COMLEX date choice

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scpod

scpod

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Question for those of you that have taken COMLEX part I before:

I received my email authorization from NBOME to register today. I was thinking about waiting until some time after Christmas to pay for it....but I'm wondering how quickly the dates tend to fill up. Have any of you run into a problem getting the dates you wanted if you waited until the end of January?
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I have not run into any problems whatsoever when registering for any COMLEX exam.
 
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UNE just registered for the COMLEX two days ago. ALL seats within 1 1/5 hour drive and ALL SEATS IN MAINE were GONE within the first 30 minutes. We have students driving over 2 hours to take the exam. And any seats within reasonable driving distance on the 20th were gone within 5 minutes of our email coming out.

Apparently the issue of dates available (or lack thereof) will be addressed by the SCOG (osteopath student council of governments) meeting in Texas in January. Emails have been flying fast and furious and apparently some schools now only have 2 weeks to give their students for studying due to the lack of dates. Students who have planned weddings for the summer are finding they will have to take their exam at a very inconvenient time due to the radical change in date distribution.

According to the NBOME they are not planning on adding any more dates. According to the schools' administrations NBOME has always added dates later on in the season. So you're playing a game of chicken to get more dates closer to where you live.
 
Thanks for the heads-up ShyRem. The date and location I wanted is already gone. 😱

Looks like I will be taking COMLEX a week earlier than I planned, and will now have to take USMLE after COMLEX.

Too bad they don't have more dates - there is only testing center in town and they only offer COMLEX one day during the best week in our schedule to take it. 👎
 
I actually registered the earliest date possible last year, but ended up re-scheduling about 3 weeks later when more dates in the range that I wanted were made available - you may just want to check every so often...
 
DragonWell said:
Nice...I'll be memorizing cytokines and cramming USMLE World while you're strolling around Fremont St with a drink... 😛
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Exactly! Where else can you get margaritas like this?
jason-margaritas-yard.jpg


Or participate in moving displays of community service like this?
PETA_LasVegas_Naked_1.jpg
 
scpod said:
I picked May 22nd too. On May 23rd I'm on my way to Las Vegas. What a way to unwind, huh? 😀
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Man, you guys are taking it early! I signed up today for June 9th, only because they didn't have any dates the first week of June. Hopefully the USMLE will have dates that week, so my master plan will come together. :hardy:
 
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ShyRem said:
Jeez. May 22 we're still in class. 😡
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We take our last exam on April 18th. Board review begins April 21st and ends May 9th. We have to come in for the ACLS test one day the week of May 12th-- then we are finished.

Then we start rotations on June 2nd like Dragonwell mentioned🙂.
 
This is a crock of bull. I signed less than 12 hours after the emails were sent out and I could only get a slot for a week after finals or the first week of our rotations (June 9). I ended up changing my day from the 22nd of May to the 9th of June because a week is not enough time to study after classes for me. Has anyone else taken the exam and missed the first day of rotations? Will this look bad or will they understand?? I dont know what to do. Why would they not open enough seats to take the exam during the "ideal" time period (Last week of May, first week of June)?
 
I'm taking COMLEX June 14th (for now). I wanted to take it the first week of June and supposedly we have elective classes and ACLS starting June 9th "tenatively." I would have done it sooner but our last Kaplan class doesn't even get done until May 22nd.
 
After seeing this I freaked out but it was no problem at all, I'm hoping when I schedule my USMLE i'll be so happy
 
Any one know how and when we will be able to sign up for the USMLE or when the dates are? I don't want to sign up for the COMLEX until I know when the USMLE is going to be.....
 
NolanDNA said:
Any one know how and when we will be able to sign up for the USMLE or when the dates are? I don't want to sign up for the COMLEX until I know when the USMLE is going to be.....
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My understanding is that to choose a USMLE date, you need to apply (ie pay), print your application form, get your application and photo certified by your school and mail it back to the NBME. You then get your scheduling ticket and can call Prometric and schedule. USMLE is offered most days of the week except the first two weeks of January and holidays, so there should be a much wider variety of dates available than for COMLEX.
 
Nice, thank for the Info!
 
jbp100 said:
Man, you guys are taking it early! I signed up today for June 9th, only because they didn't have any dates the first week of June. Hopefully the USMLE will have dates that week, so my master plan will come together. :hardy:
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June 9th baby!! I really wanted to take it on the 24th of May, but of course all the testing sites were GONE! Oh well, an extra 2 weeks should be worth it...it just sucks because I won't have a vacation now. 👎
 
laboholic said:
This is a crock of bull. I signed less than 12 hours after the emails were sent out and I could only get a slot for a week after finals or the first week of our rotations (June 9). I ended up changing my day from the 22nd of May to the 9th of June because a week is not enough time to study after classes for me. Has anyone else taken the exam and missed the first day of rotations? Will this look bad or will they understand?? I dont know what to do. Why would they not open enough seats to take the exam during the "ideal" time period (Last week of May, first week of June)?
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Rotations at PCOM begin on June 9th, but a ton of people are planning on missing this day due to scheduling conflicts with the COMLEX.

As far as I know, taking your boards is a valid excuse for missing a day and you arent looked down upon for doing it...but who knows you could get a douche for an intern or resident....😎
 
DO Sigma Nu guy said:
Rotations at PCOM begin on June 9th, but a ton of people are planning on missing this day due to scheduling conflicts with the COMLEX.

As far as I know, taking your boards is a valid excuse for missing a day and you arent looked down upon for doing it...but who knows you could get a douche for an intern or resident....😎
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I emailed my school about this. They said that it is a BAD idea to schedule COMLEX for the 1st day of rotations because there is usually a mandatory orientation that day. It IS ok to take boards after the 1st day though.

just FYI
 
laboholic said:
I emailed my school about this. They said that it is a BAD idea to schedule COMLEX for the 1st day of rotations because there is usually a mandatory orientation that day. It IS ok to take boards after the 1st day though.

just FYI
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Uhhh ohhh. That sucks. Oh well. I have Internal Medicine in June so i'll be in the hospital for almost 80 hrs a week anyway. I guess i'll have to learn as I go. :laugh::laugh:
 
taking it June 20th (plan on takin USMLE a week prior)

our rotations start july 1st or 2nd i believe.
 
Taking it June 9th now instead of the 14th. Summer classes start the 9th, so I figure I won't be studying as much this week anyways. Might as well take the excused absence and get it over with.
 
Ok.........help me out here.
I just signed up for the COMLEX for June 20th and USMLE the following week on June 27th. Is this a good idea or do I want to take USMLE FIRST then take COMLEX a week after and just hit OMM in-between?

dazed and confused...........:scared:
 
Hey JBone. I obviously haven't taken the Boards yet, but I've heard this issue discussed a lot on this forum. It seems like everybody has an opinion on this topic, but I'm not sure how much of a difference it does or does not make. Most of the people I've talked to advocated taking the USMLE 1st then taking the COMLEX a few days to a week afterwards. The theory behind this I've heard is that whatever test you want to do better on (for many this is the USMLE), you should take first. Plus this gives you a few days to hammer in OMM & more "bugs & drugs" in those couple of days after the USMLE. I also talked to someone who took COMLEX first then took USMLE a month or two after and used COMLEX as a semi "practice run." Since you only have a week in between, that situation probably doesn't apply to you. I'm taking the USMLE June 2nd and then taking COMLEX June 9th (exactly a week later). I'm sure there are situations in which you do better on the 2nd exam, especially if you get really really nervous about tests, the 2nd test you might have less anxiety?? If you can't get a USMLE test date earlier than the COMLEX, I wouldn't think it's that big of a deal. Good luck!
 
jbone, I'm in the same boat. I'm taking the COMLEX June 19 and the USMLE on June 26. Don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's what I got. The 19th was the last date I could get a seat for COMLEX by the deadline imposed by UNE, and I really didn't want to take USMLE on only 2 weeks of prep. So COMLEX before USMLE for me too.

COMLEX really didn't have many dates available this year in June.
 
Ditto the above - not many COMLEX dates available at the end of May, so I will be taking COMLEX a week before USMLE. I'm not really sure what I'll hit specifically during that week after COMLEX...maybe Biochem, Immuno, Molecular Bio or just more study on my weak points I suppose.
 
USMLE: June 21
COMLEX: June 30 (brush up on OMM, Bugs and Drugs)
 
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