2007 Comlex Step I Experiences

[tkim]

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By request.

 

[polynikesdb]

Since I've heard that the COMLEX is more clinically oriented, would it be useful to review notes from clinical classes that I deem are high yield?

 

[JayneCobb]

Since I've heard that the COMLEX is more clinically oriented, would it be useful to review notes from clinical classes that I deem are high yield?

I'd say no. Unless your clinical classes give you a lot of pathology review. When people say COMLEX is more clinically oriented, they mean that there are more clinical vignettes than USMLE. Any good pathology book should cover you for the clinical aspect of COMLEX.

that is unless they're still showing pictures of medical instruments and asking what it is used for.🙄

 

[polynikesdb]

How do COMLEX experiences coincide with QBank Comlex versus USMLEWorld?

 

[evenflowcarter]

anyone take the comlex yet?

 

[premyo2002]

How do COMLEX experiences coincide with QBank Comlex versus USMLEWorld?

I haven't taken it yet, but from what I hear its more like kaplan usmle qbank. Can anyone confirm that?

 

[Raggaman]

Whats up with the COMLEX experiences? Don't COMLEX takers visit this site or they dont like to post their experiences? C'mon guys we need you!

 

[WestcoastMedicine]

I took it last monday and posted quite a bit about my experience, you need to scroll down to the other COMLEX thread, there is a ton of feedback for you there.

 

[bth7]

I took it last monday and posted quite a bit about my experience, you need to scroll down to the other COMLEX thread, there is a ton of feedback for you there.

Could you give us a link to that thread?

 

[WestcoastMedicine]

I don't know how to insert threads, but its in this forum! Its like two or three threads down from this one..."COMLEX scores...and some other questions". Best of luck to you all

 

[Megalofyia]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=405680

I took it monday, I honestly had 15-20 questions JUST on sympathetic innervations.....pt comes in with gastric ulcer, hypertonicity will be noted at T...... I had a TON of neuro pharm, ADRs, Mech of action, contraindications. I am not just talking about knowing no tyramine with MAOIs, I mean know the specifics for the major drugs within each class as well.

Honestly, if I added up all the neuro pharm I had, it easily made up an entire 50 question block, I am including psych pharm too. Speaking of pysch I had quite a bit of stuff on sleep cycles and disturbances of them.

Tons of micro, I had to read 5 gram stains, had to know the most common and 2nd most common for all the major infections. I had to read 6-7 Head CTs, I only had one EKG and it wasn't too bad, then I had to say how I would treat it, again not bad.

Biochem was minimal, maybe 3 questions on what enzymes were deficient in certain diseases, a few vitamin OD or deficiencies, nothing on classifying viruses by dna or rna or that.

The question about breaks:

When you start the exam the clock is at 4 hours, so if you finish section I early the time does carry over for the other morning blocks, you just get 4 hours for the whole morning. I was under the impression you had an hour per 50 question section. After the 2nd section you get a prompt that says you can take a 10 minute break and the clock is ticking the second the prompt comes up. The 4 hour clock in the top right corner is still also ticking during your ten minute breaks, if you take that ten minutes you essentially have 3 hours and 50 minutes for the morning sections.

You can take the break or just click next to skip it. The same thing after block 6. After block 4 you get a 40 minutes lunch which does not count against the 8 hours for the test. I took about 20 minutes and went back in to start again. You again get 4 hours for the 4 afternoon sections. I don't know of anyone there that had a problem with finishing in 8 hours that is including taking the breaks. Good Luck Everyone.
LHUEMT911 is offline Reply With Quote

 

[misery]

Well I just finished COMLEX I and USMLE I last week. I must say that two differ quite a bit. I mean on one hand you have a test that really tests the depths of your knowledge and reasoning capabilities. On the other you have a test that ask ambiguous questions with little meaning that test none of your reasoning ability. Just shear memorization of useless garbage that is seemingly unimportant, guess not. I have no idea how I did on either test, I feel pretty well, but the USMLE made a lot more sense. I think they must have monkey's writing the comlex, no wonder programs don't accept it. By far the worst written test I've ever seen, and our OPP dept comes up with some wacked out questions. My $.02......may comlex DIE!!!!!

 

[beastmaster]

On the other you have a test that ask ambiguous questions with little meaning that test none of your reasoning ability. Just shear memorization of useless garbage that is seemingly unimportant, guess not. I have no idea how I did on either test, but the USMLE made a lot more sense. I think they must have monkey's writing the comlex, no wonder programs don't accept it. By far the worst written test I've ever seen, and our OPP dept comes up with some wacked out questions. My $.02......may comlex DIE!!!!!

Useless garbage, eh. As opposed to a bunch of question on cell biology experiments and second messenger systems.

I want every person reading this thread, especially those set to take the COMLEX this year or next, to witness exactly how false rumors begin. Bitter DOs tearing down their own licensing exams. Pathetic. Your name, misery, is most appropriate. The COMLEX was a very well written exam with significant overlap of concepts with the USMLE. I'm led to believe now that many people don't even know it when they see it, just dazzled by USMLE's length and pomp so of course it must be great and based on "reasoning." The USMLE is a very good exam. The COMLEX is not THAT far behind. Neither are paradigms of clinical relevance.

 

[Krazykritter]

By the way...WTF is OPP other than they infamous song?

 

[SukaNeNauka]

COMLEX is a very well written exam??? This is not possible.

 

[annecomlex]

The questions on COMLEX are pretty straightforward but the information they test on is extremely random. I swear it seems like half of the test had information that was not in review books. They had a lot of nitty gritty information from class notes. Whereas with the USMLE, they seem to ask questions in an indirect manner with no buzzwords but the information is available in First Aid and other review books

 

[Taus]

The questions on COMLEX are pretty straightforward but the information they test on is extremely random. I swear it seems like half of the test had information that was not in review books. They had a lot of nitty gritty information from class notes. Whereas with the USMLE, they seem to ask questions in an indirect manner with no buzzwords but the information is available in First Aid and other review books

I've met some relatively high-up-there DO's who actually take pride in and chuckle about testing on info you can't find in First Aid.... as far as how to interpret that....who knows.....but there's definitely some truth to it

 

[annecomlex]

I've met some relatively high-up-there DO's who actually take pride in and chuckle about testing on info you can't find in First Aid.... as far as how to interpret that....who knows.....but there's definitely some truth to it

I know who some of those people are. A professor at my school writes questions for it and she takes pride in asking information that isn't in First Aid

 

[Raggaman]

W/O FA I am toast. Serious........

 

[HunterGatherer]

I know who some of those people are. A professor at my school writes questions for it and she takes pride in asking information that isn't in First Aid

what subject? 😀

 

[marie337]

what subject? 😀

No kidding 😡. I hate professors who are only out to trick you. As Dr. Goljan said if a test question doesn't score well, it is only representative of your test writing ability or teaching ability.

 

[jenna08]

I just took the COMLEX today...let's just put it this way. It was either you knew the material or NOT. Unlike the USMLE, you couldn't rationalize between answers and I felt like the questions were totally different than than those on NBOME COMLEX practice exams and Kaplan COMLEX Q bank (more similiar to Kaplan USMLE Q Bank but by far more vague and not as much rationalizing as to why that was the answer). After reading some posts, I would have to agree...lots of CNS pharm, repro, 6-7 EKGs, fair amt of bugs and drugs (as expected). I would recommend brushing up on neuro/neuroanatomy. Also beware!!! Some of the multiple set questions had stems that had nothing to do with the question they are asking...so read carefully. OMM questions were few and easy although knowing your cranial strains would help also. Half the test was individual questions and the 2nd half was divided between question sets and a couple matching (not that bad). That's all...good luck to those who haven't taken it yet!

 

[Inquiringmind24]

I took the COMLEX yesterday as well. Overall I thought the exam was pretty challenging and I'm already waking up today thinking about all of the questions I missed... Although there were quite a few gimme questions, there were a bunch of hard nit picky questions as well. Plus all of those linked questions were killers! On my exam there was alot of micro, reproductive phys, CNS and cardiovascular pharm, OMM, and various EKG's and CT's to read. There was really a wide variety of material covered. I agree with the last poster that with most questions either you knew it or you didn't. My blocks 5 and block 7 were the toughest and I felt like those kicked my ass pretty bad. Bottom line, don't underestimate this exam and realize although it's tough you can miss ALOT of questions and still pass. Best of luck to everyone 👍

 

[Megalofyia]

I took one of the practice quizes on the NBOME site and it seemed to me that there was a focus on vaccines - when to give them, nutrition and feeding people, and dysfunctions associated with cranial bones.
Was there much of this on the actual COMLEX?

 

[stretch210]

To those that have already taken the exam this year...what were your percentages on Kaplan COMLEX and Kaplan Qbank? Thanks!

 

[polynikesdb]

Just took the COMLEX yesterday, and pretty much everything that I people have told me about it has been right.

There was a large emphasis on neuro. I didn't get any straight medial lemnicus lesions, but I did get two brain stem lesions . I had every type of cranial hematoma imaginable. There were 4 or 5 herniated disc questions (download Goljan's HY notes). I also had a smattering of behavioral disorders, some asking for treatments with CNS drugs. There was a lot of CNS pharm on my test--15 q's or so--including all of the antidepressants, seizure drugs, local anesthetics, but no inhaled anesthetics. I was asked a "what type of drug did this person use" for the recreational drugs. There were some questions on sleep that I wasn't expecting. I did have some path on cerebral edema, aneurysms, strokes that were actually quite hard to answer. There were a few cerebral artery q's with a CT. Only one optic loss q, no CNS embryo, no thalamus/hypothalamus, nothing on the ear, only one question about upper cortex function--nothing on wernicke/broca/hemineglect/dyscalculia, nothing on pupil reflexes or nystagmus. There were a few questions on nociceptive innervation of abdominal organs. Overall, HY Neuroanatomy was pretty useful (it is needed to answer those brain stem infarct q's!), though there was definitely some q's that weren't in there.

I was disappointed to only have one brachial plexus question--and you couldn't answer it if you only looked at FA (though an astute person might be able to narrow it down)--knowing just the branches is not enough. The best resource that I ran across for the brachial plexus was the COMLEX Review book by Shah/Modi.

After neuro, there was a ton of micro w/ micro pharm. I had two helminth q's, the first one being a second order question about the nature of the worm given the history. Know all of the big bugs (Strep, Staph, STDs, Neisseria, Klebsiella, Tb, Mycoplasma, Pseudomonas etc.)--there weren't many questions at all about obscure bugs, and I certainly didn't see anything that wasn't in FA. I did get a question about zoonotic bugs. There was a lot of GI symptoms on the test, but they didn't ask about many of the bugs from the diahrrea table in FA. They expected us to know a lot about Staph and Strep. There wasn't anything on ADP ribosylation and mechanism. There were several STDs. Proteus showed up a few times. Definitely know most common associations with bugs, such as aspiration pneumonia, alcoholic pneumo, adult meningitis, neonate meningitis, etc. Know treatments of all bugs!! The pharm section of micro was the second highest tested pharm section that I had. There were two fungus questions. Viruses....really wasn't much on the test. I had to diagnose a cluster of well known viral diseases. There was nothing on vaccines or classifying viruses in a family or by RNA/DNA/enveloped/etc.

There were about 10 immunology questions which was surprising. I studied immuno well, but I hadn't heard this from other people. Take this only for my own experience since others did not have any immuno. I read the immunology section out of the back of Lange's Medical Micro and Immuno. It's 80 pages or so, with a few chapters that can be safely skimmed--labs (low yield) and hypersensitivities (gone over it a billion times). This resource was EXCELLENT and prepared me well for answering online q-banks as well as for the COMLEX. The questions revolved mostly around interleukin functions, hypersensitivity associations, and immune deficiencies. In FA, be able to associate what type of immune deficiency with the presenting symptoms. There weren't any q's on CD's, MHC disease associations (except for B27, ha!), mechanism of T/B/macrophage activation, or lymph node architecture.

The OMM on my test was another large chunk, maybe 20-25 questions. Three quarters of those were viscerosomatic correlations. They were mostly straightforward, but be sure to be able to differentiate between heart, lungs, esophagus and then between stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen. It isn't enough to know foregut T5-9 since many times there was more than one choice in that range and you needed to know more specifically which levels. As far as review books, I don't like either Savarese (not enough detailed information, but good explanations and practice tests) or Shah/Modi (the first edition has a bagillion errors and I personally don't like the format, but you can use it to review some relevant anatomy, especially brachial plexus) as a single source. I definitely had a few questions on the lower extremity that I was a bit clueless on--and I am knowledgeable in OMM. I would get a different resource for ankle mechanics since the review books were not enough for what I had. I had one sacrum question, 3 q's on segment diagnosis, and a few random integrated anatomy and OMM questions--I wish they had more of these because that is really how OMM is practiced: the patient has a dysfunction, based on this dysfunction and your knowledge of anatomy which of the following is true. I also had one or two definition questions.

There wasn't that much pharm outside of micro and CNS; if you had a comprehensive pharm final at your school, you're pretty much set--just be sure you know what's in FA. The questions were few, and when they were there were straightforward questions about either mechanism or well-known side affect. Though, I did get a question on a GI drug that wasn't in FA. I guess I would recommend going through a pharm review book before knowing FA.

There was a lot of pathophysiology in cardiology. I had 4 EKGs, no heart sounds, but many preload/afterload, pulmonary HTN questions. As far as the rest of the systems, there wasn't a lot of phys or pathophys in a direct question, though many times my knowledge helped me rule out wrong answers. There were no renal or respiratory phys calculations.

There wasn't a lot of pathology on my test. The majority of questions were about straight diagnosis. There was also a smattering of disease morphology, but not too much. There was a lot of endocrine and reproductive path, as well as reproductive subjects in general (fetal/placental anatomy, OBC phys, endometrial endocrine, lactation, gestational diseases). There were also a good handful of hematology questions, von Willebrand's, DIC, serum sickness, Rho(D) positive, hemophilia. I didn't get any q's on lymphoma, leukemia, onco-genes, tumor suppressor genes, tumor markers, carcinogens. There was a question on blastic bone metastasis, hemochromatosis, sickle cell anemia, howell-jolly bodies, antiphospholipid ab syndrome, factor V leiden mutation, Coombs test. There were many questions dealing with hypo/hyperthyroidism (one even integrated with reproductive phys), processes and mechanisms of DM, SIADH, diabetes insipidus.

There were no embryology questions.

There were only a few behavioral/ethical questions, and they were strange. One asked me about the requirements for medicaid to kick in on a nursing home patient after her medicare runs out, and another asked me about hospital reimbursements.

There were maybe ten biochemistry questions, mostly on general metabolism of starvation states, and a few on random metabolism questions. No advice on what to study for them, because I didn't study much of biochem. There were no questions on vitamins, nothing on molecular biology.

There wasn't as much anatomy as I thought there would be. I think there were more biochem q's than straight anatomy questions. HY Gross plus online qbanks are more than enough.

Overall, this test was much easier than I thought it was going to be. I had doing USMLEWorld for the past couple of weeks. The emphasis is much closer to a generalized family practice test, with many diagnoses and not as many second or third order questions. Those questions are there, just not as many as the USMLE. There are also sets of questions towards the end of the blocks that have 2 to 4 questions per vignette, that are either easy (basically a second order split up into two different questions--what is the diagnosis, what is the treatment) or more challenging than the USMLE type questions, in my opinion. I actually think that the COMLEX is more suitable to a medical practice, whereas the USMLE is geared towards medical researchers. The kinds of questions that require you to 'assume' something is exactly the kind of situation that is represented in the clinic. Getting a good score seems easier on the USMLE since FA and the online qbanks cover the unique points that are tested, the rest of the battle just consists of the mental gymnastics--which is doable for anyone that has gotten this far.

Therefore, go through tables of 'most common' associations in a patient population, disease presentation, and disease type, such as the table in the back of FA.

Top subjects that were represented on my test in this order:
neuro
neuro pharm
micro
micro pharm
OMM
cardiology
reproduction
endocrinology

Sources that are good to read:
BRS Phys (the entire thing, including the neuro chapter, especially cardiomyocyte phys)
HY Neuro + class notes for peripheral nervous system
HY Gross
Micro Ridiculously Simple (perfect for this test, you won't see the nit-picky questions like you do on the qbanks)
BRS Path (perfect for boards, RR Path is better to use during the year); don't memorize, skim; use UW to learn path
Savarese OMM Review + another text for LE (the questions in the back of Savarese are spot on, for the most part)
Lange Microbiology and Immunology (use it for the immunology, perfect depth and breadth)
USMLEWorld instead of Kaplan COMLEX or USMLE (the explanations are excellent, I learned more from this than using FA)

Update: I scored a 660, 93. Finished about 50% of USMLEWorld, and was getting low 70's on random sets of 50 at the end. Had 3.5 weeks to prepare. Wish I had finished 100% of UW and read more biochem.

 

[dosdoitbetter]

all i gotta say is...polynikesdb is awesome!

 

[Army DOC DO]

yeah,
that was pretty sweet, if you could remember what was on your test then you probably SMOKED it! thanks a lot! Back to listening to Goljan!😱

 

[Raggaman]

Just gave the COMLEX yesterday (thursday). The following was high yield on my exam:

1) Neuro anatomy: not the lemiscus and stuff but more like ,where is the lesion? What neuron is the 2ndary neuron for face sensitivity. Had a ton of q's with people having head trauma and unable to do certain tasks., etc

2) CNS pharm : know the specific receptors for the different 5HT drugs

3) Micro: The usual YFPP (young female pain w/ peeing)

4) Micro Pharm

5) OMM: I had alot of sacrum q's. I hardly got any 'name the level' type even though I wrote them down on my board. Very few cranial, very simple thoracic dx and tx
6) Alot of Cardio Phys! For me this is one of the hardest topics so I suffered considerably.

Then there were a few random anatomy q's, a few biochem, no embryo, no immuno, some behavioral science.

Overall the test had some hard q's and some gimmes.
I had a ton of xrays, a few path slides (hard). Case based, matching.
I thought it was comparable to the Kaplan COMLEX qbank in which my averge was 63%.

One word of advice, make sure u get a good nights rest before the ordeal. Pop a pill or something, cuz I was unable to sleep till 2am and as a result my concentration suffered big time.

Good luck

 

[stretch210]

Raggaman, with that being said with regards to the neuroanatomy, would it be a good idea to read HY neuro, since FA doesn't cover most of that? Thanks.

 

[Raggaman]

Raggaman, with that being said with regards to the neuroanatomy, would it be a good idea to read HY neuro, since FA doesn't cover most of that? Thanks.

To tell you the truth, I have never seen/used HY Neuro. But considering the fact that the COMLEX required a little more than what was in the FA, it would be a good idea to refer to some other source as well. The questions were not in super detail as asking you the pathway taking thru the nucleus gracilus (or whatever it was, I forget) and all. But they more expected us to understand which area of the brain was affected with the kinds of hemmorrhage/injury and symptoms they described.

 

[Krazykritter]

I took the COMLEX last Thursday (14th) & will take the USMLE on the 29th so I will post more later for my opinion on the comparison.

Overall, I thought the COMLEX questions were worded okay for the most part, but it was more of a either you know it or you don't type of test. I had TONS of micro & TONS of pharm (Pharm was mostly in my morning block, but it weighed heavily on me throughout the day). Had almost zero biochem & I actually had 3 or 4 questions that were straight from COMLEX Qbank. Also had TONS of OMM which I would say I was really almost overprepared for. Enough for now, more later....

 

[evenflowcarter]

bump

 

[olliemctuffy]

Just wondering, what does the COMLEX consider to be the doc for s. pneumo. I always thought amoxicillin, but some sources say pen G. Anyone know what NBOME thinks?

 

[Krazykritter]

According to Epocrates...S. pnemo infections are best treated w/ either Pen G or oral Amoxicillin (nowadays probably w/ clavulanate). So for the exam, if it's in hospital scenario I would choose Pen G IV & if treating outpatient then go w/ Amoxicillin.

 

[Army DOC DO]

Just wondering, what does the COMLEX consider to be the doc for s. pneumo. I always thought amoxicillin, but some sources say pen G. Anyone know what NBOME thinks?

well now you opened a can of worms if you ask me. It all depends what the infection is, if it is a respiratory pneumonia and the person is in the Port I-III stages then you consider the Azithromycin, or port IV-V a respiratory quinalone, ie Levofloxacin. Now if you are talking about a S. pneumonia meningitis then you have to consider IV Ceftriaxone in adults or IV cefotaxime or IV Ampicillin w/ or w/out gentamycin in the children. the problem arises if there is penicillin resistance, have to think about IV vanco with meningitis, and don't forget to administer the Dexamethasone prior to the administeration of the abx. This is mostly based on the fact that almost 1/3 of S. Pneumonia is penicillin resistant, however yes if it is penicillin susceptable, it in Penicillin G. But if I have a kid or an elderly patient that were to come in with S/S of meningitis, I am thinking a virulent form of
s. pneumonia and I would go right to the IV ceftriaxone of course do LP before and culture. 🙂

 

[BMW19]

Don't rely on everyone's posts. My buddy had tons of cancer and oncogenes on COMLEX and others had none (including the poster above). I had tons of cardiac drugs on mine and almost no neuro pharm. Others had the opposite. Bottom line- I think they have more Q's in the bank than we think!! I surprisingly had very little OMM on mine. I recommend Road map to pharm and Road map to neuro. Both helped me a lot. Concise and to the point.

BMW-

 

[Taus]

just took it yesterday....

Biggest surpises:

1. LONG F(&*^$G QUESTIONS!!! after taking the usmle a few days ago I was really looking forward to 2-3 liners w/o much lab data.....I was shocked and actually really pissed about how many long ones I had (~30-40% of q's)

2. Biochem....more &*^*(^@# biochem then I had on my usmle!!...I was prepared for it from usmle studying....but wtf...I thought we didn't have this bs on the comlex.....had 15-20q's

Other then that...it was mostly what I expected

OMM: easy and straight forward for the most part....I think I had more ortho-type q's then straight up omm....including all the special tests (ie speeds, yergasons, mcmurry, lachman, etc)

Path: some thinkers in there...but not too bad...hit a wide variety of subjects and of course a lot of ob/gyn path....I also had a substantial amt of heme

Micro: relatively straight forward...but you really have to know all of micro....a few more zoonotics and bioterrorism q's then I expected.

Pharm: mostly MOA, indications and major sides....FA was enough for all except a few q's....it wasn't very hard but you really have to know ALL of pharm

Physio: this is the only section that I would say was easier then the usmle...but not in a bad way...all the physio was about practical/clinical medicine.... no stupid theoretical stuff or undergrad-type non-clinical physio

Neuro: very detailed....hit on a few topics that weren't in FA or HY that I really had to think back to class for

Immuno: just the basics

can't think of anything else I wanted to say....good luck to those who haven't taken it yet....time for me to get out to the beach and grab a beer

 

[JayneCobb]

just took it yesterday....

Biggest surpises:

1. LONG F(&*^$G QUESTIONS!!! after taking the usmle a few days ago I was really looking forward to 2-3 liners w/o much lab data.....I was shocked and actually really pissed about how many long ones I had (~30-40% of q's)

That is interesting. How would you rate the quality of the questions as compared to USMLE? I did see a vast improvement in the quality from Step 1 to step 2, but it was still very heavy on the 2 liner questions.

 

[Taus]

That is interesting. How would you rate the quality of the questions as compared to USMLE? I did see a vast improvement in the quality from Step 1 to step 2, but it was still very heavy on the 2 liner questions.

overall...honestly decent....I'll admit that I was surprised.... still some flat-out gimme's and a few (~10%) where you had to figure out wtf they are asking you (ie you can interpret the q in different ways and get a dif answer)....but I expected to fly through this thing and ended up taking over 7 hours.....i was literally shaking my head and saying wtf every time a 5-8 liner w/ lab data came up

 

[evenflowcarter]

the first aid biochem should be sufficient at all costs.

 

[Taus]

the first aid biochem should be sufficient at all costs.

absolutely 100% agree

 

[lizpro]

just took it yesterday....


Micro: relatively straight forward...but you really have to know all of micro....a few more zoonotics and bioterrorism q's then I expected.

Pharm: mostly MOA, indications and major sides....FA was enough for all except a few q's....it wasn't very hard but you really have to know ALL of pharm

Is FA enough for these too subjects or should I use the micro cards and pharm recall???

 

[OnMyWayThere]

I think FA was sufficient for biochem (way sufficient), micro and pharm. As far as the rest of the material - the advice that all you need is FA + Savarese is incorrect. While Savarese does cover the OMM part of thest, I felt there was a lot of materiial on my exam that FA did not cover. It would be nice if the NBOME provided a book to students so that students were all on a level playing field. Instructors from 20+ schools submit these questions and there is material tested that I was never taught at my school nor found in First Aid. Even if this NBOME board study guide was 1,000 pages, it would serve students better to have the material that will be tested instead of having the random things that were popping up on my test...

Vent over... 😱

 

[Taus]

Is FA enough for these too subjects or should I use the micro cards and pharm recall???

for micro and pharm....FA would have been enough for ~90% of the questions that I got...i got a few oddball things that I somehow remembered from class (or at least remembered learning about...)

that being said...w/ roughly >90% of the material needed for micro and pharm being in FA....its up to you how much time you want to invest in that other 10%...especially since there's really no way to know what that 10% will consist of and exactly where to find it

 

[Taus]

I think FA was sufficient for biochem (way sufficient), micro and pharm. As far as the rest of the material - the advice that all you need is FA + Savarese is incorrect. While Savarese does cover the OMM part of thest, I felt there was a lot of materiial on my exam that FA did not cover. It would be nice if the NBOME provided a book to students so that students were all on a level playing field. Instructors from 20+ schools submit these questions and there is material tested that I was never taught at my school nor found in First Aid. Even if this NBOME board study guide was 1,000 pages, it would serve students better to have the material that will be tested instead of having the random things that were popping up on my test...

Vent over... 😱

I agree....but would say you'd absolutely destroy this test from studying and knowing cold the info in: FA + Savarese + HY Neuro + RR or BRS Path + the blue boxes in the musculoskeletal anatomy chapter in Moore

regardless of what you study....it seems like there will always be that 10% "wtf factor" w/ the comlex that you really can't study for

 

[lizpro]

🙂Thanks for the input OnMyWayThere and Taus🙂 I have about 2 weeks left and I'm trying to minimize my resources

 

[Army DOC DO]

same here, I have 2 weeks till mine. July 10th, and I am about 75% through Goljan rr pth and using FA along side it, we had a pretty big OMM review at our school by the department for boards so I am going to use that and skim savarese, since they said they submitted over 100 questions for COMLEX. I am rying to figure out what will be best for the neuro people are talking about! 😕

 

[olliemctuffy]

Well, I just finished the COMLEX and I have to say that honestly it was quite a bit easier than I thought it would be. At least 50% dead obvious gimme questions. The OMM was ridiculously easy, however not heavily tested (I wish there was more). The most heavily tested topic on my test was CV pharm, specifically antihypertensive drugs, including side effects, MOA, site of action in the kidney, etc. Also a ton of easy neuro like MCA stroke, epidural, subdural, subarachoid, 1 question on chiari 2 vs dandy-walker. Almost no biochem.

Lots of questions on antidepressants and benzos

Hepatitis viruses

Easy HIV related stuff- such as pneumocystis and TMP-SMX

A number of questions on UTIs, including prostate

A couple questions on heavy metals ***Review heavy metal signs and symptoms as well as treatment, including 2nd line treatments***

Alot of sickle cell and G6PDH

A couple of x-rays, slides of bugs, one lung sample with a fungus, a few ecg's

Several questions on otitis externa **know p. aeruginosa well, icluding that it elaborates a toxin (exotoxin A) similar to that of c. diptheriae**

Review gram stain characteristics, scarlet fever and rheumatic fever

Know brachial plexus, especially median nerve, including what all branches innervate

STDs- gono, chlam, h. ducreyi, syph

Know treatment of BPH

Well, good luck, be confident and don't worry too much about minutia! 😀

 

[Krazykritter]

I took the COMLEX on 6/14 & the USMLE on 6/29. I'll just go topic by topic & compare each & hit on the main differences:

1) Timing: I had approximately 2.5 wks of solid studying after school ended before I took the COMLEX & I wish that I had maybe 3 wks. 2 wks btwn the COMLEX & the USMLE was a little too much time b/c it felt almost like too much time so time stress wasn't a problem (stress motivates me so this was a negative for me).

2) Micro: I had a lot of micro on both of my exams, but especially on the COMLEX (although I had a ridiculous number of STD related questions on the USMLE). The main difference in the two tests was the use of buzzwords. My COMLEX micro question used buzzwords rather frequently (or variations of common buzzwords) & tested mainly over the common associations that you find in MMRS or FA. My USMLE had tons of STD related questions & lots of far out micro such as helminthes, schistosomiasis…anything was fair game. I also had a number of virus questions that I knew going in that I was going to be screwed on b/c that minutiae was really better served by me studying other subjects.

3) Path/Pathophys & Phys: USMLE is loaded w/ path & pathophys questions that require a ton of thinking. EVERY question on pathophys of straight phys was 3rd or 4th order, but that's part of the beauty of the exam that makes it better than the COMLEX. My COMLEX had tons of 1st & 2nd order questions where you either knew the answer or you didn't (this is true for all sections.

4) Pharm: Tons & tons of pharm on the COMLEX (as expected). My test was very heavy in the following areas: Abx (huge!!), cardio, renal. Fairly straight-forward questions, but there were some really specific ones such as the specific Abx for an anaerobic sinus infection (I think they were basically asking this to see if you knew that Clindamycin is for anaerobes above the diaphragm, but&#8230😉. USMLE had much less pharm, but I did have a significant amount of CNS & psych drugs.

5) OMM: I had a ridiculous amount of sacrum questions on my exam which is fine b/c they were relatively easy. Only 1 thoracic question & maybe 2 voodoo...I mean cranial questions & one was a WTF question that I couldn't find the answer to even by looking through all the books & notes I have & available on the internet. I only spent ½ day preparing for this, but was more than prepared b/c the great OMM department @ DMU.

6) Overall: USMLE was a much better (harder, but better) test. Question stems were long but you could reason out & think through >85% of the questions. USMLE is a very fair & well written exam, although I have no idea how well I did on it. COMLEX questions were shorter & you either knew the answer almost immediately or you did not (b/c of this I finished the exam nearly 1 hr early). I was disappointed in how little opportunity to reason through questions there was on the COMLEX.

I didn't hit on a few subjects, but if anyone wants to hear any other specific section comparisons, I would be happy to post my thoughts on those later.