Failed Comlex Step 3 twice - HELP please!

[racquetball]

I have no idea how to study for this exam. I covered Crush, QBank, Savarese, ACLS and skimmed B&W. I have taken time out of residency to get this nightmare over with and now this slap in the face - failing again this week? Is this a fixed test? Are you kidding me? I studied an enormous amount (if I told you the hours you wouldn't believe me). Failed? I don't get it. I am well prepared - better than in med school. Comlex Step 3 is a joke. I am retaking in May now too - since that's the soonest that I can take it. I would rather take it in April but it has a 90 day interval required. PLEASE HELP. THanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[glorytaker]

Maybe you're failing the OMM portions of the test. Are you in an allopathic residency?

 

[MechE]

How many times can you take Step 3?

 

[Rael]

First thing you need to do is relax....you can't help yourself when you feel so stressed and overwhelmed...remember, sometimes these things get the best of us...it says nothing negative about you. Take a few deep breaths, relax, and try to think back to the test and pick out what about it was difficult for you...certain topics?...the time limit?...way the questions were worded?...just plain pressure from taking a test?
Try to address the issues that plagued you during the test. If you feel like this test is just overwhelming and you can't do anything you haven't already done to improve your outcome, maybe you should think about taking a course where you are privately instructed by a tutor...I think those are around and, although expensive, may be worth looking into.
You may also think about getting a study partner...it may help you to not go about it alone.
Remember, on the bright side, you have a huge advantage next time around in that you have already taken it twice and have a much better idea as to what kinds of things they ask and what topics are high yield.
Be confident over all else. Don't doubt yourself even though you may feel inclined to. You made it into and through med school...a huge accomplishment...you can do this..believe it.

 

[VentdependenT]

dump those things and use the following then

strong medicine
HY obgyn
NMS step III
Saverese

you can blast through all that crap in a week

 

[UHS05]

How long after the test does the pas/fail result show up on the website? Thanks in advance...

 

[Teufelhunden]

How long after the test does the pas/fail result show up on the website? Thanks in advance...

About 3 1/2 weeks.

 

[UHS05]

About 3 1/2 weeks.

Thanks...and hope the regrade works out for you. I don't know if I passed, but I used secrets and USMLE world...don't know if it helped (I am doubtful ANYTHING can prepare you for this asinine exam written by people who apparently make diagnoses based on a single finding) but will let you know once the results are back.

 

[racquetball]

Hey UHSO5 -

When did you take yours? Did you get your scores back yet? Good luck to you.

I was also recalling that there were at least 2 random tropical medicine questions.

 

[UHS05]

Hey UHSO5 -

When did you take yours? Did you get your scores back yet? Good luck to you.

I was also recalling that there were at least 2 random tropical medicine questions.

Took it on the 23rd...results eagerly awaited and will post when available.

2 random questions? That was a test full of 800 random questions of unknown significance...

Goodluck to you as well

 

[DOtobe]

I'm getting nervous...I've been checking the NBOME website every day to see if there is a "pass" or "fail" - nothing yet. I took the test on 3/14.

I didn't think it was that bad...but every time I think that I do bad. I just want to pass...

 

[UHS05]

I'm getting nervous...I've been checking the NBOME website every day to see if there is a "pass" or "fail" - nothing yet. I took the test on 3/14.

I didn't think it was that bad...but every time I think that I do bad. I just want to pass...

Just outta curiosity, what does the status of your COMLEX 3 state on the online system? Mine said "sheduled" for two months till I actually took the test and now it says "approved". The only reason I ask is "approved" was what it had said prior to me scheduling the test. Of course calling the NBOME doesen't help...their staff seems to be more lost than I am...

 

[DOtobe]

Just outta curiosity, what does the status of your COMLEX 3 state on the online system? Mine said "sheduled" for two months till I actually took the test and now it says "approved". The only reason I ask is "approved" was what it had said prior to me scheduling the test. Of course calling the NBOME doesen't help...their staff seems to be more lost than I am...

Mine says "approved" too...that kind of worried me. But I guess it doesn't mean anything!

 

[DOtobe]

Grrr...

Where are my damn scores? I'm really starting to get nervous. I don't want to take this exam again...

 

[1astmanstanding]

I failed Comlex 3 as well... could someone that actually passed this test post what books/sources they used?? I really don't know what to use anymore. I was doing fairly well on Kaplan QBank but i guess comlex is tougher. please HELP!

 

[UHS05]

I failed Comlex 3 as well... could someone that actually passed this test post what books/sources they used?? I really don't know what to use anymore. I was doing fairly well on Kaplan QBank but i guess comlex is tougher. please HELP!

I used step 2 secrets and usmleworld (for questions). Simmons book for OMT (had it from his review course for StEP I in school)...and this worked for me. In reality, though, the questions are a crapshoot and I answered most of them based on personal experience as an intern...

Hang in there and good luck...

 

[DOtobe]

In reality, though, the questions are a crapshoot and I answered most of them based on personal experience as an intern...

This was basically how I passed the ridiculous exam. I studied Crush a little bit, but not much. Most of the questions I answered I answered from experience. I really don't think you can study for the COMLEX (at least this step).

 

[Teufelhunden]

Me again...fellow step III failure (after doing well on steps I & II, go figure). I am now studying the McGraw-Hill Family Practice Board Review, Strong For Step 3, Crush, and was doing Kaplan Q-Bank online and now doing USMLE world. Thing is, none of what I'm studying seems like the Sh|t I saw on the COMLEX. I mean, my scores on USMLE World are slowly climbing, and I think my studying has increased by general fund on knowledge (that atrophied as a psych intern), but I swear to God, the test is so damn goofy I'm afraid that this is all for not and I'll tank it again, despite all the work I'm doing.

I'm taking it May 23rd, wish me luck. To all of you who passed, congrats and I hate you ;-) To all who failed, I feel your pain and good luck. As always, any insight or advice you all may have - I'm all ears.

 

[DOtobe]

Good luck, Teufelhunden. I'm sorry you have to take the stupid exam again.

 

[tennis12]

I recently took this thing and feel like I too failed. Does anyone know how many you can miss and still pass now that the test has only 400 questions. I too studied a lot and it did not seem to help. Does you program director find out when you fail?

 

[Sugar72]

dump those things and use the following then

strong medicine
HY obgyn
NMS step III
Saverese

you can blast through all that crap in a week

I noticed you recommend nms step 3. I liked the online qbanks would it be at all helpful to do USMLEworld step 3 for the comlex. I have no idea how similar they might be and absolutely do not plan on taking usmle step 3.
Anyone use usmleworld for comlex 3 and find it helpful?
What about a family practice board review qbook?
Thanks guys....I want to knock this bad boy out and enjoy the misery of a surgery prelim.

 

[Teufelhunden]

Well, two weeks before I take Step III again (round 2). I've been doing Strong Medicine, Crush and the McGraw-Hill FP review book. I got USMLE world and have a 53% average, although my scores have been rising (my last 5 or so have been in the 57-63% range). I only have 6 days left on USMLE world so for the next week I'm just gonna try to burn through the remainder of the questions. I never did questions for Steps I & II, and even though I passed them both on the 1st attempt with a good margin, I'm wondering if doing more questions was always the key for me - I think I'm becoming a better test taker doing so many questions with the instant feedback.

Anyway, what do y'all think? With my USMLE world average do you think I'm in range to pass this damn God-forsaken test?

Wish me luck.

 

[DOtobe]

Good luck!

 

[racquetball]

Hang in there - I'm scheduled for May 23 also - I cannot wait until this is overwith. Good luck to you both and I know we will all rock it this time (#3 for me!!!)

Well, two weeks before I take Step III again (round 2). I've been doing Strong Medicine, Crush and the McGraw-Hill FP review book. I got USMLE world and have a 53% average, although my scores have been rising (my last 5 or so have been in the 57-63% range). I only have 6 days left on USMLE world so for the next week I'm just gonna try to burn through the remainder of the questions. I never did questions for Steps I & II, and even though I passed them both on the 1st attempt with a good margin, I'm wondering if doing more questions was always the key for me - I think I'm becoming a better test taker doing so many questions with the instant feedback.

Anyway, what do y'all think? With my USMLE world average do you think I'm in range to pass this damn God-forsaken test?

Wish me luck.

 

[dtn3t]

Maybe you're failing the OMM portions of the test. Are you in an allopathic residency?

The amount of OMM on Step 3 is limited to the two tables in Savarese. Being in an allopathic residency has nothing to do with passing COMLEX.

I liked the Kaplan Qbook, it covered a lot of things and I think I counted 5-10 almost carbon copy questions on the exam that I saw in it.
I also used Crush - short and sweet.

Don't forget to study peds. lots and lots of peds.

COMLEX sucks. The questions were either no brainers or WTF?

Good luck to you guys, just try to relax and don't overthink.

 

[DOtobe]

Bumping to wish Teufelhunden and racquetball good luck - it's coming up soon...just relax and don't overthink the questions (like my former classmate dtn3t said).

 

[Teufelhunden]

Bumping to wish Teufelhunden and racquetball good luck - it's coming up soon...just relax and don't overthink the questions (like my former classmate dtn3t said).

Thanks. I took it today and, honestly, it seemed like a different test. I don't know if they've cleaned up their question bank, or if I just got a lucky batch of questions, or if I just was that much more prepared....but I left today with a better feeling than I've ever had after a COMLEX exam. Now, I'm a psych resident so I can say that w/o fear that I'm jinxing myself b/c that's 'magical thinking.'

Anyway, so here's what I did different than last time:

A) I studied (for real)
B) I used Strong Medicine and the McGraw-Hill FP Board review book - emphasis on peds, obgyn, prev med, emer med, men's health
C) I did a lot of questions (not as many as I wished I'd done). My USMLE World average was 52.7%.
D) Of course, I did the last minute (literally in the parking lot) Savarese review of the sympathetic levels

What surprised me about this test is that there was NO biostats whatsoever. There were like a lot of bioethics questions. A ton of geriatrics/demenita questions, both clinical and ethics. More OB than GYN (two questions w/ fetal monitoring strips). Unlike my first attempt that had a million or so men's health questions, I didn't have a SINGLE question involving the prostate this time around. This test is so goofy. The fact that you can get two completely different tests. Anyway, tons of peds, which I was more prepared for this time. A scant amount of cardio, which pissed me off cuz I just did a month of CCU. Anyway, one or two ECGs. Anyway, there were of course some goofy COMLEX questions that are never to be avoided. There were actually some ridiculously easy questions that actually worry me, cuz they're so easy they really don't separate the wheat from the chafe, so to speak. I was surprised this time that there was more OMM than I expected, e.g. a few sacral/innominate questions, a couple rib questions, some goofy chapman's point questions (I'm convinced that those bastards at NBOME have the Savarese book and "write around" it so to speak, cuz every single friggin chapman point question I've gotten is NOT listed in Savarese).

I don't make predictions well. For all I know, I bombed it again. But, I have a good feeling this time around, so hopefully......

The wait for the results begins.....I'm already drinking ;-)

 

[Sugar72]

:

A) I studied (for real)
B) I used Strong Medicine and the McGraw-Hill FP Board review book - emphasis on peds, obgyn, prev med, emer med, men's health
C) I did a lot of questions (not as many as I wished I'd done). My USMLE World average was 52.7%.
D) Of course, I did the last minute (literally in the parking lot) Savarese review of the sympathetic levels

;-)

I am glad to hear you feel good about it - congratulations. May you never see another chapman's point question in your life!
I gotta ask if you felt that usmleworld helped at all because I really, really, really want to just study from it. I thought that the FP board review sounded like a a great idea too - did that help?
Enjoy your well-deserved celebration - cheers!

 

[Teufelhunden]

I am glad to hear you feel good about it - congratulations. May you never see another chapman's point question in your life!
I gotta ask if you felt that usmleworld helped at all because I really, really, really want to just study from it. I thought that the FP board review sounded like a a great idea too - did that help?
Enjoy your well-deserved celebration - cheers!

I'll answer both of those questions more accurately AFTER I get my results back. I can say that I thought that USMLE World helped to "tune me up" with regard to test-taking. The questions were friggin hard, which really forced me to increase my raw test-taking skills. Going back and studying the questions you missed not only, of course, increases your knowledge base, but more importantly IMHO it helps you to see where you erred in your approach to the question. It allowed my to play with some test taking strategies to see which worked better for me. (In my case...read question stem first, then passage, then eliminate with this process: read A-C and eliminate one, then look at the two remaining plus answer D...make another elimination...then add answer E, make another elimination and now you're down to two remaining answers. I used this method consistently on USMLE World and it seemed to help - hopefully it did on COMLEX).

The FP board review book was helpful. I focused on all the primary care chapters, i.e. peds, EM, OB, GYN, men's health, prev med, etc.

Again...we'll wait and see if any of this worked. Good luck!

 

[Teufelhunden]

I passed! Three digit score 492. Two digit score 81.

I have a question. They say the mean 3-digit score is 500, and that the mean 2-digit score is 80. So...how could I be below the mean on the 3-digit yet above the mean on the 2-digit??

 

[DOtobe]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

 

[DOindahouse]

i failed. i took it on te 23rd of may also.
i have never failed so poorly, i was no where near the 350min
i have no idea what happened. but i am so bloody depressed. i used crush, BW qbook and skimmed bluepirnts, skimmed savarese.

i dont kow when i should take it again or when ill have time to study, i start ortho resdency next week and i have barely studied for that
im so dead

 

[racquetball]

I failed - scores 74 and 324. What is so odd is that I didn't study for this one at all. When I took it before I studied over 300 hours! and scores were 72 and 294. This test sucks. I think it comes down to anxiety for me more than anything.

 

[Anasazi23]

I passed, but not by much.

I think that the test is essentially Step II for the USMLE (minus the OMM stuff). I talked to a few others who took the test also. We agree that some themes are evident:

-Lots of musculoskeletal medicine...ortho type stuff
-fetal monitoring strips
-ekg's
-vaginal bleeding
-blood smear pictures
-lots of the sympathetic innervation stuff
-strange psychiatry ethics questions (I even struggled with them and I'm a psychiatry resident)
-vaginal bleeding
-prenatal care
-management of basic infections (nothing fancy or obscure)
-GI "next best test to order"
-vaginal bleeding
-there was even a psychiatry-related vaginal bleeding that had nothing to do with pregnancy, meds, or hormonal problems

I didn't study enough in truth. I did Crush Step III once, skimmed baby Harrisons on topic for which I wasn't clear or needed more info, and I did almost 1000 questions on the website: familypractice.com

Do their image questions too. It's similar to the COMLEX, doesn't cost a dime like USMLE world, and gets you used to these types of questions.

 

[Teufelhunden]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Thanks for all your support! Six more days of this God-forsaken internship and then I'll be a Psych resident. I just hope I can survive this final week of OBGYN (horrible....horrible...our hospital does 400 deliveries a month...enough said).

 

[dreamer13]

Noone has mentioned First Aid as a study book. That was my saving grace with comlex 1 and 2. Is the FA for step 3 no good? I was a close pass on the first two, and don't want to waste time on books that won't help. Thanks in advance.

 

[1astmanstanding]

this message pertains only to those that PASSED COMLEX 3: could you PLEASE post what books/questions were helpful.

thanks

 

[DOtobe]

To be honest, I didn't study all that much. I used Crush Step 3 and the review questions on familypractice.com. I am an FP resident, and the COMLEX is a lot like an FP exam, so I think a lot of my "studying" actually just came from things I learned by working during my internship year.

 

[Anasazi23]

Like I mentioned above, I used Crush Step III, questions from familypractice.com, and forgot to mention that I got 1/2 way through hi-yield OB/GYN, knowing that they obsess over that stuff.

Also, I used "Everything except OMT" or whatever it's called, for all three steps, and scored well above the mean on OMM for that section. The practice questions in there are a little basic, but get you thinking/remembering about that stuff. There's no way I could have got through Savarese...it's way too long and drawn out. From that book, I only studied the innervation table - which is similar to the one in the previously mentioned book.

A good friend of mine just passed doing Boards & Wards Step II & III (one book), and Kaplan Q-bank questions.

I think that you'd be better served by the boards and wards book, as it's lots of basic stuff, more step II, and III, which is what I found the test to be representative of.

For the love of God, know your vaginal bleeding.

 

[tinkerbella]

Hi,

I am in now in your position prior to passing this last time around failed 2 times!!! I called their scoring office and found out I only missed a passing score by 2 questions!!! URRR Extremely frustrated and discouraged. I too am a psych resident so I know how you feel!! I don't feel like I got enough medicine experience as a 1st year either!! I did Crush, Q bank, first aid step 2, savarese, blueprints ob/gyn, and Swanson's FP review. The first time I took it I know it was taken to prematurely as I hadn't done my medicine rotations yet and didn't have very much experience. The second time I felt ready but still failed! Studied like crazy too and had never failed an exam!!! I will take your advice on USMLE World. I'm up in October for round three!!!! Any other suggestions?

 

[balash]

Hi,

I am in now in your position prior to passing this last time around failed 2 times!!! I called their scoring office and found out I only missed a passing score by 2 questions!!! URRR Extremely frustrated and discouraged. I too am a psych resident so I know how you feel!! I don't feel like I got enough medicine experience as a 1st year either!! I did Crush, Q bank, first aid step 2, savarese, blueprints ob/gyn, and Swanson's FP review. The first time I took it I know it was taken to prematurely as I hadn't done my medicine rotations yet and didn't have very much experience. The second time I felt ready but still failed! Studied like crazy too and had never failed an exam!!! I will take your advice on USMLE World. I'm up in October for round three!!!! Any other suggestions?

So for the people that failed once or twice,especially if you had to take time off to study for it the second time(or for the 3rd time)-what were the consequences after you failed it twice, as in did your program say you have to take more time off and repeat a whole year or something or do you get kicked out if you fail it after 2 times? I am in my second year and failed it once right at the end of intern year and we have to have passed it by intern year so i'm taking time off from residency to study for it. I'm worried what will be the consequence if I fail it again or is it just best to take a little more time, even possibly without asking for residency approval, to insure I will pass this time and not have to possibly worry about the consequences of failing it again. Don't feel ready for it now and my exam is coming up real soon. Thanks