combank?

[msgbueno]

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has anyone tried using combank for comlex level 3?

 

[Heeed!]

Yes.

I thought the price was too expensive for the number of questions available. If it cost $25 I would consider it, but definitely not for the price it is now. I expected all the questions to have an osteopathic twist, which was not the case. In fact, most of the questions were just straight up review...something you could get out of the NMS question book, for example, and for less money. I thought the legal/ethical section was a good review (approx. 15 questions).

I think it's a good idea to tap into the osteopathic review market, but the COMBANK folks have a long way to go: they need to add OPP crap to ALL the questions; they need to drastically reduce the price until they get a comparable number of questions (i.e. paying double the price for 1/2 the questions = bad business plan); need to refund $40 to me and then I'll start talking up the great level of customer service they have!

 

[Steel_City]

I actually am having a very different experience than the previous poster. I am about 3/4 of the way finished with the Qbank and have found it to be very helpful and similar to what I am used to seeing on COMLEX exams. The site was recommended to me by a friend who had failed COMLEX level 3 and thought the COMBANK stuff was very similar to what he had seen on the previous two tests. In fact, he even recognized a couple of the questions. He ended up getting 59% on COMBANK and then got an 82 (two-digit) on COMLEX.

Like I said, I take my test in two weeks so I'll know first-hand then but I've been really happy and would highly recommend the question bank. The medical ethics and OMM sections are especially good. In comparison, COMBANK is actually cheaper than USMLEworld or KAPLAN and is the only one for COMLEX.

 

[DOindahouse]

im contemplating taking it for step 3 , i did their one day trial, and it seemed easy in a way, im gonna go ahead and buy it for 3 months anyays, i think

 

[livewires]

I really liked it for Step 3!

 

[DOindahouse]

so u think it helped u pass,
what was its pros/cons

 

[livewires]

I pretty much felt like I had seen most of the topics already on my practice tests, and yes, I think it helped me do well on the real thing. My review is below:

Pros: - Look and feel just the the real thing...seriously, the questions are interchangable with the actual COMLEX test
- Great OMM and Medical Ethics sections...two areas where I struggle
- Thorough explanations
- Lots of pointers on how to approach those stupid NBOME questions
- Good performance analysis
- They guarantee you pass and will refund your money if you fail

Cons: - Question volume is a little low
- Few typos here and there but I just emailed them and they fixed most of em
- New company so not a lot of reviews

Feel free to pm me if you have more questions.

 

[Green912]

Bought COMBANK last night and have step-III in two weeks. I've used usmleworld in the past and remember thinking during step-II that it really didn't seem to reflect the comlex, so I'll see how this pans out.

Nish: hats off to you for your entrepreneurship.

 

[delicatefade]

Any other opinions? I'm taking COMLEX III at the end of July and am debating between USMLEWorld and COMBank...

I used Kaplan Qbank for Step I, USMLEWorld for Step II and although both were helpful I found both to be overkill due to the complexity of their questions relative to the idiocy of COMLEX questions. Don't get me wrong, I was very happy with my Step I and II scores but I don't feel like putting in the effort for Step III, just want to pass.

Anyone use both??? If you did and had to pick one only, which would you pick?

 

[delicatefade]

bump

 

[Flea girl]

I used COMBANK. Somewhat irritating because of all the typos, I complained and they said they were working on it. Passed on the first attempt back in april. Hope that helps

 

[delicatefade]

So I broke down and bought a 30 day subscription. My exam is on Tuesday.

Pros:
-The questions are completely different from USMLEWorld or Kaplan Qbank.

USMLEWorld - exhaustingly long descriptions, every laboratory test you could possibly imagine, often you will know the answer by the end of the stem but then they are really asking you about some obscure fact about the answer that's in your head. Answer choices are often so similar that it's hard to narrow them down.
Combank - exactly like COMLEX, short, straightforward questions. Answer choices are so different that you can often narrow it down to 2 choices if you're not sure. Questions aren't quite as vague as real COMLEX questions but there have been a few.

In my opinion this is the best value of Combank. Almost regardless of the quality of the questions and your score, I think it starts to get you back in that "COMLEX" mindset that you need to have for the real exam. USMLEWorld is great but I end up studying such inane details that I know will never show up on COMLEX, having now taken Steps I and II.

-On many answer explanations, the authors go to great lengths to tell you this is a high yield topic for COMLEX. I'll reserve judgment on this until I take the real thing, but if I could have just had this information and used it to study the day before the exam, it would be worth the price of admission.

Cons:
-lots of typos
-I have the distinct feeling that the Step 3 Qbank is really the Step 2 Qbank, plus a couple extra questions. SEVERAL answer explanations have mentioned something like "high yield for COMLEX 2". I think if they are going to charge the same price for all three Qbanks, they should at least have distinct questions. Keep this in mind if you just used it for Step II. You're going to end up paying twice for the same questions if you use it again for Step III.
-I'm through over half the questions, and the OMM questions have not been very good so far. The OMM questions on Kaplan Qbank for COMLEX Step I were better.

Overall, I think some improvements could be made, but they are on the right track.

 

[jamshid007]

how many questions are included in combank?
I'm also contemplating buying it but I don't know iif its worthed. I heaar a lot of things on webboards but I don't know which one to believe since its obvious that some of the comments are selfadvertisment by combank people. (afterall if u look at their staff on their site they are all bunch of regular interns and residents)
its vey weak for them to selfadvertise themselves on here.

 

[VJWDO]

I recommend combank. I used it for 3 weeks prior to taking step 3. I just took step 3 today so who knows how I did but I felt prepared with those questions. I even had some questions that were almost verbatim from combank. It could use some more questions and some better editing but overall I think it is a good resource. I scored a 70% overall so I will let you all know the correlation with the real thing once I get my scores back.

 

[VJWDO]

Okay so I just got my COMLEX III score: 638/88.
I used Combank and scored around 65-70%.
I studied using boards and wards and just doing questions for a week prior to the test.
For OMM I read the COMLEX prep for OMM.
Super excited to be done with COMLEX!!!😀

 

[gioia]

😱I have read all the threads - and am bracing for the W-T-F factor. I do not want to spend a fortune on Q-banks and review books for naught. And I just want to comfortably pass Step III.

So, it sounds like ComBank is not a bad idea.... Are there any more readers/posters out there who have tried it and want to comment on it?

It seems like USMLE world, USMLEasy, and ComBank are the frontrunners for Step III.

Does it just come down to personal preference?

😱​

 

[vegasdo]

One problem I have with COMBANK is the testing program does not let you mark questions or jump around from question to question in a block. This is obviously not simulating the real testing format of the COMLEX.

Other than that I liked the program. Question content is pretty good.