COMLEX 1 Experiences

[Buster Douglas]

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Wow... that last packet sucked.

Just glad it's over. 👍

 

[bla_3x]

Seriously, what was that pap smear??! I put SCC from HPV. I talked myself out of candida, chlamydia, etc... because it said a 20 year old ASYMPTOMATIC female... but I guess not everybody who has those STDs has any symptoms... not that I would know... I mean, I can get a more clear pap smear from my a##hole.

I think that you got it with HPV and SCC.
That cell in the middle of the page was a koilocyte all the Damn yeast looking thinkgs were just there to $#@$ with us.

 

[kcumbDO]

i put down AML because of the obvious aur rod. the guy was 50 years old which would still make aml plausible. CLL is found in patients over 60 plus u would see smudge cells which there were none. The patient all had microangiopathic anemia and low platelets , classic DIC which associated with Aur rod M3 AML. that's it..

hope it helps. 🙂

 

[bla_3x]

You must have missed the memo:

I seriolosly started laughing in my chair when I saw this!
I mean, it's not like there are actually any more important basic sciences that we need to know. 🙄

It would seem, according to the NBOME this year that us future DOs should focus our practices strictly on Low back pain, cystitis, and head injuries 😡
Sure, these are things we will see a lot of, but they went overboard on this one.

 

[tkim]

It would seem, according to the NBOME this year that us future DOs should focus our practices strictly on Low back pain, cystitis, and head injuries 😡

Well, yes - LBP, cystitis, HI, and ... biological weapons.

Because you never know when the 'pox will strike.

 

[joshua_msu]

i put down AML because of the obvious aur rod. the guy was 50 years old which would still make aml plausible. CLL is found in patients over 60 plus u would see smudge cells which there were none. The patient all had microangiopathic anemia and low platelets , classic DIC which associated with Aur rod M3 AML. that's it..

hope it helps. 🙂

I dont think he had DIC. His platelets were quite low but his PT and PTT were both normal.

 

[smgilles]

I dont think he had DIC. His platelets were quite low but his PT and PTT were both normal.

Exactly, the guy had AML and thrombocytopenia. He did not have DIC. You can't assume just because he had AML it was M3 with DIC, I think that is the trap they wanted you to fall in too. Also, the guy was 60 and not 50. Is it even possible to have DIC and still have normal PT and PTT? I would think not but with the NBOME who knows what they are thinking. I thought the cell was way too big and immature to be CLL and there were no "classic" smudge cells so that is why I went with AML; I didn't even see the auer rod.

 

[VJWDO]

I am a Clinical Laboratory Scientist and can say with 100% certainty that the correct answer was AML. The Auer rod was definitely a key, but the cell was a blast cell. In CLL the predominate cells look mature, most times have clefting in the nulceus and lack nucleoli. The clinical picture kinda sucked, but I have seen plenty of elderly people present with cells that look like that. Diseases don't read the text book. HeHe, I wish the NBOME would!!! 😛

 

[Atlas]

I hate the COMLEX and the NBOME after what they did to us! But, looking on the bright side...those EKG's were pretty much a cake walk! right??? 😀 I was STUNNED they put WPW on there! I literally started laughing in the exam because 1.) I was glad I knew that it was WPW but 2.) because I couldn't believe that! 😀

 

[BlueJade]

Everyone has made me feel so much better on here. I swear I couldn't even celebrate last night. I mean seriously, do you think they could have been more descriptive than: You have a gram negative rod... it causes diarrhea... is it E. coli? Shigella? Salmonella? How about a little more information please. And to think that First Aid told me the COMLEX was more straightforward and used more buzzwords than the USMLE. WTF!

 

[Idiopathic]

Everyone has made me feel so much better on here. I swear I couldn't even celebrate last night. I mean seriously, do you think they could have been more descriptive than: You have a gram negative rod... it causes diarrhea... is it E. coli? Shigella? Salmonella? How about a little more information please. And to think that First Aid told me the COMLEX was more straightforward and used more buzzwords than the USMLE. WTF!

They probably gave you something else...lactose-fermenter, for instance?

All of this is in line with last year, btw...I think that pap smear was a repeat.

 

[NMH2001]

Just out of curiosity-for one fo the gram stains of the sputum (The dude coughing up blood), did anyone put S.Aureus? Reason being the bugs did not have the characteristic "lancet-shape" diplococci that S. Pneumo has. Plus S. Aureus tends to clump like the pic portrayed.

 

[DRealDrZ]

Ah yes...the memories of step 1. I just graduated but still remember thinking the same thing as all of you. Getting pi-ticked off because I missed some easy questions, had stupid questions that nobody should know, etc. I also studied in between sessions and days. Does help alot (usually). If you look at the history on SDN everytime they do the COMLEX there is a board just like this saying how terrible it was. There is ALWAYS, ALWAYS lots of OB/GYN on it. Both steps I've taken actually. Also, the do fall in love with a certain bug (guess it was S. pneumo for this one?) and they ask that bug and how to treat it multiple times. One thing is that it may seem like there were not that many OMM questions, but I think that general anatomy questions are lumped with them as well. We always had the ATF ligament for ankle sprain multiple times. I even had it on my step 2 twice. Was that the same this time or did they trick you with the deltoid ligament for eversion sprain? I'm sure that about 94% of you did well enough to pass. I would always panic after too. It's not as bad as you think it will be most of the time. GOOD LUCK ALL!


Dr. Z

 

[corpsmanUP]

This too will pass!! The cutoff is 400, and hardly anyone I know scored under this. In fact, everyone I know scored between 600-756 (Idio!!). You will undoubtedly do much better than you think you did. A professor at our school is an item writer, and his words to us were that if you read a question that was simply terrible, that it was probably a "pilot" question. That means it is not being grades for anything other than future exam use. I felt the USMLE was easier by far, but my score was much better on COMLEX. Equate that with the monstrous curve on this bad boy!! Enjoy your next few weeks before clinicals!

 

[Cowboy DO]

So it seemed to me that all my friends an I got the same questions on book 1,3 and 4. Does that mean book 2 was all trial questions?

 

[JSandall]

Superinfection following a viral illness, gram (+) cocci in clusters, super sick...you got it.

It was also nice that we had a gram stain of S. pneumoniae later on in the test that made it simple to see that the first one was definitely not gram (+) diplococci. That was cool of the NBOME, I guess.

I'm sure we all did better than we think. Enjoy your summer and good luck to those of you still preparing to take the USMLE. 👍

 

[Sinnman]

This is funny:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=127702

I really should have read this before now.

 

[Atlas]

This is funny:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=127702

I really should have read this before now.

Sinn,

I read that post and IT didn't seem to help. Tell, S.B. that an ortho-hand guy is building a house up here in this neighborhood with 2+ million $ homes. Like he'll care, but I thought it was a sweet-a$$ house!! It's 4-stories and made out of some fancy stone that costs $300 per 6 in square. Freaking ridiculous home!!

I think I was too careless in that last book now that I think about it. I think I might have skimmed over that pancoast tumor and I can't remember what I put (I think bronchogenic Ca). I'm not sure though. I'm sure I got part II which was cervical sympathetic ganglion. But I think I might have flown over the "correct" answer for part one. I hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the a$$.

 

[Sinnman]

Will do (over a margarita or two).

 

[joshua_msu]

Sinn,

I read that post and IT didn't seem to help. Tell, S.B. that an ortho-hand guy is building a house up here in this neighborhood with 2+ million $ homes. Like he'll care, but I thought it was a sweet-a$$ house!! It's 4-stories and made out of some fancy stone that costs $300 per 6 in square. Freaking ridiculous home!!

I think I was too careless in that last book now that I think about it. I think I might have skimmed over that pancoast tumor and I can't remember what I put (I think bronchogenic Ca). I'm not sure though. I'm sure I got part II which was cervical sympathetic ganglion. But I think I might have flown over the "correct" answer for part one. I hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the a$$.

It wasnt bronchogenic carcinoma?

 

[Atlas]

It wasnt bronchogenic carcinoma?

I thought it was. But, I saw the picture and immediately looked for ANYTHING that said LUNG CANCER and picked it because time was running out. Now I don't remember what the other choices were. I'm glad to see that you, too, chose bronchogenic carcinoma. That makes me feel a little better. Thanks.

Atlas

 

[smgilles]

I thought it was. But, I saw the picture and immediately looked for ANYTHING that said LUNG CANCER and picked it because time was running out. Now I don't remember what the other choices were. I'm glad to see that you, too, chose bronchogenic carcinoma. That makes me feel a little better. Thanks.

Atlas

I believe it was the only answer that worked.

 

[JSandall]

I believe it was the only answer that worked.

Agreed.

 

[Atlas]

Agreed.

Cool. Thanks all.

 

[basha]

I guarantee anyone who did just micro and pharm killed that exam.

That totally sucks for me. I failed for sure then. I did micro from FA a few hours before the test (and just browsing over, not even touching on details or the dozen side comments i wrote for each bug) and i didnt review pharm at all, my biggest mistake. The reason? I somehow ended up spending the entire week leading to the exam trying to finish reviewing goljan for the 2nd time. Goljan, unfortunately, was NOT the 60% that previous test takers said it was and not even 30% as far as i remember of the exam. I thought the exam was all about pharm and mechanisms. I thought i had good control over my pharm so even though i did it for only a week a whole month before the exam I felt the answer in the choices would stick out. I had made awesome mnemonics for all drugs and mechanisms, and had no problem recalling them during qbank. But, not reviewing pharm was a stupod strategy cuz when the exam came around, i didnt remember any pharm. i feel i missed those crucial and easy points coming from the pharm part of the exam, the points i think everyone is depending on as our safety points needed to get over the hump to pass. It really sucks cuz most of the pharm was sooo straight forward and i knew exactly what they were getting at, yet i just couldnt remember any of my pharm. I guess after doing all that goljan, i should have expected to forget most of my pharm. The other gimme points came from omm, which werent as much as pharm, micro or path. Mostly sacral and innervations. Anyway, I hope the next one (usmle) goes well. If only i get back into study mode.

 

[Atlas]

I thought pharm was either really easy or really hard. There was no in-between. The really hard Q's were so hard you couldn't have studied for those. They were really random. When I was preparing for the exam, I knew the exam was 80-85% Bugs, drugs, OMM, and Path. The other stuff I punted on if I didn't already know it from 2 years of medical school. I know this probably doesn't help much now, but in the event that you DID fail, this may be a good place to focus your energy. Hope that helps some.

Good luck

Atlas

 

[haujun]

I thought pharm was either really easy or really hard. There was no in-between. The really hard Q's were so hard you couldn't have studied for those. They were really random. When I was preparing for the exam, I knew the exam was 80-85% Bugs, drugs, OMM, and Path. The other stuff I punted on if I didn't already know it from 2 years of medical school. I know this probably doesn't help much now, but in the event that you DID fail, this may be a good place to focus your energy. Hope that helps some.

Good luck

Atlas

It is very difficult to fail 😉 . You are right that some question are very easy and only if you miss most of those then there is a possibility that you may fail. I can understand the frustration you may all feel after taking the exam that did not reflect the resource (first aid, q-bank) you've used to study. However, I think some of the hard or vague questions are designed to test your ability select the best response (not necessarily the perfect response) even faced with incomplete or confusing situation that may disagreed with your previous medical knowledge. This is a skill you WILL need to survive in the world of medicine when you are treating the patients not the symptoms you memorized for some test.

MS IV

 

[BadVB750]

This is a skill you WILL need to survive in the world of medicine when you are treating the patients not the symptoms you memorized for some test.

Yes, this is true: however, as a second year student all we have is our books. We know nothing of clinical medicine, so how can we be tested on the nuisances of clinical medicine.

In retrospect it is easy to see the forest.

 

[Idiopathic]

Yes, this is true: however, as a second year student all we have is our books. We know nothing of clinical medicine, so how can we be tested on the nuisances of clinical medicine.

In retrospect it is easy to see the forest.

Clearly the most astute observation about the COMLEX. A mind-**** of a test, for sure.

 

[P Willi]

.

 

[jd star]

anyone on here also take the USMLE Step 1? any significant comparisons between the 2? everyone keeps saying USMLE is easier, but i don't know what to believe... i thought COMLEX kicked my butt, and i have USMLE scheduled for wednesday 🙁

 

[BadVB750]

I'm in the same boat, but I have the USMLE on thursday. I'm having a hell of a time trying to pick myself off the floor to study.

 

[Ratch]

i took comlex last tue and wed, then usmle friday. not the funnest week of my life. comlex was pretty ridiculous but there were a lot of gimmie questions if you knew your bugs and drugs (complex that is). there was ALOT less of that on uslme. a lot less bug questions, i don't think i had any real treatment questions (as opposed to doxycycline 14 times for chlamydia on comlex). there was alot more difficult path, but it was not ridiculous. what got me was the mol-bio stuff. asking me where bcl cut in a sting of about 20 bp DNA, lol, i just started laughing and picked B. i felt like i traded ridiculous OMT questions for ridiculous molecular genetics questions... my brain hurt after each of them, i have no idea how i performed on either of them, i am happy to be done with both of them. i thought the two tests and the style of questions were 180 degrees different. comlex simply had more questions you could just straight anwser without having to think much, usmle made you really try to make connections between the question stem and the anwser choices (thats not to say this wasn't true of comlex, there was just alot more questions that pointed to an single anwser on comlex). and for what it was worth, my form of the usmle had about 50 pregnant/non-pregnant women with DUB, so that was about the only common trend i could report between the two. good luck if you still have the usmle to take.

 

[Idiopathic]

anyone on here also take the USMLE Step 1? any significant comparisons between the 2? everyone keeps saying USMLE is easier, but i don't know what to believe... i thought COMLEX kicked my butt, and i have USMLE scheduled for wednesday 🙁

The questions on the USMLE are more taxing, but dont give you the "WTF?" reaction that the COMLEX does. I think that the third-order questions on the USMLE are injerently more difficult, but the COMLEX is more confusing. I wouldnt say it is easier, but the test is more straightforward.

 

[zinc]

😡 My typical "WTF" reaction for those comlex questions was like getting hit in the Gonads with a 20 pound sledgehammer. By the third book I was crosseyed.


Screw comlex,,,embrace the USMLE....its the only way those geezers will realize that this crap has got to end....i dont wanna feel like this after step 2.
some one help!!!! 🙁

 

[phd2b]

I too, felt totally whipped last Wednesday night, especially with the 2nd day of testing. Let me see if I can get you some perspective with some number-crunching.

Let's assume that you were pretty darned solid on the non-random material (esp pharm, anatomy (neuro!), micro, and OB!), and know that you get 90% of your non-guesses correct.

Let's then assume that you guess on, say, 100 questions on each book (out of 187-188). Let's further assume that you are a decent guesser and can get a good number of those guessed questions down to 50/50. Then, let's factor in the 'WTF' questions where you went by the 'clock method' to pick 'B'... So, let's assume that you had about 50 50-50's and 50 WTF's. On avg, you'd probably get 30-40% of those questions right.

So, if you got 90% of 87-88 right and then another 30% (conservatively) of the remaining 100 correct, you'd be looking at an easy 109-110 questions per book.

So, let's also assume that they throw out 50 'WTF' questions (some of which 'B' was the correct answer). At the worst, you'd have scored as follows:
109x4 = 436 - 50 = 386/700 = ~55% correct==> That should be good enough for a scaled pass...perhaps you were fortunate that you missed all of the 'WTF' questions and you still yielded 436 correct questions ==> 432/700 = ~62% (again, an easy pass).

If this doesn't help, just hope you were faster than your slowest 6%-8% taking the exam... 😉

I guess we'll find out in August how many of us are joing V.Tech on Sept 27 for comlex I (computerized)!

I'm glad this mess is over for a couple of months. If I had it to do again, I'd know more neuro (more anatomy and drugs) and a little bit more OB. I wouldn't have spent nearly as much time reading Savarese...

Your mileage may vary...

 

[Buster Douglas]

I too, felt totally whipped last Wednesday night, especially with the 2nd day of testing. Let me see if I can get you some perspective with some number-crunching...

Speaking of numbers...

"Pass rate for students in the "sure pass" category was 98.9%; "borderline," 82.5%; and "concerns," 61.5%."

http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/abstract/100/4/238

Thought this article would help out those still shook up from last week's reaming. Even if your school thinks you're gonna fail, the odds are in your favor at 60% that you'll pass.

 

[PCSOM]

Speaking of numbers...

"Pass rate for students in the "sure pass" category was 98.9%; "borderline," 82.5%; and "concerns," 61.5%."

http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/abstract/100/4/238

Thought this article would help out those still shook up from last week's reaming. Even if your school thinks you're gonna fail, the odds are in your favor at 60% that you'll pass.

nice stats from Buster Douglas and Phd2b. thnaks for sharing your info. I, however, feel a bit concern. I guess, our future will be unfolded during August of 2005.

 

[fuegorama]

Speaking of numbers...

"Pass rate for students in the "sure pass" category was 98.9%; "borderline," 82.5%; and "concerns," 61.5%."

http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/abstract/100/4/238

Thought this article would help out those still shook up from last week's reaming. Even if your school thinks you're gonna fail, the odds are in your favor at 60% that you'll pass.

Ah the JAOA. Anybody else notice they misspelled OUR licensing exam?

Thanks BD. That article should make me feel better, but I just checked and....yep I'm still worried. 😳
This Blows.

 

[Cowboy DO]

Keep on bitching....that will solve all of your problems.

Someone thinks they are too cool for school.
Well i got a news flash for you walter cronkite.

...you aren't.


I think we're all old enough to realize that bitching wont solve any problmes, but thanks anyway mom. However there is nothing wrong with venting.

With that said i didnt think the comlex was so bad, but i never think any test I take is so bad...and then i get the grade back.

 

[fuegorama]

message deleted

 

[DRek]

I can feel the love here
I liked the Comlex, although it would have had a better flavor if they would have let us bring in a little salt and pepper into the testing center.
😱 Wait, did they tell us that we needed to have the test books in tact in order for it to be scored?

All joking aside. Any test that takes two days or more to complete, flat out stinks. But it is nice to have it over.

 

[donvicious]

Can anyone break down the exam for those us taking it next year?

I've heard there is lots of Pharm, Micro, and Anatomy. Anything else I should be studying this summer?

 

[phd2b]

OB-GYN!
Pharm
Micro
Anatomy (esp. neuro)
and the rest...

just my $0.02...

 

[Atlas]

Next year may be totally different. It may be all male pathology (Peyronie's 😀, Priapism 😀, etc). This year was especially heavy on OB. Other than that, I though 75% of the OMM was viscerosomatic reflex levels. That is pretty constant from year to year.

 

[VentdependenT]

Next year may be totally different. It may be all male pathology (Peyronie's 😀, Priapism 😀, etc). This year was especially heavy on OB. Other than that, I though 75% of the OMM was viscerosomatic reflex levels. That is pretty constant from year to year.

Before I soon forget about these exams do a search under my name in this forum for COMLEX II and III if you care. I tried to lay out the pertinent (if not somewhat esoteric) material.

 

[Docgeorge]

Somebody calm me down. I was eating breakfast today and questions from the comlex started popping into my head...only porblem was that I think I picked the wrong anwsers for all those questions.


This waiting is killing me!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cowboy DO]

I had the same thing happen to me yesterday. I was watching TV minding my own buisness and BAM like 2 questions pop into my head, both of which i think i got wrong.

 

[cremaster2007]

Luckily for me that only happend for two weeks after comlex while I was studying for the usmle, then a week after that for usmle questions, which I quickly eliminated by a few days of binge drinking. Now I can't even remember 10 questions on either test, does anybody know exactly what day we are supposed to get our scores back?

 

[ricanrage2]

Last year the scores were mailed out on July 29th. I would expect to receive your results at the end of this week/beginning of next. 😱

 

[lucylou30]

Can anyone tell me if I should get Comlex Q-bank or USMILE? The complex has only 100 questions and the USMILE has 2100? But is it helpful to have the Comlex??