I took the COMLEX yesterday so I wanted to pass on my thoughts and study methods since SDN has been a huge help for me. The test wasn't too bad and I thought it to be similar to COMSAE B. I would put it in between Kaplan COMLEX (harder) and COMBANK (easier) for difficulty. I am a fast test taker but I finished each 4 hour block with about 30 minutes to spare. There are eight 50 question blocks. Four blocks (200 questions) are in the morning and you get 4 hours total to complete it. There is no time limit per block, so you should average less than an hour per block and you will be fine. You get 60 minutes total in breaks. A 10 minute break after blocks 2 and 6 and 40 minutes for lunch after block 4. Break time does not count against your 4 hour block time. The first 25-30 questions in each block are single questions and the remainder are matching sets. Some blocks had more than 25 matching and some had less. It seemed like each block had one matching set that was very difficult. There were no audio questions and there were a decent amount of exhibits/pictures.
Behavioral science – a few ethical situations, and some study questions
Biochem – more genetics than I thought there would be but it wasn't too bad. Not that many questions, but know the inheritance patterns of the diseases in FA. Decent amount of other biochem.
Micro – a good sized chunk of the exam. Most of the questions were straight forward (even a few off COMSAE). A few pictures of bacteria but it wasn't needed to figure out the answer. I don't remember any of the questions asking anything other than identifying the causative agent or the clinical sequelae of it.
Immuno – a few questions but not too difficult
Pharm – pretty straight forward. FA is great for this section
Anatomy – no surprise questions here. Pretty straight forward and not too difficult. Most was related to OMM. Know the tests in Savarese (at least know what they are testing).
Cardio – straight forward. A few murmurs (just identifying them). Decent amount of EKGs and only one seemed confusing. I suck at EKGs so that may just be me.
Respiratory – most of respiratory was pharm.
Heme/Onc – A few anemia questions. A couple WBC disorders and bleeding disorders/hematology.
Renal – Not too many renal questions
GI – UC/Crohns, anal disorders, diarrhea (micro related), motility problems, CRC. Some bilirubin questions, few PUD questions, cholangitis, hepatitis, appendicitis.
Endocrine – most of it was thyroid (hyper/hypo). A mix of adrenal, some diabetes (along with treatment), very few parathyroid/pituitary.
Repro – besides OMM, this was the biggest part of my exam. Lots of bleeding, amenorrhea, pregnancy related questions. Know the phys in this section well (Goljan does a good job for this). Some immunization questions, placenta previa/abruption, ectopic pregnancy. Some PID which dealt with micro. Some breast disorders. Couple ovarian tumors, gestational trophoblastic disorders, fallopian tube stuff. Male repro was testicular tumors, prostate disorders, testicular disorders. A few questions on UTIs as well (mostly micro and pharm).
Neuro – no brain sections. Lots of skull fracture questions and structures involved. A decent amount of TMJ and temporal bone/hearing questions. Some meningitis questions. Quite a few sinusitis and otitis media questions. Couple EOM questions. Some strokes/infarcts/ hemorrhage questions based off the neuro signs.
MSK – lots of sensory and motor stuff. Few osteoporosis/RA questions, few autoimmune diseases. Most of it dealt with OMM.
Derm – A few autoimmune diseases, micro infections, rashes. Not a big portion of the test Not even a small portion of the test
OMM – probably 1 in 4-5 questions was OMM. Lots of levels which were really easy. Some sacrum, psoas, lumbar dysfunctions. Quite a few questions having to diagnose thoracic/cervicals based off the findings and then how to treat them. Couple cranial questions. A good amount of shoulder/scapula. A few counterstrain treatments.
I used the Taus method for studying. I started in January trying to do a couple hours a day while studying for class. I used FA, Goljan, BRS phys, and CMMRS (annotated into FA) for my first pass. I made it through the first pass by the end of March. For my second and third passes, I just used FA, BRS phys and Goljan. Two weeks before my test, I started my two week cram using only FA and Goljan. I made it through FA 4 times and Goljan 3.5 times (I annotated with classes throughout my two years). I also read the all of the margins in Goljan two days before the test but thought that was overkill and should have just read the areas I was weak in. For micro, I used Bug Cards the last month and annotated from FA onto them. I did 20 cards a day so I was able to get through all of them a few times. For pharm, I used FA and some one-liners my school gave us. I did 10 pages of the one liners a day for the last month and made it through them 4 times. I did 3 of the COMLEX mock exams (B, C, D) in Savarese. They were pretty helpful, just to get some OMM practice. The day before the test, I went out to eat with my gf and then drove to Cleveland since I took my test there. I watched tv and just relaxed. I looked at the HY section, the images and formulas in FA. No heavy studying and I was in bed by 11. I didn't have any caffeine that day so I could get some sleep but I had a pretty good caffeine withdrawal headache. Woke up at 6:45, did 10 COMBANK questions to get my brain working and I looked over a few pages of stuff I just couldn't remember. Started the test at 8:05 and was done by 3:15.
For the last 6 weeks, my study schedule was:
8:30-11:30 - questions from one of the qbanks
11:30-12:30 - lunch
12:30-5 - Goljan or FA
5-6 - dinner
6-7 - pharm/micro flashcards
7-10 - more Goljan or FA
10-1 - netflix, hulu, etc
1-8 - sleep
I tried to stick to this as best as possible. I wanted to be doing questions by 8:30 so I could be used to it when I took the COMLEX. Some days I didn't do as well sticking to the schedule. I only took time off after my school mock boards since they were full length. Otherwise I studied everyday.
I did the Kaplan COMLEX and COMBANK qbanks and did COMSAE B and C. I also did UW but only did about half of the questions:
COMBANK – 77.62%
Kaplan COMLEX- 73%
Kaplan USMLE – 64%
UW – 63%
COMSAE B – 642 (two weeks out)
COMSAE C – 608 (one week out)
School mock board 1 – 648 (predicted)
School mock board 2 – 99% adjusted (two SD above the class average)
My goal from the beginning was 650. I'm going for ortho in the Army so I am aiming high for my score. I don't think I could've studied anymore than I did and I prepped to the best of my abilities. I was really relaxed before, during and after the test. I will be happy with the score I get because I know I did my best.
After I get my score back I'll post it on here.
