Any Recent test takers with advice?

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The kitchen sink

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Can anyone who has recently taken the Comlex speak about their experience please?
What was emphasized, what was not?

I heard that they are low yield on Biostats, biochem and embryo and more HY on Ob/gyn, Repro and clinical micro/pharm?

Thanks!!

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Btw, I just took COMSAE Form A and got a 477, I am exactly one month ahead of my scheduled exam date which is June 22.

The COMSAE was so wierd. Questions were wierd, there was barely any embryo. There were a lot of tough anatomy and Micro questions, like stuff that is def not in FA. There is a biochem breakdown section that I had poor performance in, I dont even remember seeing one question on it. The pharm was heavy on drug MOA, and stuff like that. I'm not sure what to make of the test, are these actual old questions from previous Comlex exams? Should I hit my weakness areas according to their breakdown, which is confusing as hell, like what is 'Human development-related'? My other weakness are Pathology and Biochem so I guess I will have to work on that since the Comlex is heavy on Pathology at least. I also remember seeing a lot of Neuro questions, like artery occlusion related. Also, I didnt seem to see many OB/gyn questions which i heard are crazy on Comlex but I guess the Comsae is just one exam.

Would anyone have any advice on how to study? Should I do DIT and then take another COMSAE after? If any previous Comlex takers or current students preparing can chime in?

I know that I haven't studied (didnt even read the Green book yet bc i was told to leave this towards the end also) everything once yet so some advice wud be appreciated...
also what does a 477 predict about my score? thanks guys.
 
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What you've heard is very accurate, jump. Biochem and embryo don't have much of a representation, although do appear. For instance, the first question on my COMLEX was on hereditary fructose intolerance, so my advice would be to know the pathology found in these sections in First Aid.

Pathology is, of course, huge - especially reproductive and OB/GYN (lots and lots of bleeding vaginas). Micro is huge, although tends to test extremely esoteric facts and exotic bugs. You're right, a lot of it is not in FA. OMM is a good 20-25% of the test, though for the most part very simple. People tend to consider these free points that serve as a buffer. What's in the Sevarese is more than enough. I can also post a condensed study guide that'll have 90% of what you'll see.

For now, just hit FA and question banks hard. If you're a fast reader or have already gone through a qbank, you could try throwing in another pathology resource. RR or Goljan audio are always popular choices. Kaplan videos are fairly long but quite good. Pathoma seems to be hot ****. Pick one and stick with it, cover-to-cover.

The COMLEX mean score is 500, so at 477 you're pretty close to but still below average. The good news is that with a month of dedicated studying ahead of you that score can easily jump up 100-200 points.
 
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What you've heard is very accurate, jump. Biochem and embryo don't have much of a representation, although do appear. For instance, the first question on my COMLEX was on hereditary fructose intolerance, so my advice would be to know the pathology found in these sections in First Aid.

Pathology is, of course, huge - especially reproductive and OB/GYN (lots and lots of bleeding vaginas). Micro is huge, although tends to test extremely esoteric facts and exotic bugs. You're right, a lot of it is not in FA. OMM is a good 20-25% of the test, though for the most part very simple. People tend to consider these free points that serve as a buffer. What's in the Sevarese is more than enough. I can also post a condensed study guide that'll have 90% of what you'll see.

For now, just hit FA and question banks hard. If you're a fast reader or have already gone through a qbank, you could try throwing in another pathology resource. RR or Goljan audio are always popular choices. Kaplan videos are fairly long but quite good. Pathoma seems to be hot ****. Pick one and stick with it, cover-to-cover.

The COMLEX mean score is 500, so at 477 you're pretty close to but still below average. The good news is that with a month of dedicated studying ahead of you that score can easily jump up 100-200 points.

Hey, thanks for the post Andy. I have been on and off Pathoma, but I think now I will try to review one chapter a night. I listen to Goljan Audio on car rides, when I cant' read anymore or just need a mental break and want to passively listen, and its a great way to fill in the gaps and remind me of stuff that slowly just keeps slipping out of my mind (ex/ Phenytoin blocks intestinal conjugase -> folate deficiency).

I use to do about 20 Uworld questions to get my mind up to speed but I am just way to slow with going over the questions because I want to learn the concept thoroughly, so since I am taking my COMLEX on June 22 and have the USMLE scheduled a month later, I think I will make a switch to COMBANK completely. I have finished about 50% of UWORLD so I feel like I've learned a good amount from it for now, but after taking the COMSAE, the question style is highly comparable to the COMBANK and I found myself over thinking many questions because of the way my mind was trained to approach UWORLD questions.

Also, I am doing DIT, which I will complete on June 9th-10th, leaving me about 11 days to review FA + do questions, review weaknesses and probably learn all of OMM.

I'm interested in the condensed study guide, I hear Saverese is lacking in some Chapman points that may appear on the exam and I plan on maximizing on the OMM questions, even though right now I have barely any time to get to it. So if you could post it, that would be great!
 
Here you go: http://www.mediafire.com/file/o7ha49ypzsgymli/OMM.doc

The only sections I put into this document are those that appeared on my COMLEX. Pretty vague, I know, but it's in the interest of not violating privacy agreements, and all of it's pretty high yield. I would not bother with thoracic or rib counterstrain (just cervical). I would bother with the sections that are fully-highlighted, as many questions will come from those.

I, of course, can't guarantee that your test will have the same focus as mine did, but the couple of classmates I gave this to agreed that it covered most of OMM on their tests.
 
Here you go: http://www.mediafire.com/file/o7ha49ypzsgymli/OMM.doc

The only sections I put into this document are those that appeared on my COMLEX. Pretty vague, I know, but it's in the interest of not violating privacy agreements, and all of it's pretty high yield. I would not bother with thoracic or rib counterstrain (just cervical). I would bother with the sections that are fully-highlighted, as many questions will come from those.

I, of course, can't guarantee that your test will have the same focus as mine did, but the couple of classmates I gave this to agreed that it covered most of OMM on their tests.
Awesome thanks!!
 
Here you go: http://www.mediafire.com/file/o7ha49ypzsgymli/OMM.doc

The only sections I put into this document are those that appeared on my COMLEX. Pretty vague, I know, but it's in the interest of not violating privacy agreements, and all of it's pretty high yield. I would not bother with thoracic or rib counterstrain (just cervical). I would bother with the sections that are fully-highlighted, as many questions will come from those.

I, of course, can't guarantee that your test will have the same focus as mine did, but the couple of classmates I gave this to agreed that it covered most of OMM on their tests.

Thanks! Probably low risk, but just incase, you might want to remove your name from the document info and re-post.
 
Not especially worried about it, since I didn't reproduce questions or single out key words with my highlighting. Just class notes. :)
 
Here you go: http://www.mediafire.com/file/o7ha49ypzsgymli/OMM.doc

The only sections I put into this document are those that appeared on my COMLEX. Pretty vague, I know, but it's in the interest of not violating privacy agreements, and all of it's pretty high yield. I would not bother with thoracic or rib counterstrain (just cervical). I would bother with the sections that are fully-highlighted, as many questions will come from those.

I, of course, can't guarantee that your test will have the same focus as mine did, but the couple of classmates I gave this to agreed that it covered most of OMM on their tests.

Thank you good sir
 
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