Comlex 1 month before step

[Deecee2DO]

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Poll says it all ladies and gents

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Not ideal. Trust me, once you get one test out of the way there is a huge drop in motivation. It was everything I could to keep studying just the 3 days between my Step and COMLEX.

HOWEVER, this year is not typical and you might not get a choice. If you can find a date closer to your Step date then do that, but if you can't then make the best of the situation. It would essentially give you a 4 week dedicated of Step only and not even have to think about OMM in that time.

 

[Dr. Death]

Agreed. You want your momentum to be ramping up and peaking right before USMLE, then sustain that for 2-3 days before COMLEX. If you take COMLEX that early you have to maintain peak testing knowledge for a month, or lose a bunch and then pack it all back in.

 

[FutureInternist]

Definitely USMLE first, that way you don’t fall in the habit of not reviewing things in as much detail since your brain is focused on COMLEX.

Ideally, USMLE,1 day rest, 2 days on just OMM and somatic dysfunction, then COMLEX.
The drop in knowledge in those 2-4 days is still sufficient to get a great score on COMLEX.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I would have had no drive to study for step 1 after comlex. Think about it. You HAVE to take comlex. That’s your requirement to be a doctor. To me, comlex is the glorious end of dedicated. Congrats you’re a third year, Harry. Not only would I have underperformed on step bc of that schedule, I probably would have cared so little I would’ve cancelled step1 altogether. Comlex was such a brutal experience. I couldn’t even put 2+2 together for like a week. And I knew I did well on it too. It was just such a beat down.

 

[KeikoTanaka]

My COMLEX is in June.
My USMLE is in August.

**** be the way **** be.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Update: Was able to change my comlex to 3 days after Step. Ill have 2 full days between them so I feel like that should be optimal to give me time to chill for a day and then a day to review OMM or whatever. Thanks for the input yall

 

[Deecee2DO]

My COMLEX is in June.
My USMLE is in August.

**** be the way **** be.

There have been a considerable number of spots opening at prometric within the past two days i would check it out see if you can get dates closer to each other and possibly take Step earlier

 

[FutureInternist]

My COMLEX is in June.
My USMLE is in August.

**** be the way **** be.

Keep checking to see if you can do USMLE first.
If not then just pretend that your COMLEX date is your USMLE and study accordingly.

Lots of Qs are not as in- depth on COMLEX so there’s a tendency to not read the explanations on UW or other Q bank as much.

 

[KeikoTanaka]

There have been a considerable number of spots opening at prometric within the past two days i would check it out see if you can get dates closer to each other and possibly take Step earlier

I'll see. At this point I may just take it as a blessing and study more. I've already mentally committed to it.

 

[KeikoTanaka]

Keep checking to see if you can do USMLE first.
If not then just pretend that your COMLEX date is your USMLE and study accordingly.

Lots of Qs are not as in- depth on COMLEX so there’s a tendency to not read the explanations on UW or other Q bank as much.

Luckily for me, OMM comes naturally, so for the most part, I've only been studying for the USMLE, and I've done quite well on COMLEX assessments thus far. I'm just viewing my COMLEX as a another practice test at this point.

 

[cassis_Cake]

Step first, comlex couple days later. Taking the Comlex first would distract you more than help you prepare.

 

[mathnerd88]

I took COMLEX first. Since it's essentially pass/fail i wanted to get it out of the way. I have test anxiety when it comes to these things and i wanted to have a "practice run" before step. I slept zero hours the night before COMLEX and slept like a baby before step 1 two days later.

Ideally, it makes sense to just do them back to back as others are saying. A month off is unnecessary.

COMLEX is definitely not essentially pass/fail. Programs do screen COMLEX even with Step so I would be wary of this mentality. Having a good STEP score for some programs does not override a horrible COMLEX score. Ideally, you should be trying to do well on both.

Also, COMLEX is a fall back plan for many. I have classmates who did well on COMLEX, but not so well on STEP that they decided not to report their STEP scores.

 

[Prehealth1011]

COMLEX is definitely not essentially pass/fail. Programs do screen COMLEX even with Step so I would be wary of this mentality. Having a good STEP score for some programs does not override a horrible COMLEX score. Ideally, you should be trying to do well on both.

Also, COMLEX is a fall back plan for many. I have classmates who did well on COMLEX, but not so well on STEP that they decided not to report their STEP scores.

Thanks for the input. I'll continue to treat it as pass/fail.

 

[Chibucks15]

Thanks for the input. I'll continue to treat it as pass/fail.

Feel free to do that, but there are people I know who got questioned on why there was such a large discrepancy from COMLEX to USMLE. It isn't that hard to google the average (not to mention they put it on the score report). After speaking to a few attendings, they both personally said that it shows that you don't show the same work ethic in situations you don't deem 'important', which has the potential to backfire on interviews and such. I doubt its a global mindset, but it does exist. I'm in the midwest so DO is more of a known quantity. Like I said, n=2 but it does exist.

And this is more for everyone else just scrolling through cuz the SDN hardo logic is strong in you. Best of luck

 

[Deecee2DO]

Feel free to do that, but there are people I know who got questioned on why there was such a large discrepancy from COMLEX to USMLE. It isn't that hard to google the average (not to mention they put it on the score report). After speaking to a few attendings, they both personally said that it shows that you don't show the same work ethic in situations you don't deem 'important', which has the potential to backfire on interviews and such. I doubt its a global mindset, but it does exist. I'm in the midwest so DO is more of a known quantity. Like I said, n=2 but it does exist.

And this is more for everyone else just scrolling through cuz the SDN hardo logic is strong in you. Best of luck

That honestly really blows. If attendings are upset because I did that much better on Step 1 than comlex then I don't want to go to that program. There are plenty of other predominantly MD programs that dont gaf about COMLEX at all. Actually most predominantly MD programs dont care at all about COMLEX. Im sure there are programs in the midwest that half 50/50 MD/DO might care but thats because DO has a bigger presence in the midwest imo. Regardless if you are studying to get a killer Step 1 the chances of you doing that much worse on COMLEX is so much less common

 

[getfat]

That honestly really blows. If attendings are upset because I did that much better on Step 1 than comlex then I don't want to go to that program. There are plenty of other predominantly MD programs that dont gaf about COMLEX at all. Actually most predominantly MD programs dont care at all about COMLEX. Im sure there are programs in the midwest that half 50/50 MD/DO might care but thats because DO has a bigger presence in the midwest imo. Regardless if you are studying to get a killer Step 1 the chances of you doing that much worse on COMLEX is so much less common

I think its interviewers looking for talking points. They are just looking for faults on your application and see how you discuss your weaknesses.

I'm sure if they didn't have a terrible Level 1 they would ask why they didn't Honor said rotation or why they didn't have research, etc etc