My apologies. I haven't updated the status section since starting this account. I'm an intern, did well on USMLE step 1, COMLEX level 1, USMLE step 2, COMLEX level 2, and COMLEX level 3, all first time, just trying to share my experience.
And apologies to those above if my argument was not clear. I am not suggesting all DOs not take the USMLE. Go in to school as if USMLE wasn't an option.
We at SDN are privileged to be part of a community where a 240 is considered only an average score, at least in the step threads. In psychiatry especially, where our averages tend to be lower than most specialties, there is a large segment of us who plain old aren't great test takers. Our average USMLE in 2015 was what, 226? What percentage of us do you think have a 200 or a 210? Probably pretty high. Does that score help anyone compared to no score but a passing and otherwise better than it would have been (see below reasoning) COMLEX? Honest question. I have no idea but would assume not. That is the segment of test takers my post is addressing.
To those above me talking about there COMLEX having heavy biochem, the plural of anecdote is not data. These are two different tests with some overlap. Bugs, drugs, and OMM are the things historically MUCH more heavily tested on COMLEX. Take all that extra time you used studying microbio flashcards or CMMRS, all that time on Savarese, and not just during dedicated study time but during the year, put it towards more UFAP, and don't you expect a pretty big improvement on USMLE? Why wouldn't you expect the same magnitude of improvement on COMLEX if you spent less time on the non bugs/drugs/OMM stuff?
In my case, which I think is pretty typical, that amounted to an extra 3 days of Savarese during dedicated time and a good 10-12 hrs of microbio cards. Let's call it 4 days of extra studying. Or 3.5 as USMLE has some microbio but tested much more rationally . And that's not counting the COMSAEs vs NBME assessments or the hundreds of random ethics and OMM questions we do for COMLEX qbanks vs the much more detailed biochem review we do for USMLE, etc. That's extra time isn't the world but it's pretty significant non optimized study time.
If you follow the above reasoning then this is not simply comparing candidate A with USMLE to candidate B without USMLE. It's comparing candidate A with (USMLE -x amount of points from non optimized study time) and (COMLEX - y amount of points from non optimized study time) to candidate B with (COMLEX + y amount of points from optimized study time) where x and y correspond to points from an extra 3.5 days or so during dedicated study time and some from more time throughout the school year. That y is probably negligible for most on here posting, but for those with a low USMLE, or those who strike out and get a USMLE failure, I believe it makes a difference.
That said, I'm not on any residency interview committees yet and would be interested in hearing how or if people compare COMLEX and USMLE in the real world. Is a passing but low USMLE worth something?
