2011 COMLEX Level I Experiences and Scores Thread

[bleeker10]

Haven't seen a thread like this for those of us taking the beast this year so I thought I'd make one. When's everyone taking it? I'm taking it May 24th so I now have just over 60 days until I take it.

What materials are being used? I'm using FA, Goljan, BRS Phys, and Savarese along w/ Kaplan COMLEX and USMLE Qbanks (provided by school), USMLEWorld, and COMBANK.

Anyone taking USMLE too? I'm undecided since I'm military. I'll see where I'm at in a month and I can schedule it then.

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[americanpie]

Took COMSAE B today 561. 124 POINTS UP within 1 wk study. I am uberly happy

 

[bleeker10]

Took COMSAE B today 561. 124 POINTS UP within 1 wk study. I am uberly happy

Congrats. Keep up the hard work and your score should go up even more.

 

[engineeredout]

Here you are. . .High yield key points.

Thanks but I was looking for high yield OMT points. Like I said, just a list of the trigger points from the green book.

Thanks bleeker for the list of topics for repro. I've done all the kaplan comlex and combank repro questions but they really don't seem that hard, so I'm not sure what else to do to prepare myself for the comlex repro.

 

[nbd13]

Need some advice....

I take my exam June 9th. I will be finished with DIT on Wed. Plan to take COMSAE C on Thursday and that gives me 6 days to review before I take it.

I have been through FA twice before starting DIT and have finished UWorld once with like a 60% average. I finished Combank with an average of like 74.5%.

I have reset Combank and have been going through the questions again, 100 per day after I am finished with DIT for the day. I get like 88-96% and find them very easy. I still have like 750 questions to go on combank to complete my 2nd pass.

I am wondering what would be better...finish combank for a second time or do reset Uworld and do it again? I know I cannot get through all 2000 questions of Uworld before my test. As I want to make another pass of FA before I take it June 9th.

What should I do? Some combank and Uworld or just one of them?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[Cochan]

Taking Step 1 in 12 hours, i'll post my experience when im done. I took the USMLE a few days ago and have spent the past few days just goin over OMM so I hope im ready.

 

[mabinante]

Taking Step 1 in 12 hours, i'll post my experience when im done. I took the USMLE a few days ago and have spent the past few days just goin over OMM so I hope im ready.

Thanks! Good luck. . .

I wish more people would post up their experiences. . .Take my test Friday and will post by Monday . . .

 

[mabinante]

Alright. . .I know everyone is scoring like 80-90% in combank but I have 3 days until I test, 700 ?s left in combank and I'm still averaging 50%. . .it that a sign of eminant doom?

Any suggestions for me for my last few days? Reading savarese and FA and finishing combank is the plan. . .

 

[nbd13]

Alright. . .I know everyone is scoring like 80-90% in combank but I have 3 days until I test, 700 ?s left in combank and I'm still averaging 50%. . .it that a sign of eminant doom?

Any suggestions for me for my last few days? Reading savarese and FA and finishing combank is the plan. . .

What are your goals? What do you want to score on the test?

How many times have you been through FA? What type of questions are you missing?

I would read bleekers review and try to know repro, pharm and micro cold. Also, OMM are gimme questions, so you have to nail those. Especially viscerosomatic and chapman's reflexes...know those cold.

You will pass, just review your weaknesses and have confidence!

Nick

 

[Altruist]

Ok, I took the test today. Not fun.

I don't think I did very well, so take this for the pessimistic, wtf-was-that kind of initial reaction to the COMLEX that this is.

I felt like the questions were kind of all over the place. The OMM wasn't terrible, and ranged from the very easy to mildly complicated.

The rest felt like just weird, random details that I was expected to know. The difference between this and USMLE was that the USMLE tended to have longer question stems with more information, so that it was fairly obvious what the condition was that they were talking about. The complexity from USMLE comes from following them for a step or two until you get to what they're asking. If you didn't know each detail, you could still puzzle it out, for the most part.

For COMLEX, the questions felt brief, with less information, and there tended to only be one detail to help you make the diagnosis. Sometimes that was something fairly obvious like the Gram stain, etc, but other times it seemed kind of random.

I went through Uworld once, and ~60% of Kaplan's USMLE Qbank. I stopped doing the Kaplan Qbank's COMLEX practice questions after only a block or two of questions, because they were laughably easy, and not very helpful. The UWSA's estimated me in the 250's a few days before I took the USMLE. I did a few Combank questions, too.

After the USMLE on Friday, I did the Kaplan practice COMLEX Saturday afternoon through the qbank lecom gives us so I could see where I stood, but that gave me a percentage score with no predicted score or anything, so that was a waste of time; and there were some bizarre OMM questions on there. I didn't get through Savarese as much as I would've liked. If I had it to do over again, I might have done more on Combank, or taken a Comsae.

I'll post on here after I've had a chance to talk to some of my friends who took the test today, one of whom was focused on COMLEX specifically, and did a COMSAE and got all the way through Combank twice... I'm curious whether that person felt better-prepared than I did.

To the rest of you... as I think has been pointed out, in addition to OMM, what I can remember were Ob/Gyn/Repro questions and Micro questions. It seemed that there were more of those than were on USMLE. Not much biochem. A few, maybe 3-4 EKG-based diagnoses. A lot of blurry slides, and more x-ray films than I'd been expecting.

Good luck to those of you with tests coming up.

 

[nlax30]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. It seemed like that was the general feeling most of us had coming out of COMLEX 1, especially from those of us who took USMLE as well.

 

[fredware]

.

 

[nbd13]

What's the deal with the repro/ob/gyn questions? are we talking more pathological stuff or are we talking about procedures/clinical stuff?

I would love to hear more as well....such as is First Aid good enough for the repro/ob gyn on the exam?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[irsol33t]

Just took my COMLEX-1 today... Not at all what I was expecting. Just like everyone else says - a LOT of repro, and a bunch of other random stuff that in all honesty I don't feel like tested the information that I've learned over the past 2 years / studied. The test was probably closest in difficulty to COMBANK, only with much more random material tested. I really don't know how I did, I'm just glad it's done.

Does anyone else on here feel like that was a frustrating test?

 

[nbd13]

How where the answers that were distractors/not the right answers?

In COMBANK some of the questions the answer choices are blatantly wrong....on the real deal is it like this or are the choices similar to each other?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[brucecanbeatyou]

Another question - DIT seems to think it's pretty safe not to memorize chromosome numbers - has anybody seen questions on COMSAEs or the actual tests that ask about this?

 

[Cochan]

Took the exam today I felt pretty prepared for exam. Over all its what I expected based on other users experiences on SDN. ALOT of repro, micro, and OMM. There were only pictures (bad quality unfortunately with the majority of pictures), no audio or video questions. I had about 10-15 minutes remaining at the end of each 50 questions. Finished the test feeling comfortable with my performance and amount of time I spent reviewing material during my prep. If I had one more day to study I would review limbs, more repro, MSK, and behavioral science.

Exam breakdown
Repro: PROSTATE was HUGE on my exam, breast tumors, ovarian tumors, repro endocrine, endometriosis, PCOS, Normals, OMM contraindications.
Micro: First Aid would cover everything; I had a lot of staph, salmonella, Hib, pseudomonas, a couple viruses, and a few fungi. MOA of drugs was big
OMM: limbs, muscle involved in respiration, VSR, and positioning for techniques
Biochem: not much here; G6PD, chromosome matching questions
Pharm: Micro drugs, and Psych drugs; know side effects.
Path: few pictures mainly written descriptions of HY diseases. Rheumatoid, TB, Dermatomyositis
Immuno: hypersensitivies like woah
Embryo: Meckels
Cardio: murmurs and PV loops, pericardial effusion
Neuro: probably a higher hit system during my exam; hematomas, brainstem lesions, dementias, concussion
MSK: arterial anatomy, avulsion fx of psoas, and some x-rays of shoulder that i had no clue what they were looking for, review insertions for at femur (greater trochanter, lesser trochanter etc)
Renal: I had matching section based on renal failure, CHF, and nephrotic syndrome
Endocrine: thyroid, thyroid, thyroid, know FA diagram on steroid synthesis and congenital adrenal hyperplasia
GI: Chrons, IBS, UC, Celiac, gastritis, and VSR associated
Resp: Obstructive vs Restrictive was a favorite, asthma, and MOA of drugs
Psych: pretty straight forward, know criteria from FA and you'll get em
Hemonc: lymphomas and anemia

My Breakdown
COMBANK 86%
UWorld 77%
NBME 7: 234
NBME 12: 247
COMSAE C: 634

Overall I felt COMBANK and COMSAE were the closest thing that could have prepared me but the test had nothing COMBANK questioned. I feel like the any COMLEX step 1 is more like a crap shoot but it seems consistently to emphasize repro, micro, and side effects of drugs based on other experiences.

Good luck to anyone still studying and getting ready to take the test. I'll post my scores when they come back.

 

[Altruist]

Does anyone else on here feel like that was a frustrating test?

Yup. I was trying to think of how I could've prepared better for this test... and so far I'm drawing a blank. Going through FA another time or two would've helped me on a few questions at least. But for those looking to rock the exam with an eye on competitive DO specialties, I honestly can't think of any specific pointers to help you out.

After talking to some people who went through Combank (some multiple times), the general opinion seemed to be that taking a COMSAE was helpful, but even that didn't really prepare them for the randomness.

Another question - DIT seems to think it's pretty safe not to memorize chromosome numbers - has anybody seen questions on COMSAEs or the actual tests that ask about this?

I can remember one question out of my 400 that asked for a specific chromosome, so I wouldn't dwell on them. I wasn't 100% sure on the one I was asked, but I was able to whittle down the rest of the choices to get the answer. This was in a set of matching questions with genetic disorders--things like, is this a nondisjunction/transposition/imprinting/etc. I can't remember too much else about it.

Good luck.

 

[ajndersn]

Big thanks to everyone who has been posting their experiences! As far as reproductive stuff, does First Aid have all of the material in it or would it be wise to use an outside source for some topics?

 

[dr19]

thanks for all the great feedback. does anyone have an idea if a 600 is attainable with about a 70% on COMBANK and a week to go? i know its extremely variable but anyone know if im in the ballpark? or should i just drop my expectations lol...

 

[Cochan]

Big thanks to everyone who has been posting their experiences! As far as reproductive stuff, does First Aid have all of the material in it or would it be wise to use an outside source for some topics?

FA has most of whats on the test, if you want the other stuff i'd say read the green OMM review book, and make sure you know more about contraceptive devices (IUD, OCP, condoms etc), medical ethics/law terms, and major muscle insertion/origins. im not sure what else you could cover.

 

[Cochan]

thanks for all the great feedback. does anyone have an idea if a 600 is attainable with about a 70% on COMBANK and a week to go? i know its extremely variable but anyone know if im in the ballpark? or should i just drop my expectations lol...

I think you can do it, i dunno how much of a correlation COMBANK has with COMLEX scores, but IMO i think its possible to get a 600. I felt COMBANK helped me a little bit but the questions on COMBANK didn't have the same similarity like Uworld has with the USMLE. just make sure you review what you missed on COMBANK. good luck!

 

[engineeredout]

I took COMLEX yesterday as well so I figured I'd add my $.02.

Reading what other people said makes me feel a lot better. I thought it was a very frustrating exam. It seemed to alternate between really easy questions and really WTF questions. I had USMLE last week and thought that went much better. I don't know how I could have prepared better though.

Just to give an idea for prep, I did all the USMLERx, Kaplan USMLE, Uworld questions, most kaplan COMLEX, and some COMBANK from what I borrowed from a friend (The repro, OMM, MSK, anatomy questions). Also 5 NBMEs, one COMSAE.

Repro: Yes it was disproportionally weighted on my exam, but the actual material wasn't as bad as I was expecting based upon what I've heard from other people. There were a few questions that weren't in FA or any of the review I've done, however a couple of them I was able to remember just from back when we had class.

OMM: As everyone already knows, green book = gold. I read it the day before and I know of at least 2 questions I got right specifically because of that read through. That being said, 7 days between USMLE and COMLEX was more than enough time. If anything, it was too much.

GI: Lots of GI questions. They loved barretts and such.

Psych: Good amount of psycho on it, with some disorders/treatment methods that were not in FA. Don't know how else to have prepared for this.

BS: Some ambiguous questions but wasn't too bad. Very little biostats, maybe 1-2 questions.

ALso to add, there were a bunch of Xrays that were so bad I had no idea what they were even trying to get at. The question stems didn't give the answer away, and of course these ended up being linked questions so you needed to get the first one right for the second and possibly third questions. Man I hate that form of linked questions.

Overall it was a real pain in the ass, but hopefully it went okay since it seems like a lot of my concerns were shared by other people. Glad I took USMLE first cause this probably would have destroyed my confidence.

Overall, best thing is that it is OVER!!! 3rd year here we come

 

[ajndersn]

I need some advice guys. Got 5 days before USMLE and a week before COMLEX. I've only got 160 questions left of UWorld so I'm going to finish that before but I have only done 150 combank questions. Do you think I should try and squeeze out like 250 combank questions a day or just finish UWorld, read Savarese, and review, review, review. I want to do combank too but if if it really doesn't help that much I don't want to waste my time. I know it often throws questions out of left field like the actual test but does the knowledge gained from those questions help you on the exam?

 

[devlyyn]

I just want to echo what the previous posters have said. I took USMLE a week before COMLEX and went through Savarese x2 and all of Kaplan COMLEX Q bank in between. I felt like the regular Kaplan questions were stupid and easy, however the COMLEX sim exam was much more difficult and random and felt more like the real thing. The problem with COMLEX is that it is much less of a thinking test in that most of the questions are either you know it, or you don't. The questions just have a much different feel than any of the USMLE ones, so I'm not sure if maybe doing COMBANK would have prepared me to better get into the NBOME mindset. The thing I hate is how they just give you so little information in the question stems so it makes it so difficult to reason through, its more about knowing the ''most commons''. Without giving details, an example might be "a child comes in with a severe headache and nuchal rigidity, what is the organism?" and you just have to guess what they want as the most common. USMLE on the other hand might say something like "A 15 year old comes in with a severe headache after attending summer camp. He has a temperature of 102 and nuchal rigidity is noted. CSF examination reveals and opening pressure of 10, 10,000 WBCs with scant lymphoctyes and 50 glucose. Gram stain shows gram positive cocci in chains. What is the virulence factor for the causative organism?"

So yeah, anyway aside from the different style (which I hate), I feel like the really random stuff would be random for anybody. I can't imagine where you would find the answers since they aren't in first aid. Also I was definitely surprised by some of the CXRs I had. They gave you nothing but an age and a single symptom and you had to diagnose it from the CXR. Plus it was a sequential question so if you missed the first, you missed the second. doh!

Does anybody know how long it takes to get the scores? Do they mail them or is it online?

 

[howard100]

Scores should take 4 weeks. I took COMLEX last week. I thought the test was very do-able, but I tend to have a fairly positive attitude about these things. I have friends in school who get A's on tests, but always walk out claiming they failed. Keep your confidence high! Like others said, questions tended to be "you know it or you don't".

Questions were just like the COMSAE's. I highly recommend doing one of those (I did form B and saw at least 3 questions on my real test). Kaplan comlex bank is generally too easy, but does cover the right topics. Use it as a guide. The OMM questions were generally the same scope. So if you read the whole explanations, you will be fine. I didn't use combank.

The test: Generally, micro was big. Next would be any issues regarding reproduction: male/female path, pharm, physio and micro. For micro it is essential that you know the ways bacteria are differentiated (gram, catalase, novobiocin, etc). Lots of "most common cause" in micro as well. I spent 2 hours studying OMM, but that's because I did well in class and felt well prepared (lecom-b did a very good job). OMM on the test was much easier than the questions at the end of Savarese. There were obscure questions (lower limb tender points and treatment), but majority were levels. Quick tip: a pt with peritonitis (from a perforated ulcer) has pain carried by 'peritoneal' nerves (intercostals etc), not the t5-9 sympathetic ganglion.

I could elaborate (I'm happy to answer if you have particular questions) but in general: this was a primary care test. Any issue you could immagine a primary care doc dealing with turned up on the test. Keep that in mind as you study.

As far as chromosomes go: cri-du-chat was the only one I saw (5p microdeletion)

Good luck, and remember: Confidence!

 

[howard100]

One more thing I'll add concerning the order of USMLE and COMLEX if you are taking both. Either do:

Plan A: USMLE> 2-3 days >COMLEX
or
Plan B: COMLEX early> 2 weeks > USMLE

I say this because genetics and biochem are much more detailed on USMLE, so you need to know them well. DO schools don't worry about these topics too much because they're not high-yeild for comlex (I had exactly 2 biochem questions). Either study them and do a dual prep for both tests at the same time, or add them after comlex if you take it early. I was originally doing plan A but moved to plan B. My nbme scores have gone up about 18 (3 digit usmle predicted score) points since focusing on usmle topics.

 

[nbd13]

Thanks for posting everyone!

Wondering if anyone had any calculations they had to make? Such as, did you need to memorize the equations to get the right answer?

Also, for people that took it...was COMSAE B or COMSAE C more like the actual COMLEX?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[bleeker10]

Thanks for posting everyone!

Wondering if anyone had any calculations they had to make? Such as, did you need to memorize the equations to get the right answer?

Also, for people that took it...was COMSAE B or COMSAE C more like the actual COMLEX?

Thanks,

Nick

I thought it was similar to B but I had a major brain shutdown when I took C. I made a lot of stupid mistakes and couldn't even really think when I took C which is why my score was lower. I don't feel there is any advantage of doing B instead of C and vice versa. You should take one of them so you can get an idea of the format and the types of questions they test.

 

[bleeker10]

Does anybody know how long it takes to get the scores? Do they mail them or is it online?

I was on the NBOME site and they announced that tests taken on or before April 12th are released as of last week. I'm guessing its closer to 6 weeks than 4 weeks. I'm hoping to have my score back by the end of June.

 

[PhillDOc]

Hey All,

Haven't posted here in a while, but thought I would jump in and add to previous sentiments. Took this beast yesterday. I feel like I"m suffering a bit from anterograde amnesia and can barely remember anything specific right now. OVERALL, I had a WTF feeling many times, though. I definitely agree with an above post that I don't know how I could have better prepared. There were a handful of questions I didn't know that I KNEW were in FA that I just couldn't remember, but for the most part I felt like If i had no idea, i had never seen it before. There just seemed to be things that I had literally never heard of or just couldn't figure out based on basic information. I also seemed to get waves of hard questions followed by waves of know it right away questions (I hope).

Let's see...some ob gyn dx that I had never heard of and was expected to treat, a few micro questions that were NOT in first aid. Many easy (is this really all they want) questions...omm was either straight forward or I had no idea.

I'd say overall, it was harder than I expected. I agree that it was similar to the comsaes, but since it's twice as long it's much easier to focus on all the things you dont know. I safely passed all 3 comsaes and left just hoping I passed this beast...is that normal?! I hope so...

I think the biggest "surprise" for me, was the amount of psych/behavior (which I was pleased with). There were no biostats, but every section seemed heavier than I expected on ethics/behavioral/psych questions.

I guess that's it. I really just hope I passed. It's funny (and by funny I mean rather disappointing), how my perspective and goals have changed over the past month or two. My goal of 550 has just gone to 400! haha. good luck to all.

 

[americanpie]

Exam is coming up soon. I have a Q: What kind of the foods did you guys have for lunch break? I am sure that I'll get exhausted by the time I take break for lunch and have no mood for foods. I am thinking about energy bars + energy bars to keep me awake. What do you guys think?

Thanks

 

[koojo]

Hey do you guys recommend taking the COMSAE B if I've already taken COMSAE C? Our school required us to take the COMSAE C last week and I did pretty well, and I was only half way done through DIT. I have about 2 weeks before my COMLEX, and I've finished all of the Kaplan COMLEX Qbank and almost finished with the COMBANK. I'm not sure if the COMSAE B will help me with much...it'll either boost my confidence or not. Is it also true that it's not the best representation of the current COMLEX? I heard in general that the C form was better.

 

[nbd13]

For those of you who took COMSAE B and C.....

Did you think form C was harder than B?

I took form B about 2 weeks ago before starting DIT and rocked it....now after completing DIT yesterday I took form C today and scored 5 points lower than I did on form B.....

I thought form C was much harder, but what did other people think?

I take the real deal a week from today and I'm hoping for a 600.

I got a 543 on form B and a 538 on form C just FYI.

What does everyone think? Is form C harder than B and I'm hoping the real thing is closer in difficulty to form B.

Also, any idea if a 600 is possible for me?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[mabinante]

For those of you who took COMSAE B and C.....

Did you think form C was harder than B?

I took form B about 2 weeks ago before starting DIT and rocked it....now after completing DIT yesterday I took form C today and scored 5 points lower than I did on form B.....

I thought form C was much harder, but what did other people think?

I take the real deal a week from today and I'm hoping for a 600.

I got a 543 on form B and a 538 on form C just FYI.

What does everyone think? Is form C harder than B and I'm hoping the real thing is closer in difficulty to form B.

Also, any idea if a 600 is possible for me?

Thanks,

Nick

Nick,

You are asking what a lot of people before you have asked. . .nobody on this thread has really replied. . I am guessing because it is hard to compare scores on COMSAE and COMLEX when most people have not received their scores yet.

However, I looked through last years score thread and it looked like EVERYONE did better on COMLEX than on COMSAE. I did not see a single post where they got lower on COMSAE. I would say from what I saw it was about a 20-50 point increase from COMSAE to the real deal. So. . your goal sounds attainable.

 

[Flushot]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences. I'm about 3 weeks out from taking both so it's weird to see people's thoughts on it.

 

[koojo]

To those that already took the test, did the OMT questions match up with what Savarese had? I know there is a 3rd edition of Foundations of Osteopathic Medicine, which has different viscerosomatic reflex levels than what the 2nd edition had (Savarese is based on the 2nd edition).

 

[mabinante]

To those that already took the test, did the OMT questions match up with what Savarese had? I know there is a 3rd edition of Foundations of Osteopathic Medicine, which has different viscerosomatic reflex levels than what the 2nd edition had (Savarese is based on the 2nd edition).

Yeah. . . pretty much all my OMM questions came from Savarese.

Took the test today. . I'll post my impressions by Monday. . .gotta decompress a bit.

I just have to say, whoa. People are not kidding when they say KNOW THE INNERVATION LEVELS . . I probably had 20 questions on that. Ok. . maybe just 15. . .

 

[ant8tran]

I would like to repeat what others have already said. I also had that wtf feeling walking out. I took it june 1st, same as Phildoc. I looked back in FA as well to see if I could've done better, but I felt any extra week would not have made a difference for that day's exam.
I'm glad i came to this thread to share mutual misery.

 

[americanpie]

Can I review FA during the luch break? If that could help bring me up few points, I'll do it.

 

[mabinante]

Can I review FA during the luch break? If that could help bring me up few points, I'll do it.

Yeah. . . I did. You can make phone calls, eat, do whatever you want.

I skimmed FA, don't know if it helped specifically but it could get you a couple more points. I glanced at my 4 high yield pages in Savarese too. That will get your more points probably. Tons of OMM . . .

 

[nbd13]

Yeah. . . I did. You can make phone calls, eat, do whatever you want.

I skimmed FA, don't know if it helped specifically but it could get you a couple more points. I glanced at my 4 high yield pages in Savarese too. That will get your more points probably. Tons of OMM . . .

If you don't mind me asking...what are the 4 pages you marked as high yield? I'm guessing chapman points, viscerosomatics, but what else?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[OneChance28]

Alright. . .I know everyone is scoring like 80-90% in combank but I have 3 days until I test, 700 ?s left in combank and I'm still averaging 50%. . .it that a sign of eminant doom?

Any suggestions for me for my last few days? Reading savarese and FA and finishing combank is the plan. . .

I know this was posted a little bit a go and you have taken the test by now but I'm in a similar situation as you were. What did you do to get yourself ready in the last three days? How did the test go if don't mind me asking? I have some time before my COMLEX but I am not very confident at the moment. I will be taking the COMSAE C soon and feel it may not go so well. I don't know if A counts b/c although I did not do well, I had not started studying at all before I took it.

So far I have been doing FA, Falcon FA review, Uworld, and COMBANK.
Doing third run of FA now. After about 1100 ?s I am stuck at 45-50% for Uworld with 45 question blocks. I've only done a hundred questions on COMBANK so far and scores are all over the place.

Any advice anyone?

 

[Hootenanny]

I know this was posted a little bit a go and you have taken the test by now but I'm in a similar situation as you were. What did you do to get yourself ready in the last three days? How did the test go if don't mind me asking? I have some time before my COMLEX but I am not very confident at the moment. I will be taking the COMSAE C soon and feel it may not go so well. I don't know if A counts b/c although I did not do well, I had not started studying at all before I took it.

So far I have been doing FA, Falcon FA review, Uworld, and COMBANK.
Doing third run of FA now. After about 1100 ?s I am stuck at 45-50% for Uworld with 45 question blocks. I've only done a hundred questions on COMBANK so far and scores are all over the place.

Any advice anyone?

How far are you out? (from the test)

Honestly man, it's just all about doing questions... I could sit around here and say learn repro and learn neuro, pharm, and oh yeah some micro while you are at it.

It's interesting... the boards are in a lot of ways similar to the mcat. Once you did enough practice questions and studying for the mcat, you knew exactly what was going to be on that test. You figure out the topics they like and what they test on just from seeing them over and over. It's the same **** with the boards. You do questions and after doing a couple thousand you begin to see the motifs in the cloth. And even if you don't immediately know the answer to a question, you are able to narrow down an answer based on what you know is stuff they love to test on ("high-yield"). You could see a drug and say, "I've never even seen that drug" and from the experience of answering thousands of questions... that is a valuable observation b/c 99 times out of a 100, if I say that, I'm not picking that answer.

First time through combank I was around 65% but second time around I up near 80% (and I'm not boosting I mean doing questions you have seen within a month should be doable)... and it's helping. I did comsae c and b within the last week and got above 500 on both. Test is on Wed the 8th (I'll post with reactions).

Put your head down and do questions... I think it's the best way to learn board material.

To everyone else and you onechance, let's do this... we can all do this, we know this material. Trust your gut and keep your cool. All right, enough pep talk. Good luck!!

 

[americanpie]

I am taking this beast tomorrow. Any tip before I go? One more thing, besides the confirmation letter, 2 photo IDs (driver license and US Passport), anything I should bring to the testing center?

Thanks guys

 

[OneChance28]

Appreciate the advice and the pep talk. I still got a few weeks to go before my test. Hopefully I can see some good gain by the time I take C, I will take B a week later and after that the real deal.
I agree doing questions pays off. After every block in world I have been reviewing while taking note and more then once they have come to help in other blocks. I guess I'm just going to keep pushing forward with reviewing and doing more questions.

Good Luck on your test and to everyone else taking it soon

 

[OneChance28]

Put your head down and do questions... I think it's the best way to learn board material.

To everyone else and you onechance, let's do this... we can all do this, we know this material. Trust your gut and keep your cool. All right, enough pep talk. Good luck!!

Appreciate the advice and the pep talk. I still got a few weeks to go before my test. Hopefully I can see some good gain by the time I take C, I will take B a week later, and after that it's the real deal.
I agree doing questions pays off. After every block in Uworld I have been reviewing while taking notes and more then once they have come to help in other blocks. I guess I'm just going to keep pushing forward with reviewing and doing more questions.

Good Luck on your test and to everyone else taking it soon

Btw: Anyone who has used Savarese to study for the OTM portion (I'm guessing most), is the book doable in a couple days of only reading it? I was thinking of waiting to study the OTM in the last three or four days before the test using just Savarese.

 

[brucecanbeatyou]

So here's a question...

FA says the unhappy triad is ACL+MCL+Lateral meniscus

Savarese says the unhappy triad is ACL+MCL+Medial meniscus (classic, has been this way for years)

DIT (and wikipedia) says - ACL+MCL+ either lateral or medial meniscus, but it is lateral more often, according to research done in the 90's

So you're taking COMLEX and a kid gets a lateral hit to the knee, what do you put? (and you know they're not actually going to give you any results from physical exam)

I think I'd put ACL+MCL+medial meniscus... I wouldn't be surprised if they stuck to the "classic" triad.

 

[nbd13]

So here's a question...

FA says the unhappy triad is ACL+MCL+Lateral meniscus

Savarese says the unhappy triad is ACL+MCL+Medial meniscus (classic, has been this way for years)

DIT (and wikipedia) says - ACL+MCL+ either lateral or medial meniscus, but it is lateral more often, according to research done in the 90's

So you're taking COMLEX and a kid gets a lateral hit to the knee, what do you put? (and you know they're not actually going to give you any results from physical exam)

I think I'd put ACL+MCL+medial meniscus... I wouldn't be surprised if they stuck to the "classic" triad.

I doubt they would put both "correct" answers, ie. MCL, ACL and lateral meniscus and MCL, ACL and medial meniscus.....

If in the unfortunate event they put both....I would go with the most current version, ACL, MCL and LATERAL meniscus....I've seen it on COMBANK with the lateral and on UWorld with the lateral menisuc so I would go with that.

But again, I doubt they put both answers because from talking to an orthopedic surgeon it's like 60% lateral and 40% medial....so pretty close to call.

Nick

 

[dr19]

So here's a question...

FA says the unhappy triad is ACL+MCL+Lateral meniscus

Savarese says the unhappy triad is ACL+MCL+Medial meniscus (classic, has been this way for years)

DIT (and wikipedia) says - ACL+MCL+ either lateral or medial meniscus, but it is lateral more often, according to research done in the 90's

So you're taking COMLEX and a kid gets a lateral hit to the knee, what do you put? (and you know they're not actually going to give you any results from physical exam)

I think I'd put ACL+MCL+medial meniscus... I wouldn't be surprised if they stuck to the "classic" triad.

i think i'd go ACL, MCL, and lateral meniscus, first aid and COMBANK have them as the "unhappy triad"

 

[DoctaJMa]

Appreciate the advice and the pep talk. I still got a few weeks to go before my test. Hopefully I can see some good gain by the time I take C, I will take B a week later, and after that it's the real deal.
I agree doing questions pays off. After every block in Uworld I have been reviewing while taking notes and more then once they have come to help in other blocks. I guess I'm just going to keep pushing forward with reviewing and doing more questions.

Good Luck on your test and to everyone else taking it soon

Btw: Anyone who has used Savarese to study for the OTM portion (I'm guessing most), is the book doable in a couple days of only reading it? I was thinking of waiting to study the OTM in the last three or four days before the test using just Savarese.

The book is readable in a day or two...half the book is questions.