COMAT exams and COVID

[deleted996361]

Has anyone's school made a plan for what they're going to be doing for the 3rd years who have to take a COMAT exam for this block? Our school still hasn't said anything and ours is next week. People don't know if they can go home or not because of this

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Chibucks15]

Has anyone's school made a plan for what they're going to be doing for the 3rd years who have to take a COMAT exam for this block? Our school still hasn't said anything and ours is next week. People don't know if they can go home or not because of this

Ours suspended them and are working with NBOME to create an online delivery system. They said the earliest would be April 3rd. I was supposed to have a COMAT last Thursday

 

[popopopop]

^Same. We got one this Friday and next Monday.

 

[samac]

I have a strong suspicion that COMAT scores are going to make a dramatic increase

 

[Chibucks15]

I have a strong suspicion that COMAT scores are going to make a dramatic increase

I thought that too, but I have found I have no motivation and I'm hemorrhaging info by the day. Without a deadline its hard to space out studying, and I studied so I would peak when I was supposed to take my exam (1 week ago). I guess we'll see though

 

[Prehealth1011]

I have a strong suspicion that COMAT scores are going to make a dramatic increase

Nonsense. Real learning happens in the field.

(lol)

 

[samac]

I thought that too, but I have found I have no motivation and I'm hemorrhaging info by the day. Without a deadline its hard to space out studying, and I studied so I would peak when I was supposed to take my exam (1 week ago). I guess we'll see though

I figure if everyone is taking them at home there will be extra resources involved.

 

[GBCrzzyy]

We have one this Friday and our school is still going to deliver the COMAT on schedule but through a remote proctoring system instead of in-person proctoring. Our rotations have been suspended for over a week now though and our next rotation has been suspended as well.

 

[rdy2beadr]

Any news? I saw a statement by nbome but wasn’t sure if self proctoring means just that.

 

[popopopop]

Any news? I saw a statement by nbome but wasn’t sure if self proctoring means just that.

Yeah, we're doing that thing through NBOME. I haven't opened my email yet, but yes, no proctors.

 

[Chibucks15]

Yeah, we're doing that thing through NBOME. I haven't opened my email yet, but yes, no proctors.

What is it? We haven’t gotten emails yet but I’m sure it’s coming

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Supposedly our school was told by the NBOME that at home, self proctored COMATs will be in place until June.

 

[popopopop]

What is it? We haven’t gotten emails yet but I’m sure it’s coming

Nothing mind blowing, just general instructions like system check, downloading the browser, no cheating. I think your school's admin has to get prep for it through NBOME then they'll let you know if it's happening. The email wasn't directly from NBOME, just through our admin.

 

[Scrubs101]

Online COMAT exam is optional for us if you want to honor you can take it, if you just want to pass you can skip the COMAT you missed due to COVID.

are scores compared to the cohort that takes the exam? Or from previous cohorts? Not tryna get wrecked by a bunch of gunners since only people who self select to attempt for honors will take it now lol

 

[Chibucks15]

Online COMAT exam is optional for us if you want to honor you can take it, if you just want to pass you can skip the COMAT you missed due to COVID.

are scores compared to the cohort that takes the exam? Or from previous cohorts? Not tryna get wrecked by a bunch of gunners since only people who self select to attempt for honors will take it now lol

Woah not even having to take the COMAT is incredible and never thought that would even be considered...but I mean probably should anyway just to give yourself a shot at the honors I guess

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Online COMAT exam is optional for us if you want to honor you can take it, if you just want to pass you can skip the COMAT you missed due to COVID.

are scores compared to the cohort that takes the exam? Or from previous cohorts? Not tryna get wrecked by a bunch of gunners since only people who self select to attempt for honors will take it now lol

I'm pretty sure previous cohorts

 

[The_Sunny_Doc]

I figure if everyone is taking them at home there will be extra resources involved.

Definitely. People cheated even on in class quizzes by leaving their laptops open. Of course its gonna happen with this.

 

[mathnerd88]

Definitely. People cheated even on in class quizzes by leaving their laptops open. Of course its gonna happen with this.

TBH it’ll be pretty hard to cheat on the COMAT unless someone takes the exam beforehand and copies all the questions, but then risks himself/herself precious time.

Once they make COMAT at the same time with a limit of one minute and ten seconds per question and randomized questions, it’ll be pretty difficult IMO to cheat.

 

[Chibucks15]

TBH it’ll be pretty hard to cheat on the COMAT unless someone takes the exam beforehand and copies all the questions, but then risks himself/herself precious time.

Once they make COMAT at the same time with a limit of one minute and ten seconds per question and randomized questions, it’ll be pretty difficult IMO to cheat.

Eh not really. Not as much outwardly cheating every question more like just having a few notes jotted down about things you keep forgetting. Lab values, etc. I want to ask my school about security protocols because its BS well be going up against classmates who will most certainly cheat haha but asking about security measures sure seems like a way to come off as 'tell me security so I can get around it'

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Eh not really. Not as much outwardly cheating every question more like just having a few notes jotted down about things you keep forgetting. Lab values, etc. I want to ask my school about security protocols because its BS well be going up against classmates who will most certainly cheat haha but asking about security measures sure seems like a way to come off as 'tell me security so I can get around it'

I don’t really know if there are security protocols of any kind. The NBOME page itself says it will be the honor system.

Your school should just do what mine does, COMAT scores aren’t reported in the MSPE and all we have to do is get a 90 to pass the rotation. 110 for honors, but even if you get the score you probably aren’t getting honors anyway because of how they have the honors reqs set up.

 

[SurgDoc95]

I don’t really know if there are security protocols of any kind. The NBOME page itself says it will be the honor system.

Your school should just do what mine does, COMAT scores aren’t reported in the MSPE and all we have to do is get a 90 to pass the rotation. 110 for honors, but even if you get the score you probably aren’t getting honors anyway because of how they have the honors reqs set up.

Our school doesn’t report scores in the MSPE either I’m fairly certain. They do list our clinical rank which is based entirely off comat scores


Sent from my iPhone using SDN

 

[Chibucks15]

I don’t really know if there are security protocols of any kind. The NBOME page itself says it will be the honor system.

Your school should just do what mine does, COMAT scores aren’t reported in the MSPE and all we have to do is get a 90 to pass the rotation. 110 for honors, but even if you get the score you probably aren’t getting honors anyway because of how they have the honors reqs set up.

They changed it to be if we get a 105 we get honors for these. My concern is I was already super average, so all of sudden bumping up my score a ton, even with the extra time will be difficult. That becomes even harder with people killing it plus using extra resources at home

 

[popopopop]

I don’t really know if there are security protocols of any kind. The NBOME page itself says it will be the honor system.

Your school should just do what mine does, COMAT scores aren’t reported in the MSPE and all we have to do is get a 90 to pass the rotation. 110 for honors, but even if you get the score you probably aren’t getting honors anyway because of how they have the honors reqs set up.

My school takes my COMAT score and scales it down to my class' average, then reports it in a graph on our mspe. So even if you break 100 on it, you can and usually are below average if everyone does well. It sucks : (.

 

[JibsGuy52]

^ That is terrible.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

They changed it to be if we get a 105 we get honors for these. My concern is I was already super average, so all of sudden bumping up my score a ton, even with the extra time will be difficult. That becomes even harder with people killing it plus using extra resources at home

I’m pretty sure we are compared to previous cohorts and not the one we take the test with. Without that kind of scaling they wouldn’t be able to keep the national average at around a 100, and our school gave us the national averages for all of the subjects and it is always super close to 100.

My school takes my COMAT score and scales it down to my class' average, then reports it in a graph on our mspe. So even if you break 100 on it, you can and usually are below average if everyone does well. It sucks : (.

Wtf. That’s messed up.

 

[rdy2beadr]

Sooo has anyone taken a COMAT-SP yet?? Is it different at all? The SP forms were released 3/30 per NBOME. I assume they will use slightly different questions for the SP COMATs (to prevent them from getting out into the public and skewing future COMATs) compared to normal forms.

My concern is if/how they would change the SP forms to prevent cheating, in addition to the possible change in the score distribution. Personally, I am almost always tight on time as it stands. Our school tests Friday. It's my last COMAT for the year and I am so ready to be done!

 

[mathnerd88]

They changed it to be if we get a 105 we get honors for these. My concern is I was already super average, so all of sudden bumping up my score a ton, even with the extra time will be difficult. That becomes even harder with people killing it plus using extra resources at home

Wow, 105 is only needed to get honors? Not fair. Some schools require much higher scores to get honors.

 

[Chibucks15]

Wow, 105 is only needed to get honors? Not fair. Some schools require much higher scores to get honors.

It usually isn’t easy to get...they set the current threshold with evals to be very difficult to achieve (unless you have docs that don’t care) but sorry that it isn’t fair?

 

[You shall know the Truth]

It usually isn’t easy to get...they set the current threshold with evals to be very difficult to achieve (unless you have docs that don’t care) but sorry that it isn’t fair?

I would take that, I have only had 1 doc that cared to write me an accurate and thoughtful evaluation. All the others were box checking or the residents were box checking

 

[Chibucks15]

I would take that, I have only had 1 doc that cared to write me an accurate and thoughtful evaluation. All the others were box checking or the residents were box checking

Oh we have great evals at my site but nobody has sniffed anything but pass because the threshold is so high. I know a kid who’s averaged a 110 and only has 1 high pass. And he isn’t a ******* to warrant bad evals by any stretch.

It’s common to get the classic “at the level of 4th year or intern” and not get close to the threshold for even high pass

 

[Dr.Bruh]

It usually isn’t easy to get...they set the current threshold with evals to be very difficult to achieve (unless you have docs that don’t care) but sorry that it isn’t fair?

An honors is 112 at my school. I've gotten multiple 105+s but only one 112+. I know another DO school where 107 is their standard honors. Blows my mind how unstandardized clinical grades are. Just as bad as pre-clinical.

 

[mathnerd88]

An honors is 112 at my school. I've gotten multiple 105+s but only one 112+. I know another DO school where 107 is their standard honors. Blows my mind how unstandardized clinical grades are. Just as bad as pre-clinical.

Yeah, clinical evals are extremely unstandardized and it shouldn't be used at schools especially if everyone has different clinical sites when calculating final grades. Those evals are highly subjective and should be only P/F in my book. After going through third year and now graduating, I know that even some hub sites the preceptors are much more chill and willing to give perfect evals than some other sites in terms of clinical evals. Clinical evals are counted at least 30% of our final grades so it does matter. For some rotations, those clinical evals are counted as 100% of your final grade.

Now that med school is pretty much behind me, it doesn't bother me anymore but if I were just completing third year and starting applications for ERAS/VSAS and reviewing MSPEs this year, it would.

 

[Espressso]

According to our school our final COMATs will be self-proctored at home. The question is what will they do with the COMSAE? According to our school, it seems like they are holding off on any decision for the COMSAE until the NBOME verifies that it can be taken at home in a self-proctored set up, like the COMATs. I'm pretty sure that's how it will be.

 

[The_Sunny_Doc]

TBH it’ll be pretty hard to cheat on the COMAT unless someone takes the exam beforehand and copies all the questions, but then risks himself/herself precious time.

Once they make COMAT at the same time with a limit of one minute and ten seconds per question and randomized questions, it’ll be pretty difficult IMO to cheat.

Idk, the questions are all from the same material. People are sneaky AF. I don’t think it’s fair they’re still using these scores for the home proctored exams.

 

[cjcarter]

Just took the OMM comat at home yesterday. You have to download their secure browser so you aren’t able to have any other applications or browsers open. I got kicked off three times saying I had the Skype app running which was a security violation. I’ve never even used Skype on my laptop but I finally had to uninstall the app so I didn’t keep getting kicked off.

 

[Chibucks15]

Just took the OMM comat at home yesterday. You have to download their secure browser so you aren’t able to have any other applications or browsers open. I got kicked off three times saying I had the Skype app running which was a security violation. I’ve never even used Skype on my laptop but I finally had to uninstall the app so I didn’t keep getting kicked off.

That's happened to me before. If anything runs in the background you get it. Mine was the adobe pdf software

 

[trundlethegreat]

An honors is 112 at my school. I've gotten multiple 105+s but only one 112+. I know another DO school where 107 is their standard honors. Blows my mind how unstandardized clinical grades are. Just as bad as pre-clinical.

that's why everyone should take Step 2 until it's P/F