Comlex 2008 step 1 experiences thread

[PlasticMan]

Anyone taken the COMLEX this year and want to comment on it? What are they emphasizing this time around? What was your preparation(UWORLD, COMSAE, Kaplan,USMLERx, etc.) and how did it compare?

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[DaveinDallas]

No, I haven't taken the comlex yet but I couldn't help but notice your .sig....

'If I ever get a new dog, I'm gonna name him Ultimobranchial. That's just sounds cool' -- Dr. Aschenbrenner teaching cranial anatomy....

 

[oreosandsake]

just took the comsae.

i think that was the most poorly written tests I have ever taken.

so sad... I guess the real thing is going to be like this as well?


Q for those in the know. the site only says a score above 550 is a "good performance"

any idea what that is supposed to mean? i read somewhere that the score maximum is upwards of around 800??

 

[PlasticMan]

No love? Some of us are taking COMLEX this week! Share some insight!

 

[megswinter82]

I think most people are taking the COMLEX starting today. The test dates were a bit screwy this year. A few took them at the end of May and then the rest are over the next few weeks. So hopefully people will have some insight to share starting today. Good luck to everyone out there!!

 

[strawberryfield]

yup, mine's tomorrow and most of my classmates are taking theirs this week or next

 

[docluver]

No love? Some of us are taking COMLEX this week! Share some insight!

Lots of sympathetic/parasympathetic questions which made up most of the anatomy on my test. Know your bugs and basic characteristics of them. Really straight forward stuff-- I basically just used first aid for bugs and drugs and felt good about it. A decent amount of electolyte questions that asked about changes in K, Ca, etc. As mentioned earlier, I studied with first aid, brs path, brs physiology, and simmon's omt. I also used Kaplan USMLE and COMLEX qbank. For the most part, I felt the qbanks, first aid, and simmons were really all I needed. A lot of the questions I felt were not in review books, and I got from listening in class. There were about 10-15 questions I was not sure of each block, but I generally felt that these were questions I would not have known even if you gave me an extra 2 months to study. As a whole I didn't mind the test and thought the COMSAE was a decent representation of the actual COMLEX. Some people commented that they thought the COMSAE was a little harder and I guess I can see what they are saying, but I still feel as though it gives you a good idea of what to expect.

 

[lunallena]

was your exam full of neuro questions as someone else had? thanks!

 

[dbcuse23]

Took comlex today.. had a lot of neuro but i was expecting that...Some of the OMM questions were difficult as hell! Some of the qs seemed like they were fit for an orthopedics exam. Expecting us to know the best initial test out of a list of 5-6 with zero clinical experience is a lil much for some of the qs i had. micro was so easy i wish the whole test was micro like i thought it would be.

 

[PlasticMan]

Damn, looks like I'm studying Neuro today. All these people freaked me out.

 

[docluver]

was your exam full of neuro questions as someone else had? thanks!

They must really mix up the questions because I did not feel as though my test was that neuro heavy

 

[emlopez2]

How was the actual OMT material. I started cramming in Savarese's OMT review today and am already ready to hang myself in boredome. And as far as neur, what did you need to know? Physiology, pathways, or just straight up T1-T5 innervates the heart or what?

 

[hopefulfuturedo]

by chance what percentage were you getting correct on the kaplan comlex qbank.

Lots of sympathetic/parasympathetic questions which made up most of the anatomy on my test. Know your bugs and basic characteristics of them. Really straight forward stuff-- I basically just used first aid for bugs and drugs and felt good about it. A decent amount of electolyte questions that asked about changes in K, Ca, etc. As mentioned earlier, I studied with first aid, brs path, brs physiology, and simmon's omt. I also used Kaplan USMLE and COMLEX qbank. For the most part, I felt the qbanks, first aid, and simmons were really all I needed. A lot of the questions I felt were not in review books, and I got from listening in class. There were about 10-15 questions I was not sure of each block, but I generally felt that these were questions I would not have known even if you gave me an extra 2 months to study. As a whole I didn't mind the test and thought the COMSAE was a decent representation of the actual COMLEX. Some people commented that they thought the COMSAE was a little harder and I guess I can see what they are saying, but I still feel as though it gives you a good idea of what to expect.

 

[docluver]

by chance what percentage were you getting correct on the kaplan comlex qbank.

ended w/ a 74% on kaplan comlex qbank

 

[strawberryfield]

ok...here's what was on my version of today's test:

Anatomy--lots of limb musculature, and peripheral innervation, there was a hernia question, in regards to what type, where it was in relation to ligaments, vessels, ect, a few nerve injury questions (not too heavy) I didn't have many crazy ortho questions, though there was one that just had an xray, and a short, non-contributory story and they wanted to know what drug to treat it with. I still don't know wtf I was looking at on that one...haha

Neuro--not too many, know blood supply to all brain areas, and the language centers, cerebellum, MS/GB, and for the love, study up on your neuromuscular diseases, I had like 5 questions on myotonic dystrophy which gets like a whole half a freaking page in Harrisons and is only mentioned ONCE in FA...and not even what it is, just that it's a trinucleotide repeat disease

OMT--some very easy/straightforward, some not-so-much, I studied Savarese and felt like I knew just about everything from that source, just a few random things I wasn't sure about but still felt I could reason my way through it. Maybe 2-4 cranial questions, not much. LOTS of symp/parasymp, and probably 5-8 chapman's points (only one I didn't know, and still don't, mostly cuz the question was just worded weird as hell.

Phys--ECGs like mad, well maybe it just felt that way cuz I'm not the best at those , probably like 10-15 which was more than I expected. Otherwise clinically oriented and straightforward, not too esoteric, and not too crazy, I think I calculated an anion gap, but no other calcs needed. Cardiac murmurs, and of course, autonomics, several electrolyte questions too.

Micro--Some easy, some not, easier than COMSAE though, none that weren't in FA. Mostly bacteria, not too many viruses, and hardly any nit-picky molecular stuff, other than toxins, antigens, ect.

Immuno--maybe 20-25 ques...a lot on types of hypersensitivites, some on the diseases, a LOT (matching, and others) on functions of cytokines and interleukins.

Biochem--straightforward, enzymes, substrates and know your vitamins, especially B-12, ect, folate, thiamine. Know the bilirubin pathway unconj/direct, ect and the diseases there. A few questions on clotting, diagnosing dz based on PT/PTT ect.

Genetics--I had probably 15-20 questions on this, and I was surprised by them, I figured them out, but a little more USMLE than I expected from the COMLEX, reading western blots, karyotypes and pedigrees (2 I think)

Path--pretty sparse, and pretty general, lung cancer, bowel diseases, PUD, pancreatitis, GB, only a few leuk/lymph questions, some anemia questions, what types, like in COMSAE

Behavioral/Pysch--not too many, questions on OSHA, medicare and ethics, lots of stuff on scizophrenia, lots and lots of psych drugs (below)

Pharm--It was weird. I don't know how else to describe it. Lots of questions, and some were convoluted and I couldn't figure out wtf they wanted to know in order to answer the questions on some. LOTS of pysch drugs, be sure to know side effects, some MOA's but not too many, more questions about which drug to use for what. Only a few on antibiotics (thank heavens--for me at least...)

In general, fair test, some gimmies, some you had to try for and only a few that felt kinda impossible, but I guess we'll see when I get my bleepin' score back

I really think I had 50 questions that dealt with a pregnant woman, lots and lots of OB/GYN questions, things I didn't know and I didn't think I would be expected to know at this level...but whatever. There was a question about giving an antibiotic for a chylamdial infection and ALL the ones listed were C/I in pregos, including azithro which is first line otherwise...and I checked myself with FA on my lunch break, so there must have been one that was safer than the others, but I didn't know it but I just found it in Harrison's...Amox...gee...maybe I should have studied for boards with my Harrisons!?!?! riiiiight

maybe study a ob/gyn book for that stuff?? I don't know, I took an ob/gyn class at my school and I knew some stuff, but it's nowhere in first aid, and I'm not sure really where to find it "at this level"

wow. long post. it probably won't help too much. or maybe it will. to all who have yet to take it

 

[strawberryfield]

oh, and my prep was COMLEX and USLME Kaplan Q Banks, Goljan Path book and all lectures, FA, Kaplan anatomy/neuro book, Kaplan behav science book, HY immuno, Savarese OMM(this one saved me on a LOT of questions, it's a really good book and the questions are A LOT like the questions on the COMLEX)

I took the COMSAE a few days ago and I would say it was similar in content and difficulty, quite a few repeat topics. I'd take it if you haven't, even though it's a poorly written and scored funny, after all, so is the COMLEX and worth the $50 to know what you're in for, IMO

 

[DaveinDallas]

COMSAE? I'm assuming you're talking about those downloadable PDF files from the NBOME website? If so, some of those questions are like -- Ok, I speak,read,write and comprehend English fairly well (as a native born U.S. English speaker) but what the hell is this question asking? Not - Ok, I've seen that concept before but just can't recall the details right now but literally -- what are you asking me for? I also speak OMM fairly well (I grabbed the OMM to English translator chip early) and didn't have a problem with those Q's.

The Kaplan Q bank is way, way different from those questions. Am I the only one feeling this way?

 

[DragonWell]

COMSAE? I'm assuming you're talking about those downloadable PDF files from the NBOME website? If so, some of those questions are like -- Ok, I speak,read,write and comprehend English fairly well (as a native born U.S. English speaker) but what the hell is this question asking? Not - Ok, I've seen that concept before but just can't recall the details right now but literally -- what are you asking me for? I also speak OMM fairly well (I grabbed the OMM to English translator chip early) and didn't have a problem with those Q's.

The Kaplan Q bank is way, way different from those questions. Am I the only one feeling this way?

It's not the PDF. It's the NBOME version of an assessment exam, similar to those released by the NBME.

http://www.nbome.org/comsae/index.html

 

[strawberryfield]

The Kaplan Q bank is way, way different from those questions. Am I the only one feeling this way?

the Kaplan USMLE qbank is very different from real COMLEX questions, in question style, emphasis and content, and much harder, and the Kaplan COMLEX qbank is different from the real COMLEX in emphasis, the content is similar, but the question style a little more straightforward and easier than the real thing.

The COMSAE is VERY similar to the actual COMLEX questions in style, emphasis, and content. I felt as though a few of my COMLEX questions were almost word for word from COMSAE and there were topics that were repeated. Closest thing to the real thing that you can study, IMO.

 

[Red Beard]

It's not the PDF. It's the NBOME version of an assessment exam, similar to those released by the NBME.

http://www.nbome.org/comsae/index.html

So how are these questions compared to COMSAE/real deal?

 

[lilzelda2]

10-15 ECG'S!!! Please tell me they were all Atrial Flutter

Thanks for the reviews guys its been helpful

 

[strawberryfield]

10-15 ECG'S!!! Please tell me they were all Atrial Flutter

Thanks for the reviews guys its been helpful

actually none of them were atrial flutter they weren't gimmes IMO, you had to know your ECGs. There were some AV blocks on there, and some I had no clue on other than narrowing it down to 2 or 3. I would def review Dubin if you have time, I didn't but I wish I had. In retrospect, even if I only got half right, that's only 5-7 questions out of 400, which isn't excessive overall.

 

[ShyRem]

Bring on the EKG's. Make half the test EKG's. If I could, I'd trade all the biochem and bacT stuff (my weaknesses) for EKG's.

guess I'm a bit old school. Still can't get used to calling them ECG's.

 

[lunallena]

best of luck to those of you taking it soon.

 

[SOUNDMAN]

ok...here's what was on my version of today's test:


I really think I had 50 questions that dealt with a pregnant woman, lots and lots of OB/GYN questions, things I didn't know and I didn't think I would be expected to know at this level...but whatever. There was a question about giving an antibiotic for a chylamdial infection and ALL the ones listed were C/I in pregos, including azithro which is first line otherwise...and I checked myself with FA on my lunch break, so there must have been one that was safer than the others, but I didn't know it but I just found it in Harrison's...Amox...gee...maybe I should have studied for boards with my Harrisons!?!?! riiiiight

Are you sure about the Amoxicillin? I did a quick search and still the sources I looked at said use Azithromycin for Chlamydia during pregnancy. Was it even a choice or not, it is Catagory B. Definitely not Doxy of course, but I think I would of picked Azithromycin 1g or whatever.

 

[lunallena]

i thought Amox didn't work for chlamydia, but for some gram positives + HELPS kill ENTEROCOCCI (h influenza,ecoli,listeria,proteus,salmonella, enterococci). i think it's the DOC for pregnant UTI

Chlamydia is an intracellular organism so the answer was probably azithromycin, which i read somewhere it's safe in pregnancy.

 

[mcat shmcat]

I haven't been on here in awhile and just realized comlex shmomlex would be a much more appropriate user name! Anyway, Sanford guide (the Bible of Pharmacology) said Erythro base or Amox for Chlamydia in pregnancy.

 

[lunallena]

wow i would have never guessed that

this article in emedicine says azithro is DOC and amoxicillin is alternative

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3269.htm

really good article talks about all infxns in pregnancy and tx choices

 

[emlopez2]

OMT--some very easy/straightforward, some not-so-much, I studied Savarese and felt like I knew just about everything from that source, just a few random things I wasn't sure about but still felt I could reason my way through it. Maybe 2-4 cranial questions, not much. LOTS of symp/parasymp, and probably 5-8 chapman's points (only one I didn't know, and still don't, mostly cuz the question was just worded weird as hell.

So would not knowing OMT down cold kill you on COMLEX? Ive ran through Sarese once quickly and still am not able to retain much. Im prolly gonna spend another few hours on it and hopefully something will sink in by Saturday.

 

[strawberryfield]

So would not knowing OMT down cold kill you on COMLEX? Ive ran through Sarese once quickly and still am not able to retain much. Im prolly gonna spend another few hours on it and hopefully something will sink in by Saturday.

the COMLEX is about 20% OMM, and if you know your stuff, those should be relatively "easy" points. If you've got your OMM down, you can miss some of the harder and weirder questions instead...there were probably 20-30 straight up questions asking about segmental T1-L2 sympathetic innervation for organs and body regions, and these always list lower lumbar and sacral regions in the answer choices...duh, they are giving it to you if you know it! The questions aren't all gimmies, but some are very straightforward if you know your stuff. most are about dx, just a few about treatment, and they LOVE autonomics. I would go through Savarese again if you have time before your test. good luck.

 

[strawberryfield]

wow i would have never guessed that

this article in emedicine says azithro is DOC and amoxicillin is alternative

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3269.htm

really good article talks about all infxns in pregnancy and tx choices

bad question then, both amox and azithro were answer choices, other options were doxy, some cephalosporin and tetracycline. Sanford guide is the book for current treatment recs and they say Amox. I had it down to amox and azithro...but seems pretty grey...it's hard for them to ask treatment questions at this level for something like pregnancy in my opinion, seems more like step two-worthy stuff to me. oh well. it was just one question, but it definitely peeved me off.

I thought about commenting on it but I worry about them counting my comments against me, and then I'm thinking, well what if I'm wrong, and it's just me who can't remember and the question really is a fair one. Anyone know how the "comment" thing really works??

 

[SOUNDMAN]

bad question then, both amox and azithro were answer choices, other options were doxy, some cephalosporin and tetracycline. Sanford guide is the book for current treatment recs and they say Amox. I had it down to amox and azithro...but seems pretty grey...it's hard for them to ask treatment questions at this level for something like pregnancy in my opinion, seems more like step two-worthy stuff to me. oh well. it was just one question, but it definitely peeved me off.

I thought about commenting on it but I worry about them counting my comments against me, and then I'm thinking, well what if I'm wrong, and it's just me who can't remember and the question really is a fair one. Anyone know how the "comment" thing really works??

Well it's not surprising with the CRAPLEX that two answers would be correct.

CDC Website:

Pregnancy. Doxycycline, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin are contraindicated in pregnant women. However, clinical experience and studies suggest that azithromycin is safe and effective (131–133). Repeat testing (preferably by NAAT) 3 weeks after completion of therapy with the following regimens is recommended for all pregnant women to ensure therapeutic cure, considering the sequelae that might occur in the mother and neonate if the infection persists. The frequent gastrointestinal side effects associated with erythromycin might discourage patient compliance with the alternative regimens.

GG COMLEX!!

 

[DragonWell]

So how are these questions compared to COMSAE/real deal?

If you haven't checked this thread out yet, you may want to have a look.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=506997

 

[DO Sigma Nu guy]

ok...here's what was on my version of today's test:

Anatomy--lots of limb musculature, and peripheral innervation, there was a hernia question, in regards to what type, where it was in relation to ligaments, vessels, ect, a few nerve injury questions (not too heavy) I didn't have many crazy ortho questions, though there was one that just had an xray, and a short, non-contributory story and they wanted to know what drug to treat it with. I still don't know wtf I was looking at on that one...haha

Neuro--not too many, know blood supply to all brain areas, and the language centers, cerebellum, MS/GB, and for the love, study up on your neuromuscular diseases, I had like 5 questions on myotonic dystrophy which gets like a whole half a freaking page in Harrisons and is only mentioned ONCE in FA...and not even what it is, just that it's a trinucleotide repeat disease

OMT--some very easy/straightforward, some not-so-much, I studied Savarese and felt like I knew just about everything from that source, just a few random things I wasn't sure about but still felt I could reason my way through it. Maybe 2-4 cranial questions, not much. LOTS of symp/parasymp, and probably 5-8 chapman's points (only one I didn't know, and still don't, mostly cuz the question was just worded weird as hell.

Phys--ECGs like mad, well maybe it just felt that way cuz I'm not the best at those , probably like 10-15 which was more than I expected. Otherwise clinically oriented and straightforward, not too esoteric, and not too crazy, I think I calculated an anion gap, but no other calcs needed. Cardiac murmurs, and of course, autonomics, several electrolyte questions too.

Micro--Some easy, some not, easier than COMSAE though, none that weren't in FA. Mostly bacteria, not too many viruses, and hardly any nit-picky molecular stuff, other than toxins, antigens, ect.

Immuno--maybe 20-25 ques...a lot on types of hypersensitivites, some on the diseases, a LOT (matching, and others) on functions of cytokines and interleukins.

Biochem--straightforward, enzymes, substrates and know your vitamins, especially B-12, ect, folate, thiamine. Know the bilirubin pathway unconj/direct, ect and the diseases there. A few questions on clotting, diagnosing dz based on PT/PTT ect.

Genetics--I had probably 15-20 questions on this, and I was surprised by them, I figured them out, but a little more USMLE than I expected from the COMLEX, reading western blots, karyotypes and pedigrees (2 I think)

Path--pretty sparse, and pretty general, lung cancer, bowel diseases, PUD, pancreatitis, GB, only a few leuk/lymph questions, some anemia questions, what types, like in COMSAE

Behavioral/Pysch--not too many, questions on OSHA, medicare and ethics, lots of stuff on scizophrenia, lots and lots of psych drugs (below)

Pharm--It was weird. I don't know how else to describe it. Lots of questions, and some were convoluted and I couldn't figure out wtf they wanted to know in order to answer the questions on some. LOTS of pysch drugs, be sure to know side effects, some MOA's but not too many, more questions about which drug to use for what. Only a few on antibiotics (thank heavens--for me at least...)

In general, fair test, some gimmies, some you had to try for and only a few that felt kinda impossible, but I guess we'll see when I get my bleepin' score back

I really think I had 50 questions that dealt with a pregnant woman, lots and lots of OB/GYN questions, things I didn't know and I didn't think I would be expected to know at this level...but whatever. There was a question about giving an antibiotic for a chylamdial infection and ALL the ones listed were C/I in pregos, including azithro which is first line otherwise...and I checked myself with FA on my lunch break, so there must have been one that was safer than the others, but I didn't know it but I just found it in Harrison's...Amox...gee...maybe I should have studied for boards with my Harrisons!?!?! riiiiight

maybe study a ob/gyn book for that stuff?? I don't know, I took an ob/gyn class at my school and I knew some stuff, but it's nowhere in first aid, and I'm not sure really where to find it "at this level"

wow. long post. it probably won't help too much. or maybe it will. to all who have yet to take it

I think everyone who took it on the 10th had the same exam. I had every single question you just wrote about. All those damn EKG's!!

And for that chlamydia question I put down azithro. I must have stared at that question for a good 3 mins. Oh well. Its all over now.

Know your OMM guys! My test must of been almost ~30 percent OMM.

 

[PlasticMan]

In addition to what the others have already said:

Psych drugs - LOTS. know MOA, sides, toxicity, drug-drug interactions, etc.

Symp/Parasymp.

Micro - had lots of pics on my exam, know m.c.'s and HOW the bug causes disease.

Biochem - hardly any. Couple clinical questions. Couple pedigree. Western blot, immunoelectrophoresis.

Physio - mostly renal phys questions.

Anatomy - brachial plexus, know the dermatomes for extremities.

OMT - Savarese pretty much covered it. A couple really strange counterstrain points that I've never heard of in school or Savarese book.

 

[samnite]

Thanks for all the comments so far. It's really helpful.

 

[nvshelat]

Would you guys say that FA & Savarese is sufficient for the anatomy covered?

Thanks for all the input so far guys!

 

[OMMnerd]

I noticed some of you guys said there were a lot of ECG's on there. Were they all rhythm strips or did you have to deal with 12Lead ECG's as well and finding the axis and all that other bullcrap? Thanks.

 

[Sara Bellum]

I noticed some of you guys said there were a lot of ECG's on there. Were they all rhythm strips or did you have to deal with 12Lead ECG's as well and finding the axis and all that other bullcrap? Thanks.

I didn't have any rhythm strips, only 12 lead, but I didn't think they were difficult.

Does anyone know about how long it is taking at the moment for NBOME to grade the exams?
It seems that the results from April 17th have been available for about 3 or 4 weeks now. I am wondering when they might update that.

 

[cyclohexanol]

I noticed some of you guys said there were a lot of ECG's on there. Were they all rhythm strips or did you have to deal with 12Lead ECG's as well and finding the axis and all that other bullcrap? Thanks.

I had like 3 ECGs, one was a rhythm strip, one was a 12 lead and one was a 15 lead. The ECG was only relevant for one of the questions if I recall. No axis finding or branch blocks or anything.


Basic breakdown of the rest of my test:

- Had a lot of parkinson's questions during the first 4-hour block... seemed like 1/2 the patients had parkinson's and some side effect

- 2nd 4-hour block had a bunch of fibromyalgia, GERD, colon cancer

- 2 pedigrees (huntingtons and fragile X)

- 60% of my OMM questions were viscerosomatics having to do with GERD/PUD, colon cancer, or prostate issues. 38% were chapman's points... the remaining ~2% were a couple muscle energy questions, 1 MFR, and a CS question

- ~5-10 Random peripheral anatomy minutiae questions

- Some biochem, pretty simple 1st order stuff

- Lots of psych drug side effects


glad its over... that ****er is long

 

[ImNoSuperman]

Hey all...

I would agree with what Strawberry and the others have been saying. I took mine today... well technically yesterday, the 12th and had a real treat with it. In fact, if my COMLEX were a lady, I would avoid her like she had Trichamonas with corkscrew motility... but anyway.

Micro: yeah, know your micro. You don't have to have a Ph.D to get some pointage, but they throw you some curves. One thing I was VERY disappointed by was seeing 4 questions about Staph and several about neonate/kiddie meningitis. I did NOT pour over FA to get 4 questions on Staph., but they were easy points. Oh, and thanks NBOME for starting off EVERY micro question "A pt presents with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea x hours duration, fever, malaise, and myalgias...". Yeah, so does EVERY illness under the sun at some point. Some of the micro q's were straightforward: guy from europe w/ no hx of immunizations has a some pharyngitis with tonsilar swelling and a "grey-green membrane." Point! Not that many antimicrobials so that was well and good.

Neuro: there was quite a bit. I lump the peripheral neuropathy stuff in there, so it makes for quite a bit. I was expecting some of the neuro to be a little tougher. There were some that I was sketchy was on, but overall it wasn't bad. I felt like I answered middle cerebral artery for plenty of them, so know the distribution of vasculature as well deficits from occlusion. Quite a few head CT's with bleeds... if I had to look at one more I was gonna hang myself with my mouse. There were a few q's that asked about a side effect due to withdrawal of one of the five listed drugs; usually the S/E was seizure.

There were about 5 or 6 murmur q's, a couple that I had to spend some time thinking about and drawing on the dry erase board because of how they asked the q.

I actually got an SLE/hydralazine question.

The EKG's I had were a 3rd degree AV block and a few 12 leads with really high amplitude QRS's in the V leads that had q stems asking about chest pain, dyspnea, blah blah blah.

The endo/renal stuff was calcium-vitamin D-PTH-bone stuff and some electrolyte disturbances. I did NOT have to calculate **** on my test. Oh, wait... I had to subtract the direct bilirubin from the total bilirubin to get the indirect. I take that back, there was math.

OMM: Good n plenty sacroiliac dysfunctions plus lots of cord levels. It seemed alot of the pt's in the q stems had low back pain. Oh, and it seemed like all of the pt's were getting hurt... a very accident-prone group. I hope they have Afflack and not that other guy. A good convo with your Savarese book should do the trick.

There was a bit of repro on there. Malignancies mainly.

Oh, and I had some head/neck anatomy stuff. As well as ophtho pathology (i.e., herpetic keratitis)

I would say that you could get by with FA, Savarese, micro and pharm flash cards and a couple q-banks. Anymore would be wasteful. When it came down to it, all I ended up with in the end was my FA and flash cards... oh and q-banks.

Oh, and PS: there were a few pharm questions that had to do with insomnia. I was really expecting a kitchen sink to fly through my computer monitor after I saw those. And if i can end with over an hour left on the timer.. you can too!

Well, here's to 3rd year!!! Let's all flush this crap from our heads and prepare to be filled with REAL medical knowledge! Best of luck to those taking it Friday/Saturday. You'll be in my prayers.

 

[oreosandsake]

Hey all...

I would agree with what Strawberry and the others have been saying. I took mine today... well technically yesterday, the 12th and had a real treat with it. In fact, if my COMLEX were a lady, I would avoid her like she had Trichamonas with corkscrew motility... but anyway.

Micro: yeah, know your micro. You don't have to have a Ph.D to get some pointage, but they throw you some curves. One thing I was VERY disappointed by was seeing 4 questions about Staph and several about neonate/kiddie meningitis. I did NOT pour over FA to get 4 questions on Staph., but they were easy points. Oh, and thanks NBOME for starting off EVERY micro question "A pt presents with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea x hours duration, fever, malaise, and myalgias...". Yeah, so does EVERY illness under the sun at some point. Some of the micro q's were straightforward: guy from europe w/ no hx of immunizations has a some pharyngitis with tonsilar swelling and a "grey-green membrane." Point! Not that many antimicrobials so that was well and good.

Neuro: there was quite a bit. I lump the peripheral neuropathy stuff in there, so it makes for quite a bit. I was expecting some of the neuro to be a little tougher. There were some that I was sketchy was on, but overall it wasn't bad. I felt like I answered middle cerebral artery for plenty of them, so know the distribution of vasculature as well deficits from occlusion. Quite a few head CT's with bleeds... if I had to look at one more I was gonna hang myself with my mouse. There were a few q's that asked about a side effect due to withdrawal of one of the five listed drugs; usually the S/E was seizure.

There were about 5 or 6 murmur q's, a couple that I had to spend some time thinking about and drawing on the dry erase board because of how they asked the q.

I actually got an SLE/hydralazine question.

The EKG's I had were a 3rd degree AV block and a few 12 leads with really high amplitude QRS's in the V leads that had q stems asking about chest pain, dyspnea, blah blah blah.

The endo/renal stuff was calcium-vitamin D-PTH-bone stuff and some electrolyte disturbances. I did NOT have to calculate **** on my test. Oh, wait... I had to subtract the direct bilirubin from the total bilirubin to get the indirect. I take that back, there was math.

OMM: Good n plenty sacroiliac dysfunctions plus lots of cord levels. It seemed alot of the pt's in the q stems had low back pain. Oh, and it seemed like all of the pt's were getting hurt... a very accident-prone group. I hope they have Afflack and not that other guy. A good convo with your Savarese book should do the trick.

There was a bit of repro on there. Malignancies mainly.

Oh, and I had some head/neck anatomy stuff. As well as ophtho pathology (i.e., herpetic keratitis)

I would say that you could get by with FA, Savarese, micro and pharm flash cards and a couple q-banks. Anymore would be wasteful. When it came down to it, all I ended up with in the end was my FA and flash cards... oh and q-banks.

Oh, and PS: there were a few pharm questions that had to do with insomnia. I was really expecting a kitchen sink to fly through my computer monitor after I saw those. And if i can end with over an hour left on the timer.. you can too!

Well, here's to 3rd year!!! Let's all flush this crap from our heads and prepare to be filled with REAL medical knowledge! Best of luck to those taking it Friday/Saturday. You'll be in my prayers.

thanks for the nice write up. and congrats on finishing.

I take this thing on saturday... wrote the usmle on tuesday and i thought i'd still have gas left in the tank to make it through some savarese etc before saturday. stupid policy.. $229 is enough motivation NOT to change my date.

 

[SirCuneus]

I couldn't agree more with the post right above mine. I just took it today and it seems like we had the exact same test. A ton of neuro and musculoskeletal. It was getting past the point of annoying when they kept asking about viscerosomatic reflexes time, and time, oh, and did I say, time again. Wow. A couple chapman's reflex points on mine.

Neuro, neuro, and more neuro. And some of the pictures they put on there were poor quality and not very classic in my opinion, but you really didn't even need to look at them to get the diagnosis.

 

[SirCuneus]

Oh, and I read neuro HY and First Aid and that was more than enough for the neuro section. Good luck!

 

[cyclohexanol]

Savarese pages 104, 105, 113, and 180-186 (optional) is all you need.

thanks for the nice write up. and congrats on finishing.

I take this thing on saturday... wrote the usmle on tuesday and i thought i'd still have gas left in the tank to make it through some savarese etc before saturday. stupid policy.. $229 is enough motivation NOT to change my date.

 

[gouda]

Is there a consensus on how many days should be spent in studying OMM?
Is it something worthy of spending a week or two on or a day?

​

 

[Sara Bellum]

Is there a consensus on how many days should be spent in studying OMM?
Is it something worthy of spending a week or two on or a day?

​

The pages that someone wrote above are what you need.
I would not spend a whole week studying OMT. Know level of innervation stuff, the pages in the green book (review book.. not big one) that have to do with parasympathetic and sympathetics!

 

[cyclohexanol]

Is there a consensus on how many days should be spent in studying OMM?
Is it something worthy of spending a week or two on or a day?

​

I spent all of about an hour studying OMM. It was more than sufficient.

 

[gusterbyu]

I think i had the same test as the others who took it yesterday. Dead on with what was on it. I got screwed on the viscero-somatic stuff, I didn't take the time to look at those beforehand. I swear there were like 10 of those things where you had to choose what dermatome/tenderpoint level. 3 or 4 blood supply things to the brain/spinal chord, a couple lesions/syndromes too. 3 EKGs like above, about 10 micro questions it seemed had the same bug options (Listeria, Staph, Strep, NG), kid meningitis. FA was good for Micro. Rectal prolapse parasite, some Gyn micro. The micro pictures except for 1 or 2where terrible, head CT's with bleeds were pretty good though, and plentiful. A few extremity nerve questions, spinal level nerve injuries, 4 or 5 Calcium/Vit D/PTH Q's, 4 or 5 sacral dysfunction questions. Some weird old counterstrain points like listed above, I still have no clue. Like 2 or 3 murmur questions. A couple platelet factor questions, 2 biochem q's, no REAL math, a couple cranial questions on Dx what you would use it for, contraindications of OMM in a pregnant woman that has certain problems, scoliosis q, low back pain all over the place, regular type 2 dysfunction q's, ovarian cancer stuff & others, ended with plenty of time left. That's all I can remember. I was ticked about the several questions for 1 situation, especially if I didn't know what it was! Every time you get to question 35 or so, there are a few of those.

Basically, if I were to retake the same exam I would have focused on dermatome/chapman's, skim savarese, Micro most commons in young adults & peds, Pharm cards (psych, seizure meds), Musculoskeletal/neuro/anatomy basics. However, that's where I felt I was deficient, and it's possible they could be choosing 1 exam for that day and changing it up. Seems some of the above from days before weren't exactly like ours, but close. Good luck!

 

[megswinter82]

hey eveyone,

Since I've been obsessively using this forum for my board prep I figured I should actually post something useful. I took the COMLEX on June 12 and its eerie how similar mine was to the previous posters.

To start I'll give a brief overview of how/what I studied. I'd been studying since about January (I actually started in November, but it was such a waste that I don't consider it really studying). Except for micro and pharm, I did a systems based review using Kaplan books, online lectures and weekend lecture series. I also used Goljan RR and audio. While using these sources I added to first aid so that it would be "complete" for my final review. I used Kaplan qbank both the USMLE and COMLEX. My last exam at my school was May 23rd. I took a couple days off and then started doing systems review over the next couple of weeks. I used First Aid only thru this time. I got so frustrated with Kaplan that I stopped using their qbanks and turned to BRS books, the Pre-Test series and Robbins Review. Oh, and I also used Sevarese.

Initially I was doing 8-5ish and then probably about a week out I started pulling the 8-12, 1-5, 7ish-11ish schedule once the true panic started hitting me. The day before the exam I had originally planned to take off, but I got so worried that I studied from about 8-3pm. Don't know that it really helped all that much, but oh well.

Test day. I got there EARLY so I started a little before 8pm and was done by 2:30. I took all the breaks and about a 30min lunch break. I took an ambien the night before and even thought I didn't think I slept well, I was not tired at all during the exam. Which really helped because when I am tired I do not think well at all.

My exam:
Micro: Not bad. Like most people on here I looked forward to my micro questions. I used the Kaplan lectures/books and added to first aid. I can think of only 3 questions where I was pretty clueless with the answer. One was a picture, they gave no history, no signs or symptoms...just a picture and asked "what is it." The other was a worm question, which I'm sure was in first aid, but just didn't know it (something about rectal prolapse). Overall it was mostly neonate meningitis, pneumonia, etc. I had several virus questions that were very straight forward....HBV serology, EBV. I had one where the answer was rotavirus, but they actually wanted to whole DNA/RNA, dbl or sngl stranded.

PHARM: Again straightforward. I'd say 50% mechanism, 50% side effects. I had no idea so many drugs had insomnia as a side effect, so those questions threw me for a loop. I had a ton of ACE-Inhibitor side effects and how that side effect comes about. I felt ok with the pharm and felt first aid did a nice job

NEURO: HOLY COW KNOW YOUR NEURO. I'd been hearing that neuro was hit pretty hard so I spent some extra time on it and it was well worth it. REally know your blood supply to cortex and brainstem. And when I say know it I MEAN KNOW IT, including branches of branches. Most of the questions gave you typical signs and symptoms and you had to figure out what vessel was occluded. I had one question where it wasn't enough to know the vessel you had to know the branches too...which threw me. I don't recall having a ton of head CTs, but I definitely had quite a few hematoma questions. I did have one cerebral angiogram and I'm pretty sure you could answer the question without it, but it would've definitely helped if I had known how to look at those damn things. I also had your typical brachial plexus lesions, but the ones that stick out to me were the lower limb questions. They would give you S/S of a lower limb deficit and want to know the SPECIFIC cord level (i.e. L1 OR L2 OR L3, etc)

ANATOMY: No straight anatomy. I would say most of this goes with the above Neuro post. Know what muscles do what and what innervates them. No need to get specific and I would focus mostly on the limb musculature. Some people said they had a lot of "ortho" emphasis...I had none. No images of limbs...

OMM: I was a little nervous for this because I didn't dedicate the time to it. I studied a total of 16ish hours for this spread over several days. The bulk of my review came the Tuesday before my exam. I used sevarese, but didn't even look at any of the treatment chapters. Any treatment questions I got were very basic...you know they give you a F/E thoracic and say you are setting them up for direct treatment...how would you do that. I only had a couple of those kind of questions though. KNOW YOUR CORD LEVELS I would say over 50% of my OMM questions were cord levels. The rest consisted of sacro-pelvis. I had a couple "cranial"...but they actually weren't looking for cranial diagnosis...they wanted you to know what cranial nerve exited thru what bone in the skull. I had a couple of Chapman's...I will say SEvarese IS NOT enough for these. I did 1 of the practice tests in the back and actually had a couple questions on the exam that were very similar.

PHYSIOLOGY: Most of my phys consisted of Endocrine and CV. Did not have to calculate anything. Didn't even have a single acid/base question. More like...they would give you S/S of a pathology and some lab values and you would have to figure out what was going on (one that jumps out at me was an SIADH question). I had 3 ECGS...yeah b/c I suck at these. 2 of them you could get w/o the ECG and the other one was asking for the arrythmia and based on ImNoSuperman's post I'm pretty sure I missed it (stupid 3rd degreee block, gets me every time). I did have a strange mathching series on thermoregulation and another matching series on CV relating exercise. But I would say mostly END phys for me.

BIOCHEM/GENETICS: More than I was expecting. I think I had 4 or 5 biochem questions and probably another 4 or 5 genetics. I spent an hour total on genetics and that was just with First Aid and I felt fine with the genetics. Most of the questions were "couple comes in and wants to know chances their child will have X disease"...so you would have to know what the disease's inheritance pattern is and figure out the % likelihood the child would get it. I had no pedigrees. I hadn't looked at Biochem since March and so I found it a little tricky. The questions were very straightforward, but I was weak. They were mostly disease based...i.e know the enzyme...know the deficient product and excess substrate. I had a couple question series where you had to know what a vitamin did...how it did what it did and what would happen if you were deficient in it. Those killed me b/c I mostly knew just deficiencies and not what the biochemical role of the vitamin was. I also had some typical "this substrate is involved in which of the following reactions"..."this is the product of which of the following reactions."

PATH: Started off with a bit of GI..which got me worried b/c its not one of my stronger suits. Then I had a lot of head and neck pathology. I don't know if I really had a lot or if I just feel like it because I was NOT expecting it at all. I honestly hadn't looked at it since our school taught it in the fall. Luckily, they did a darn good job because I didn't have too bad a time with it. A lot of eye images (actually maybe only 2). Most of the other path was across the board CV, neuro, GI, END. I think I only had 1 kidney path question.

The test overall was what I expected. If you take the COMSAE you won't be surprised at all. I don't know if there were any exact questions from the COMSAE on the exam...but because I took the COMSAE I studied material I wasn't originally planning on going over and it definitely helped (neuro blood supply, coagulation cascade, behavioral science). I'd say out of a 50q set...there would be about 20 I was sure on (or at least pretty damn sure) about another 20 where I could narrow it down to 2 or 3 and just say to myself "damn I wish I knew this just a little better) and then another 10 that I was lucky to eliminate one of the answer choices. I didn't have any WTF questions that come to mind. I did have a few where I felt that I understood the questions but couldn't make sense of the answer choices. I did have a lot of...hmmm...I really think I need more information. Like "AIDS patient with diarrhea" and that was it. Well, what's the CD4 count...what KIND of diarrhea? Wasn't the best test...guess it could've been a lot worse...and I REALLY wish they at least gave you a P/F screen at the end. Don't really understand why they can't give us scores right away.

Anyway...sorry its so long...I'll post my study schedule and such once I get my scores back. Thanks for all the help this forum has given me and much luck to those taking it soon!