Advice / Help: 26 days to Comlex

[kitkatblue]

What should I be doing? What am I missing here in my prep?
Which COMSEA practice exams and materials are out there to take? I know there are THREE COMSEA exams

-UWORLD: 55% done with 45% correct so far. I plan to do stop UWORLD(?) in a couple of days and switch to TRUELearn? Or continue to hammer 80 UWORLD, with Truelearn supplement with OMM/ethics etc

-Ankicards for Savarse/ Chapman point flashcards :at the end of the day after studying uworld review.

So far:

2 blocks of UWORLD (40Q each ) and review
2 hours of content review
30 mins of OMM review

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[Spectreman]

I’m just another 2nd year, getting my butt kicked too... but 45% correct isn’t good. You should really go harder on content review, 4-6 hours of serious content review. Take a practice NBME or one of the combank exams. Do something like that to get a score report so you can focus on your weakest systems or subjects.

I have a lot of friends relying HEAVILY on Uworld reviews and they’re NOT improving. You need to step back and tackle your weakest subject.

 

[kitkatblue]

That's what I needed to hear. THAT THIS NOT GOOD.

I have a score report from a practice test at school and will do again tomorrow.

My strategy is MSS/NUERO focused 40 Q and then review 5am-11ish.. <break, lunch gym> 1:30-6pm : 40Q random and fast review.<break, short>
then do break. <30 min break> and then do 3 hours of Content review/weak areas in the conference room.

 

[908377]

Is there a reason you are only doing 30 minutes of OMM review? That seems low considering it's up to 20% of the exam. I would focus intensely on chapmans points, viscerosomatics, counterstrain treatments and tenderpoints, and cranial/sacral. Those will likely be where the majority of your test questions come from. Volume is volume and I'd mitigate the chances of a lower score by focusing your efforts on topics likely to be the bulk of your exam.

I would also continue to focus on mastery of UWorld + OMG OMT/Savarese exclusively and ditch the TrueLearn bank for now. I don't see them teaching you anything that UW hasn't already/won't, and the questions give you a false sense of security that you're fine when in fact they are (imo) hardly representative of the true difficulty of questions. I also like that OMG OMT has reviews of Chapman's/Tender Points in table format (and if I recall correctly I think Savarese has Chapman's Points review as well) which tend to be among the most commonly asked questions in terms of sheer volume. I would focus on those trickly "points" and other areas of OMM where they can be easily learned by table studying, per above.

The internet gives COMLEX a lot of grief for all its imperfections, but after all, roughly 1-in-5 questions is OMM which is pretty nice if you ask me. Definitely feasible to get a good score having played your cards right when studying.

Good luck! You will do great

 

[kitkatblue]

@broadstreet, thank you.

I am realizing that I have spend 0 time on OMM and that's no good. Even 30 mins ISN'T enough and DON'T WAIT until last week of exam to "cram"omm b.c that will not work for me.

What I am ditching: no need to take 1 hour yoga class EVERY DAY. I mean I can it even couple of days or so to freshen things up if needed but not every day. Just go to a sauna/stream room at the end of the day and take walking breaks around the block/area. But on the other hand it's only one hour and It allows me to efficient areas and its imp to give mind that focus relax and rest.

I am also ditching getting up at 4:30am b/c I haven't been able to do.
6am up: shower meditate prep meal
7am : get out the door and do one 40 block of MSS/Nuero + review

12-1/2ish: Lunch work out break

2-6: do another Random-subject block and review.

<short break>
6-9:30: Content, BnB videos - OMM review intense
9:45pm out the door, sauna,stream just relax the mind and body , no need to ponder
10:15pm-10:30pm home and go to sleep straight away. no need to "think" and "worry"

 

[kitkatblue]

Also @broadstreet COMSEA ---take one a week ?

Do Truelearn for COMBank questions?

 

[908377]

Also @broadstreet COMSEA ---take one a week ?

Do Truelearn for COMBank questions?

Do you mean the OMM questions specifically?

 

[kitkatblue]

Do you mean the OMM questions specifically?

yes that's what i meant. OMM questions with the green book and Truelearn?
COMSEA practice exam one per week?
Could you comment on my daily schedule please? even if it's just encouragement

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

-UWORLD: 55% done with 45% correct so far. I plan to do stop UWORLD(?) in a couple of days and switch to TRUELearn? Or continue to hammer 80 UWORLD, with Truelearn supplement with OMM/ethics etc

You have significant content deficits that you need to hit. Don't touch TrueLearn with a 10 foot pole as it is completely worthless. I disagree that you should be studying more OMM when it's clear you have significant deficits in the other areas. OMM might make up 20% of the test but those other areas combine to make 80%.... 30 minutes a day is plenty right now, especially when reports are coming in from my classmates that the OMM on this new blueprint isn't really stuff you can prepare for by memorizing stuff out of Savarese.

 

[68PGUN]

yes that's what i meant. OMM questions with the green book and Truelearn?
COMSEA practice exam one per week?
Could you comment on my daily schedule please? even if it's just encouragement

You obviously have knowledge gap deficiency. Right now, you need to ditch that Truelearn pos.

Here's what you should do if you have done 55% of UW on random. Look at your performance and look for the 3 weakest areas.

From 6 AM- 12 PM, I want you to do 3-4 blocks of 40 quests on random, plus review with notes either on ANKI cards or a notebook of stuff you got wrong. Gym time from 2 PM - 4 PM. From 5 PM to 10 PM, I want you to use UFAPS to study your weakest areas. Make sure you know Pathoma cold on those sections. Last 1-2 hrs before bedtime at midnight is to review your ANKI cards or notes of UW wrongs. Repeat everyday for the next 4 weeks and appreciate the gains. Check that performance guideline every 5 days, and readjust your focus on other areas.

I have taken Step 1, and will use the same method to take Step 2.

 

[908377]

yes that's what i meant. OMM questions with the green book and Truelearn?
COMSEA practice exam one per week?
Could you comment on my daily schedule please? even if it's just encouragement

Agree with others here that have suggested NOT using COMBANK. It's a poor product.
Hit your content-weak areas as described above.
When you're ready to do OMM, either do COMSAEs or buy OMG OMT for practice questions.
I am not a fan of the green book but to each their own.
Also remember this is SDN, so you will get a thousand opinions if you ask. Always do what works for you 🙂

 

[Kalam]

Unpopular opinion from me, but if you're only getting 45% correct on UWorld, like others have said, you have a big knowledge gap. I think people get really focused on "DOING ALL OF UWORLD!!!!!111!" which works fantastically for people who have a solid foundation already, but not for someone in your position. Perhaps others in this thread can chime in if I'm wrong, but I'd suggest spending more time per day LEARNING material outside of UWorld and then supplementing with UWorld questions after you have learned the material.

 

[Spectreman]

Unpopular opinion from me, but if you're only getting 45% correct on UWorld, like others have said, you have a big knowledge gap. I think people get really focused on "DOING ALL OF UWORLD!!!!!111!" which works fantastically for people who have a solid foundation already, but not for someone in your position. Perhaps others in this thread can chime in if I'm wrong, but I'd suggest spending more time per day LEARNING material outside of UWorld and then supplementing with UWorld questions after you have learned the material.

Can confirm, I have several friends who finished Uworld before dedicated because they were convinced that was the silver bullet and they’re getting absolutely crushed right now.

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Just another opinion from a stranger, but if I were you, I would do an NBME to figure out where your worst 2-3 areas are. Or look at the UWorld breakdown you have right now and see if there are a couple subjects that blatantly stick out as weak areas.

Afterwards I take those 2-3 subjects & aggressively attack those areas for a couple days with systems-specific practice questions in UWorld to make sure you are learning it well enough to apply it while you content review.

I would repeat the above until you've hit all of the main systems in UWorld & then switch back to random/timed & continue to attack your weakest spots day to day.

& as far as OMT goes I wouldn't do anything more than your Anki cards for chapmans & counterstain right now, and not a lot of time/day. You've had OMM non-stop the past 2 years. You probably have a pretty solid understanding of the big ideas/concepts by now & shouldn't need more than a few days to generally review them. Maybe mix in OMT-specific questions once you start scoring 60%+ on UWorld random/timed (or some kind of goal like that.)

 

[Alkaidius]

Something to consider is how you use UWorld. Just getting through it isn't enough. If I happen to actually not know something (like genuinely never seen or forgot rather than UWorld's silly "GOTCHA!'s"), I either sift through Sketchy Path to find it in there somewhere (if there's a Sketch for it, it's in there 80-90% of the time) to help ingrain it into my memory or I make my own mnemonic and kinda sticky note it in front of my face somewhere.

I feel like a lot of people that do all of UWorld and don't succeed are the one's not doing anything like that. Even though I can't seem to break into 60% the rare time I see a repeat or I saw something similar on a COMSAE I don't miss it. I don't really get people's "you'll see your score rise the more you do" because I'm using it as a learning tool. If I don't know it, I'm not magically gonna get it. I'll get it wrong sink my % and learn it from the frustration. If the UWorld % is poop but, for example, the NBMEs are steadily rising, I think it's doing it's job just right. Otherwise I agree.

@AnatomyGrey12 I was originally gonna do as much UWorld2.0 + COMBANK MSK/OMM for the last two weeks before my COMLEX, but seeing you take a massive dump on Truelearn on basically every Thread is making me strongly reconsider lol. So you think OMGOMT is the better direction to go?

 

[kitkatblue]

One month guys.

I keep having thoughts like take a year off (I took many many years off before medschool anyways) but dont want to live one more year of no-pay-limbo hell (no interest in research), but it's final now. I hired a tutor to help provide specific improvement tips

Part of me says that look, i doubted this whole-doc-path (even though i believe in my capabilites)- why not do as well as possible so i have a better options even if it comes at a cost (of possible 1 year)? I realized that being a minority single female, rural America wouldn't be as international for me (even though my schools loves rural PCPs) and in the long term, I'd have much better quality of life in a major metro city-ish or city-ish place. I also realized that PCP may not be my dream and i may like to do speciality (IM and fellowship or just IM or something else). So why not do as much as possible to match "well" instead of being stuck in a no-good-place in the middle of nowhere for a match spot.


You have some understanding of what I'm going through so any words , your perspective, encouragemnet / keep them coming!

 

[kitkatblue]

Just another opinion from a stranger, but if I were you, I would do an NBME to figure out where your worst 2-3 areas are. Or look at the UWorld breakdown you have right now and see if there are a couple subjects that blatantly stick out as weak areas.

Afterwards I take those 2-3 subjects & aggressively attack those areas for a couple days with systems-specific practice questions in UWorld to make sure you are learning it well enough to apply it while you content review.

I would repeat the above until you've hit all of the main systems in UWorld & then switch back to random/timed & continue to attack your weakest spots day to day.

& as far as OMT goes I wouldn't do anything more than your Anki cards for chapmans & counterstain right now, and not a lot of time/day. You've had OMM non-stop the past 2 years. You probably have a pretty solid understanding of the big ideas/concepts by now & shouldn't need more than a few days to generally review them. Maybe mix in OMT-specific questions once you start scoring 60%+ on UWorld random/timed (or some kind of goal like that.)

Thanks, yes- doing system-specific aggressive attacks atm.I'm just doing one subject per 2-3 days b.c if I take more than 1 system, I can't focus well on the one subject.

Got a tutor but tutor cant' push me or do anything. It's up to me to utilize that time with them but they aren't end all or be all. Just a supplement.


Also doing my 40 Random block in the morning just so i don't forget things or just keep'em sharp. Then switch to 50Q and then review. Gym and then topics for video learning.

I

 

[Medic741]

What should I be doing? What am I missing here in my prep?
Which COMSEA practice exams and materials are out there to take? I know there are THREE COMSEA exams

-UWORLD: 55% done with 45% correct so far. I plan to do stop UWORLD(?) in a couple of days and switch to TRUELearn? Or continue to hammer 80 UWORLD, with Truelearn supplement with OMM/ethics etc

-Ankicards for Savarse/ Chapman point flashcards :at the end of the day after studying uworld review.

So far:

2 blocks of UWORLD (40Q each ) and review
2 hours of content review
30 mins of OMM review

Instead of Anki'ing for the Chapman points do this a few times until you can do it from memory. Draw it on one of your whiteboards as a 'reference' to keep throughout the test. IMO it's a total waste of time to memorize the discrete points/VS levels when it takes way less time / is more accurate to draw it out on a reference sheet (have taken COMLEX, these are the resources I used and found helpful):



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="How to Draw Out Anterior Chapman's Points for COMLEX - YouTube" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And for viscerosomatics:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="Viscero-somatics For COMLEX Level I - YouTube" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Get the Saverese OMT review book. Do all the OMTreview.com OMM review questions. Read through first aid and make sure you're hitting on all cylinders for the *basics* ie restrictive vs. obstructive / optho visual field defects etc. especially given your UWORLD average. Fill in those basic knowledge gaps. Physeo might be a really good fit because if you're scoring that low your understanding of basic A/P could probably use some foundational help

 

[kitkatblue]

Ok so take away here is:
1) put time into OMM as well DAILY.
- use the OMT Savarese with online access -get the subscription or just use limited resource?
-or try to find OMG OMT?

 

[Medic741]

Ok so take away here is:
1) put time into OMM as well DAILY.
- use the OMT Savarese with online access -get the subscription or just use limited resource?
-or try to find OMG OMT?

I used the limited access b/c I was not about to shell out a few hundred dollars for content that UWORLD/Combank already covers really well and didn't feel like I missed anything.

You could try OMG OMT but last time I checked they weren't taking any new subscribers citing that their website 'couldn't handle the volume' of new subscribers which is really bizarre given the painfully simple options available to fix something like that.

Gaining the OMM knowledge necessary should be pretty straight forward/sufficient through the omtreview.com bank and the saverese book.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Ok so take away here is:
1) put time into OMM as well DAILY.
- use the OMT Savarese with online access -get the subscription or just use limited resource?
-or try to find OMG OMT?

The OME OMM videos are all you need coupled with the chapman's point chart above (which you honestly might need for 1 question, there aren't many chapman's points on the new blueprint from my n=8 of my friends that have taken it). I used a different viscerosomatic chart from YouTube with lines but the one above looks like essentially the same thing. Write that out on your scratch paper and you'll be fine.

 

[kitkatblue]

OME OMM video? Is that savarese online?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

OME OMM video? Is that savarese online?

No, Online Med Ed

and it's free