Comlex 2 percentile vs Step 2 percentile

[pigsinacloth]

As I enter the second half of 3rd year I am starting to prep for boards. Obviously the goal is to score as high as possible to make yourself competitive, but since we are DOs we kind of have two chances at this. I know that in general Step matters more than comlex, but does anyone know if an insane comlex score could help give you an edge if you have a decent step score to go along with it?

Like would someone with a 255 and 700 be viewed differently than someone with a 250 and 800?

I am going to be honest I also don't know what percentile any of those are, I just know that they are good in general.

The reason I ask is because we don't do an OMM rotation as 3rd years at my school so I have honestly not looked at it since this past May, but I would imagine there are probably a lot of easy points to grab and boost my score if I were to actually really learn it over the next few months. At the same time though that studying would potentially take away from step studying so there is always the chance that it ends up biting me in the butt by a couple points for new return on investment.

I imagine very few people have the answer to this question as it is most likely program and specialty dependent, but I thought it would be an interesting discussion.

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[DoReMiFaSo]

Like would someone with a 255 and 700 be viewed differently than someone with a 250 and 800?

When you are 250+ & 700+, scoring won't be the reason you get denied from a competitive residency, meaning that you can pursue ANY specialty with these scores if you can manage them. There is no meaningful difference between a 255/700 & 250/800. Will come down to other factors: LORs/research/school reputation/connections etc.

but I would imagine there are probably a lot of easy points to grab and boost my score if I were to actually really learn it over the next few months.

Yes, there are a good chunk of easy points. And no, you don't need a "few months," just need a few days at most. Don't ignore OMM, but don't waste your time on it, just cram it with Savarese book and Youtube videos (I forgot the name of the one that goes through chapmans points blah blah, other SDN folks here will know for sure and can link you the vid).

 

[Calizboosted76]

When you are 250+ & 700+, scoring won't be the reason you get denied from a competitive residency, meaning that you can pursue ANY specialty with these scores if you can manage them. There is no meaningful difference between a 255/700 & 250/800. Will come down to other factors: LORs/research/school reputation/connections etc.


Yes, there are a good chunk of easy points. And no, you don't need a "few months," just need a few days at most. Don't ignore OMM, but don't waste your time on it, just cram it with Savarese book and Youtube videos (I forgot the name of the one that goes through chapmans points blah blah, other SDN folks here will know for sure and can link you the vid).

Dirty medicine is a solid resource for OMM

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

I never understood these questions. Human beings are judging your application with only one aspect being your score. Most places have a target score and then the rest is about other factors in your application. There's no central robot with an algorithm that ranks your USMLE vs COMLEX

 

[Just D.O. it]

only one aspect being your score.

This reads as disingenuous to me, outside of a strong personal connection with a decision maker at the program, that score is by far the most important aspect.

As I would often joke with disillusioned academic attendings I know, the smart students are aware that 5 points on STEP are likely more impactful than impressing you. Board scores are the only objective metric for your app with a clearly and simply defined ranking system (meaning a higher number is better than a lower number).

In the current state of affairs BOARD SCORES ARE KING and this is the first piece of advice I give to any med student looking to match a competitive specialty. I have seen otherwise completely unremarkable students get to relatively very prestigious places due to hitting a homer on boards. On the other hand, students who I thought were awesome but underperformed on boards generally did not match well with the notable exception what I mentioned earlier (they were able to build a connection with a big name in the field/program they wanted).

@pigsinacloth as far as your question goes, at the VAST MAJORITY of programs, if you submit both a STEP 2 and COMLEX, they will completely ignore COMLEX and you will be defined by your STEP 2 (as long as you pass COMLEX ofc).

There is very little utility for student who is taking STEP to do extra studying for COMLEX beyond what is needed to pass. The only real exception to this is certain historical DO programs who still give a slight preference to DO applicants, but there are simply not enough of these to justify caring if you have already decided you will be taking STEP.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

This reads as disingenuous to me, outside of a strong personal connection with a decision maker at the program, that score is by far the most important aspect.

As I would often joke with disillusioned academic attendings I know, the smart students are aware that 5 points on STEP are likely more impactful than impressing you. Board scores are the only objective metric for your app with a clearly and simply defined ranking system (meaning a higher number is better than a lower number).

In the current state of affairs BOARD SCORES ARE KING and this is the first piece of advice I give to any med student looking to match a competitive specialty. I have seen otherwise completely unremarkable students get to relatively very prestigious places due to hitting a homer on boards. On the other hand, students who I thought were awesome but underperformed on boards generally did not match well with the notable exception what I mentioned earlier (they were able to build a connection with a big name in the field/program they wanted).

@pigsinacloth as far as your question goes, at the VAST MAJORITY of programs, if you submit both a STEP 2 and COMLEX, they will completely ignore COMLEX and you will be defined by your STEP 2 (as long as you pass COMLEX ofc).

There is very little utility for student who is taking STEP to do extra studying for COMLEX beyond what is needed to pass. The only real exception to this is certain historical DO programs who still give a slight preference to DO applicants, but there are simply not enough of these to justify caring if you have already decided you will be taking STEP.

Board scores are important, but there's no difference to anyone between a 250 and 255 or 700 and 800. At that point, your application is about everything else. Obviously, it would matter if we were talking about 200 vs. 250 but that's not the scenario we're presented with

 

[Fishwithadeagle]

Old post, but it's always about 30% difference and growing in percentile difference. I scored actually a little bit better on step than expected compared to comlex with that, but I definitely think it held me back while applying to university programs. Board scores aren't everything, but they are definitely the thing that gets the interview screening.

 

[DrZoidbergDO]

Yeah I was 50th percentile step and like 85th ish comlex?