Advice for a below average osteopathic student like me

[Jesus DO]

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Hi everyone, I just wanted to hear some comments by people in the forum. Well, about me:

I am at an osteopathic school
I am at the bottom 15% of my class
I am pretty much a below average student that got a lot of 74s and 75s.
I am consistently below average in pretty much everything.
I am consistently scoring about 48-52% on USMLE World. For the past I don't know how long!

About a little more than a week ago, I tooked the COMSAE and scored 387 (the passing score on the comlex is 400)

And today I just finnished the NBME Form 1 about half an hour ago and did terrible! The score said 350 and when I looked over it said that this meant I'd probably get a 178 on the USMLE.

Well. Considering how I borderline failed the COMLEX, and now I just borderlined failed the USMLE - I am in a state of disbelief and also some panic. I take the COMLEX on the 20th of June and the USMLE on the 25th.

I haven't formally started anatomy or biochemistry or genetics or OPP yet - and that really worries me! However I noticed that the NBME 1, there weren't many anatomy questions as the COMSAE. But the NBME had a lot of biochemistry, gentics, and statistical questions which are absent on the COMSAE.

I searched around on SDN and I ran across a thread where several of you MD students said the NBME 1 was "the easiest"

Really?

Well if it really is the easiest, then I am in trouble.

About the COMSAE, there is a poster - DragonWell, who made a thread about the COMSAE and there was talk about how the COMSAE was indeed reflective of the what the real COMLEX would be like. NBME 1 had a number of gentics and biochem questions - which I had very little clue as to what to answer. So my question everyone here is: Should I not take the USMLE, and just concentrate on anatomy and OPP in order to pass the COMLEX?

I still have two weeks to go before COMLEX, and then five days later the USMLE. I was considering ignoring biochem and gentics until after the COMLEX was over - but now after taking NBME 1, I think that would a very bad idea since 5 days will not be enough time to cover biochem and gentics. Should I just reschedule everything?

Sorry if any of this sounds weird or anything like that. I'm just worried now. I appreciate any comments or advise.

Thank you for your comments.

 

[jtre506]

Dont be so hard on yourself, Im sure with some more practice you will pass.
Try using the Kaplan Biochem book, First aid biochem ch. is also good
I think the ave score on USMLE world is around 56% so your pretty close, also make sure you read the explanation.
How was the practice comlex I heard it was poorly written

Keep your head up

 

[Proverbs31]

From what I hear you say....Kinda seems like you have a "defeated" mentality already. Both these tests are a mind game. You can't go in there already worried about passing and feeling defeated. First off...I STRONGLY believe if you know your stuff you can do well on both the COMLEX and USMLE. So please, don't think otherwise. 2nd-you'll find plenty of people on here that were "Average" students and put forth the time and effort and did fantastic on boards. So you CAN do the same.
I dont think you can accurately judge how you will do based on a practice test you took when you have not even completed ALL the material ONCE...not even one time through! So cheer up.....
Refocus....Make a schedule of how you will cover all the material. If it can NOT be done before the 20th and leaving a few days to review...Then I STRONGLY suggest rescheduling your date. Let me explain what I mean by that----I am NOT suggesting you push the date back to putt around and half a** study. I am only suggesting you PUSH the date back if you will put forth the same time and effort so that you can get a grasp on the material and take the test prepared. There's a lot of hype about NOT pushing back dates. That stems from the fact that many people push dates back only to coninually push dates back and find more excuses to not study, get too busy or they fear the test so much that they become overwhelmed and get further behind. If thats you, then Dont push it back. But I have several DO and MD friends that pushed dates back and did fine--all the while being on "harder rotations" ...studied while on rotations and made 570 COMLEX and a 237 USMLE....which arent "bad" scores. So ANYTHING " CAN" be done if you set your priorities straight and get your mind with the right attitude. FYI--there IS biochem on COMLEX....DO NOT ignore that subject. 2 of my best friends took COMLEX 3 weeks ago and both stated that it had PLENTY of Biochem on their particular exams (Lipid disorders, enzymes, lysozomal storage diseases etc) Just my 2 cents.
SO Sorry this is turning into a book but you seem genuine and I really want you to know that IT CAN BE DONE...You CAN push a Date back and the only TRUE way to get an estimate of how you will do is to take a test when youve been given all the info (i.e. gone thru ALL the material)....at least thats as close as we can get to an estimate. Some people do alot better...and vice versa. Figure out what you want to do...if you want to CONSISTENTLY stay average...plan that study schedule....but regardless Please PLEASE do not feel rushed to take an exam that you do not feel prepared for ...This is an important exam...dont take a chance on screwing up and having to fork out more money to retake it and possibly hurting your chances of obtaining the residency that makes you happy. Stay positive with whatever you decide and go for it. 🙂

 

[crys20]

hey buddy, i don't really know what to tell you other than hang in there. 48-52% on uworld isn't bad, those questions are hard. and hey, the professors at my school say that certain nbme's being easy/hard is all a big urban legend, because they're all scaled in a standardized way. i don't know anything about the COMSAE, but it looks like you're right there for passing the USMLE. i agree to push the test back as much as you need to get the score you realistically want/need, i have known people who made up a rotation during 4th year, who cares. the above advice looks really good. try to keep your head up and keep pushing, i will be thinking of you! good luck 🙂

 

[DragonWell]

Personally, I would not spend too much time worrying about the score you got from the COMSAE. Perhaps this assessment will turn out to be very accurate in predicting scores, perhaps not, but IMO, at this point it remains to be seen how closely the COMSAE will predict your real score. I do feel it's useful in that it reflected the way they ask the questions and the general material they're interested in, but the real thing was definitely easier than the COMSAE.

Just my opinion, but unless you have a really good reason for needing to take the USMLE, I would seriously consider putting that on the back burner for the moment and focusing all your energy on COMLEX prep. Failing the USMLE isn't going to open any doors, and I'm not sure that barely passing it would either. At this point your priority should be COMLEX, and anything that distracts you from that should be put aside.

Again, this is all my opinion, take any of it that works for you and leave the rest. If you put the work in, I have no doubt you can pass this test, but you will have to really step it up for the next two weeks. You need to be studying at least 12 hours a day and you need to triage your studying to focus on any high yield subjects which are weaknesses, before looking at any new information.

Important questions: What resources are you using? How much of them have you gotten through?

The way that I look at it, there are a lot of "bread and butter" questions on the COMLEX which test familiar material - OMM innervations, basic neuro, innervations of skin and muscles, basic drug MOAs, identifying the bacteria for certain type of illness - meningitis, pneumonia, etc. You need to make sure that you are set up to get every one of these questions right. I cannot overemphasize how important it is to know that table of sympathetic innervations from OMM - these will keep coming up on the test and they are super-easy points if you know that table.

In short, this is not the time to start trying to learn everything about RFLPs, homebox domains and other minutiae you may not have encountered before. Instead, you need to get very solid on things like nerve injuries in the extremities, renal phys, cardiac phys & drugs, basic bugs, antibiotics, CNS meds, etc. so you can really nail those questions. There will always be some left-field questions, but I really think that if you can strengthen your foundation in the basics a bit, you won't have any trouble passing this test.

Best of luck!

 

[lilzelda2]

Failing the USMLE isn't going to open any doors, and I'm not sure that barely passing it would either. At this point your priority should be COMLEX, and anything that distracts you from that should be put aside.

I agree with this, your not aiming for a pass on the USMLE but your aiming to do well. I would push back the exam.

 

[Taus]

I agree w/ what has been said.

There is absolutely no good reason to take the USMLE as a DO unless you are certain that you will at least do around the avg (ie 215ish).

Focus your energy on the COMLEX and push the USMLE back (or cancel it if you never get a decent NBME score).

Good luck