it has the edge over COMBANK due to the higher quality answer explanations and giving you that deeper understanding as you read the explanations (and the aforementioned helpful updates to their software). Plus, I felt it did a good job hitting a good majority of the (nebulous? easily overlooked?) topics you may be tested on according to the NBOME's Blueprint.

I've some opinions to offer about that new section (8) at the end of the exam, the Clinical Decision-Making. Do pay careful attention to what the question is asking you - if it is fill-in-the-blanks, type in only as many as they instruct (i.e., it may say type UP TO 2 or 3 differential diagnoses or tests). If it is extended multiple-choice questions, select only up to the number of tests they want (i.e., select UP TO [X] of the following tests you will order at this time). To prevent "shotgun medicine", I consider the costs, the invasiveness, and if it is appropriate (or conservative) at this stage in the workup. Also, you will come across certain questions in a case, or after answering all the questions assigned in a case (like 2-4) and as you click next, it will give you a warning message about locking your answer(s) in and you can't go back.

Doing UW's Step 3 Qbank plus Savarese (at least do the 4 Appendices of questions in the back) appear to be a solid plan, but if after using Savarese you feel that you still need more practice with tackling those "facepalm/must memorize" OMM qs (you know, for cranial or rib diagnosis/patterns, or treatments, or tenderpoints, or Chapman's points, or motions or OMM contraindications/situations, treatments, etc., but don't want to shell out more money for all of COMBANK or COMQUEST just to do the OMM Qs), a cheaper option would be to consider buying a 1 month subscription to the subject-focused OMM COMAT QBank offered by COMBANK.
 
Last edited:
So any consensus on using UWORLD vs COMBANK/COMQUEST for comlex 3? I feel like UWORLD would help on ITEs more than the comlex centered banks
 
Score back. Got above a 600. Finished Uworld once and studied omm for a couple of day and went over the ite cases on the nbome site. Thats it. I'm an IM pgy1. Did uworld because I felt it had the best questions and explanations and wanted to get the most out of my time.
 
Took it today. Studied for 3/4 weeks using Combank and Step 2 Material.

Overall it didn't seem as bad as the first two. Felt like it was a pretty balanced exam in terms of topics. CDM cases were fair. For those I would recommend taking a look at the practice cases on the Nbome website.
 
I have been scoring only 60% on COMQUEST... I take comlex III on coming Tuesday, and I see on comquest website that the average peer score is around 65% and that is also the passing score.... Should I postpone my exam...?
 
Just got my score back from comlex level 3. I walked out of it feeling awful and passed well above the 350 needed. I used doctors in training, uworld, and combank. Best of luck to you all taking it soon. Earlier the better!
 
Just got my score back from comlex level 3. I walked out of it feeling awful and passed well above the 350 needed. I used doctors in training, uworld, and combank. Best of luck to you all taking it soon. Earlier the better!
congrats. I am OMS IV and I plan to take COMLEX level 3, June 23 before I begin residency.
 
Just took it today as an FM intern. Studied for about 4 weeks. Did COMBANK questions twice, skimmed MTB3, read Saverese for a day.

Lots of random questions, but I was able to make educated guesses on most of them. Seemed similar to Step 2 in terms of content and difficulty
CDM cases were difficult for me. I got most of them wrong. Hopefully I can still pass!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Just took it today as an FM intern. Studied for about 4 weeks. Did COMBANK questions twice, skimmed MTB3, read Saverese for a day.

Lots of random questions, but I was able to make educated guesses on most of them. Seemed similar to Step 2 in terms of content and difficulty
CDM cases were difficult for me. I got most of them wrong. Hopefully I can still pass!
How much OMM was on your exam? Was it particularly heavy on any subjects? I'm taking mine on Saturday.. any last minute advice for me?
 
How much OMM was on your exam? Was it particularly heavy on any subjects? I'm taking mine on Saturday.. any last minute advice for me?
It wasn't as much as I wanted. Maybe like 10-15%. None of it was crazy though, if you skimmed through Savarese you'd be fine. Mostly common stuff from there. OB/Peds/Infectious disease was prevalent. It's hard to prepare for the multiple choice questions cause they're pretty random, but CDM cases are worth preparing for. Do practice CDM and find anything else you can that may help with that.
 
Need some advice.. I have been out of med school game a for a while due to family stuff, finally took the step 2 and passed (barely) and that was all that my school was waiting for to graduate me.
It is now September, what is the best move for me at this point? my school says I might have to wait for graduation date of Jan since I missed the deadline to file the form for Sept Graduation.. whatever that means I am dealing with that.

can I take step 3 before graduation to hopefully boost my residency profile?
should I just walk into hospitals with residency program to see if I can get a position?
considering I have been out of school and rotations how much studying will I need for step 3?
 
Took Step 3 on Monday, 350 questions with 25 CDM Q's. Lots of peds. More psych than expected. Omt straight forward. Seeing what others thought of it who took it recently
 
Took Step 3 on Monday, 350 questions with 25 CDM Q's. Lots of peds. More psych than expected. Omt straight forward. Seeing what others thought of it who took it recently

I agree with the psych. I studied for one month using Combank, scored 69% and did about 90% of the questions. Took it in July and scored 540's.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Took Step 3 on Monday, 350 questions with 25 CDM Q's. Lots of peds. More psych than expected. Omt straight forward. Seeing what others thought of it who took it recently


Didn't feel too good about the exam, thought the question spread was really unusual and CDM cases were kinda vague. OMT was more fair than previous comlex exams. Hope I just passed, never know how to feel coming out of Comlex exams!
 
Didn't feel too good about the exam, thought the question spread was really unusual and CDM cases were kinda vague. OMT was more fair than previous comlex exams. Hope I just passed, never know how to feel coming out of Comlex exams!

Yeah I agree. The CDM Q's weren't great. Hoping I passed too. Definitely didn't feel great walking out.
 
If I wanted to do a DIT course, is there any advantage to getting the USMLE step 3 bundle (would have to purchase...No COMLEX III specific bundle) over the COMLEX II bundle (already purchased)?
 
If I wanted to do a DIT course, is there any advantage to getting the USMLE step 3 bundle (would have to purchase...No COMLEX III specific bundle) over the COMLEX II bundle (already purchased)?

How were you on COMLEX? I felt level 3 was very similar to level 2 aside from the new clinical case questions. You could probably do well with just doing level 2 DIT.
 
How were you on COMLEX? I felt level 3 was very similar to level 2 aside from the new clinical case questions. You could probably do well with just doing level 2 DIT.

knocked comlex II out of the park with DIT - which is why I was interested in doing it again but they don't make a comlex III specific guide. But it seems the general consensus is that both II and III test the same material so I'll roll with the stuff I already have.
 
knocked comlex II out of the park with DIT - which is why I was interested in doing it again but they don't make a comlex III specific guide. But it seems the general consensus is that both II and III test the same material so I'll roll with the stuff I already have.

If you knocked Comlex II out you should definitely be fine with Comlex III.
 
knocked comlex II out of the park with DIT - which is why I was interested in doing it again but they don't make a comlex III specific guide. But it seems the general consensus is that both II and III test the same material so I'll roll with the stuff I already have.

I believe for DIT Level 2 it's the same exact program as for Step 2 the only difference is the added omm section. So I think getting DIT Step 3 will be the same as if it would have been Level 3, but they don't give you omm. If that makes sense...


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Well, took the stupid thing today. I felt like I knew (at least or had 95% idea) of about 60-70% of the first 7 sections, and then made reasonable/education guesses on another 10-20% and then just took a guess on the rest. But I would be ecstatic if I got 1/3 of the last question set right (I hope that doesn't count for too much). I pretty much ordered the wrong tests or didn't order anything needed every single time. They weren't even hard diagnoses.

I can see why everyone thinks Peds had a lot on there, because they were usually some of the toughest questions (and I'm a peds resident) and probably just more memorable. I'm not the biggest OMM person and outside of a few random questions, they weren't terrible as long as you know the basics.

Did about 1200 uworld and avg'd 67%. Wasn't getting any better, so I did DIT. Which I think helped point out a lot of things on the test itself.
My combank avg through 1400 was about 82-83%. I didn't really review the combank just used it as a gauge I guess. I thought Combank was a bit easier, but comparable to the real thing.

I usually got above average on the Combank stupid CDM cases. I have no idea what happened today; it wasn't even like hard cases.

I was feeling fine up until that last section. I really hope that isn't too disproportionate to the rest of the exam. Smdh.
 
anybody taking it in Feb?
I plan to take it in February. My COMBANK average right now is 58.4% with about 20% of questions left. I plan to redo my incorrect questions and then take a COMSAE before I take my exam in Feb.
 
I plan to take it in February. My COMBANK average right now is 58.4% with about 20% of questions left. I plan to redo my incorrect questions and then take a COMSAE before I take my exam in Feb.

same here. I'm doing COMBANK. I think that's all I'm gonna do. I don't think I have enough time to do another Qbank like COMQUEST. Debating on whether I should take a COMSAE or not. it's 60 bucs
 
same here. I'm doing COMBANK. I think that's all I'm gonna do. I don't think I have enough time to do another Qbank like COMQUEST. Debating on whether I should take a COMSAE or not. it's 60 bucs
For me, I have to take a COMSAE to boost my confidence going in, since my past COMLEX scores are slightly below average
 
For me, I have to take a COMSAE to boost my confidence going in, since my past COMLEX scores are slightly below average

I had a day off today so I decided to test my how prepared I am by taking that COMSAE. Yes, I paid that 60 bucs. There goes my beer money haha.

If anyone has ever taken COMSAE 3 before the real one, could you share your thoughts? I got 480 on it and I'm freakin out now. I thought questions were so vague (as usual).
 
Top