COMLEX level 2

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Offcourse there are many discussions regarding Qbanks..As there are contradictions between discussions I read so far, I'm just decided to spend some time both in UW, COMQUEST and COMBANK..but my question is as you know..it is easy to manage comquest and combank..since..around 800 each..it can be covered at least a month each..but..UW..is way too much plus..each questions are well explained than the others and it really takes time to go through all..the thing is..there is no enough time in rotation unless you dedicate all your study time to it..that may be not practical..and thus wondering if you have some comment how to manage this issue..or you recomend just COMQUEST and COMBANK only.

Thanks

 

[djnels01]

Offcourse there are many discussions regarding Qbanks..As there are contradictions between discussions I read so far, I'm just decided to spend some time both in UW, COMQUEST and COMBANK..but my question is as you know..it is easy to manage comquest and combank..since..around 800 each..it can be covered at least a month each..but..UW..is way too much plus..each questions are well explained than the others and it really takes time to go through all..the thing is..there is no enough time in rotation unless you dedicate all your study time to it..that may be not practical..and thus wondering if you have some comment how to manage this issue..or you recomend just COMQUEST and COMBANK only.

Thanks

When studying for COMLEX II, I really focused on doing as many questions as possible.

I used Combank and Comquest only. I made it through all questions on Comquest twice and did Combank almost twice as well.

I also bought Crush Step 2 but honestly didn't even read through that book once, I just didn't have the desire to. I've heard it's a great review book though!

In the end, I scored in the high 500's. So in my experience, spending most of my time going over questions was good enough for me. Just stick to Combank and Comquest for a month and you should do fine.

 

[public]

djnels01 . Thank you so much.

 

[zman1910]

When studying for COMLEX II, I really focused on doing as many questions as possible.

I used Combank and Comquest only. I made it through all questions on Comquest twice and did Combank almost twice as well.

I also bought Crush Step 2 but honestly didn't even read through that book once, I just didn't have the desire to. I've heard it's a great review book though!

In the end, I scored in the high 500's. So in my experience, spending most of my time going over questions was good enough for me. Just stick to Combank and Comquest for a month and you should do fine.

If you don't mind me asking which one did you find more helpful? I've done them both now....thanks

 

[djnels01]

If you don't mind me asking which one did you find more helpful? I've done them both now....thanks

Honestly, I thought comquest had more realistic questions: shorter, less information, more vague. Very much felt like actual comlex questions.

With that said, combank is an excellent resource as well. The explanations are great and you learn a lot just going through all the questions. To be honest, if you have the money, I would get both.

More Realistic for COMLEX = comquest, IMO.

 

[gammak]

I just checked the NBOME website and my step 2 CE from 10/10/09 was up!

Best of luck all

 

[nilknarf]

I checked and the scores are up, but I cant seem to find a real score report online beyond just the number. Where is the PDF?

For those who also took USMLE step 2 how did your 2 digit scores compare. Mine was better on the USMLE and that seems to be a trend from the people I talk to.

As for studying, I read through USMLE Step 2 secrets and did lots of questions. Not sure what helped and what didn't. Even though I did all the COMBANK OMM questions and reviewed some notes, I felt that I was a bit unprepared for that part. Overall I was in the mid 90s, but did not do as well as COMLEX Part 1

 

[zman1910]

I just checked the NBOME website and my step 2 CE from 10/10/09 was up!

Best of luck all

How did you prepare gammak if you don't mind me asking?

 

[JStub]

I just checked the NBOME website and my step 2 CE from 10/10/09 was up!

Best of luck all

Thanks! Just checked and I passed!

 

[gammak]

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, but have been busy lately. As far as how I prepared for Comlex Step 2 - I used USMLE world q bank which was great overall prep for medicine in general. Not so much for COMLEX. I hate to say this, but there is very little I could have done differently to prepare. The questions I missed I was going to miss no matter how much I studied. I just did lots and lots and lots of questions. I liken these tests to a marathon. You train by running - i.e. questions. Do as many questions as you can - use COMBANK if you want. People seem to like it.

The best advice I can give is to DO ALL OF THE SAVARESES QUESTIONS YOU CAN (GREEN OMM BOOK -its like 40 bucks on amazon). I always get all of the OMM questions not because I am a great osteopath, but because I know the Savarese book by heart. It is a quick read. If you do all of the OMM questions (500 or so) in the weeks before the exam you will ACE OMM period. Thats it.

Oh yeah, and I felt like I did much worse than on step 1 after i left this exam. It really cuts you down and makes you feel like a morron (sp?). Just remember that everyone else gets the same impossible or vague questions and it all evens out in the end. I was surprised by my result - better than expected.

Best of luck.

 

[badgerred]

You need to do BOTH Combank and Comquest. They are both very different from one another and neither one is complete by itself. That being said, comquest is the better of the 2 qbanks and if I had to pick one, I would do comquest.

The problem with comquest is that it isn't comprehensive; it covers the main and high yield topics really well but it doesn't cover the "randoms" all that well, combank does a better job proving a variety of questions and topics. Comquest's questions are much more difficult and represent the real thing in terms of difficulty and vagueness. Combank is misleading because its questions are too easy and are not written in that vague style and it only tests buzzwords but it's helpful because it cover topics not in comquest that showed up on the real thing

Usmleworld is a waste of time for this exam. Yes, ideally it helps if you can do it before you hit these qbanks but it has 2300 questions, each stem is really long and it's answers are really long. You would be hard pressed to do UW, Combank and Comquest all at once. It's better to focus on combank and comquest and know those qbanks cold. Combank and Comquest combined are less than 1800 questions so it's very doable to do both before your exam

Lastly and most importantly, you have to study OMM. Don't do it the night before. You need to take it seriously. 25-33% of the exam is OMM and you can get a lot of easy points if you know your OMM. Ask anyone and they will tell you the OMM questions were the most direct and fairly written questions on the exam! With the OMM, you either knew it or you didn't. I think a lot of these people who failed it didn't know their OMM and probably looked over it the day before the test. You can get away with that on comlex 1 but comlex 2 has a lot more omm and it goes beyond memorizing viscerosomatic points. The qbanks do a poor job of preparing you for OMM, you have to read and know Savarese cold

 

[public]

badgerred, thanks a lot.

 

[jakstat]

Anyone pay the $50 to do the practice test? Wondering if its worth it since i'm already doing comquest and combank? thanks for any input. I'm a wk out from my 2nd attempt!!

 

[DD214_DOC]

I don't think the comsae is worth it, especially only a week out. Either you'll do really well and become overconfident or really poorly and become discouraged.

I'm taking it for the first time next week. Have done over 1500 questions between combank and comquest. I still don't feel prepared.

 

[NonTradDO]

I agree with the others since UW is literally made to prepare for a different exam that almost everybody who took confirms is completely different. I'd definitely read Savarese and do those questions as well - it only takes a full day or two to complete cover to cover.

 

[drjakul]

I'm planning to take my step II in six months. besides purchasing comquest, combank and going over the green OMM book, what other books do you friends recommend me to study during the next six months? Are "First Aid" books a good resource for high yield materials?
Thanks

 

[ShyRem]

Boards & Wards.

 

[DD214_DOC]

In addition to the question banks and Savarese, I think the only book that is really necessary is USMLE Step 2 Secrets. All of the stuff I did not encounter on the qbanks are in that book. Unfortunately, I never really messed with it until AFTER the exam when I *tried* to continue my studying just in case I failed.

I used Crush Step 2 over Secrets and am pretty sure it was a mistake. Some of the nuttier questions on Part 2 that I had were in Secrets. Stuff about Legionaire's Dz (which I initially had right but doubted myself and changed my answer! Doh!)

Anyways, good luck. Should find out in about a week or so if I should have kept on studying.

 

[drinkcoffee]

How long after you take COMLEX II CE did you get your score report?

 

[Hybrid1]

How long after you take COMLEX II CE did you get your score report?

Four weeks for me.

 

[aqaqaq]

I heard that there are many legal questions asked in the exam, so what should I read to get these stuff? I looked on B&W, FA, secret..but there is not much in there?

Thanks

 

[DD214_DOC]

The jurisprudence questions are more or less common sense, at least to me, Just familiarize yourself with some of the jargon and you should be fine. The questions on COMQUEST were pretty decent.

 

[aqaqaq]

Thanks HooahDOc. If you don't mind, which qbank you prefered? COMQUEST vs COMBANK?

How about review books? FA vs B & W vs Secret = Crush?

Thanks

 

[waterlily07]

Any one have thoughts to taking vacation time prior to taking Part 2? I was thinking of taking the CE first and then one week for the PE. Thanks for any input. Good luck to all!

 

[JStub]

Any one have thoughts to taking vacation time prior to taking Part 2? I was thinking of taking the CE first and then one week for the PE. Thanks for any input. Good luck to all!

I think it is worth taking vacation and knocking the CE out instead of studying "when yoy have time" while on rotations. I did it and it paid off. Its not necessary to take time off for the PE. I studied on the plane ride there and all day in my hotel room.

 

[bravotwozero]

How can you assess your readiness for the comlex level II? I know that you can use UW or NBME tests for the USMLE, but what about the comlex? I doubt the COMSAE is going to help, since it underestimated my score by more than 100 points for the step I 🙄

 

[DD214_DOC]

Thanks HooahDOc. If you don't mind, which qbank you prefered? COMQUEST vs COMBANK?

How about review books? FA vs B & W vs Secret = Crush?

Thanks

I liked COMQUEST. Between COMQUEST and USMLE Secrets, that's all you need to pass the CE. Those are all I used and I passed on my first try, and even went up about 30 points from my Level I score.

I *did* read Crush Step 2 but I did so months before I actually took the exam.

For the PE, I pretty much studied on the 10 hour drive to philly and a little the night before. I mainly focused on OMT and the "procedural" expectations. (ie, how to greet the patient, when to wash hands, draping etiquette, etc) I figured 1.5 years of rotations should be enough to cover note writing and the ddx. I will find out in a few weeks I guess.

 

[skinknee]

Can anyone share any weird terminologies or topics they came across on Step II? TIA

 

[peludoguy]

Thanks HooahDOc. If you don't mind, which qbank you prefered? COMQUEST vs COMBANK?

How about review books? FA vs B & W vs Secret = Crush?

Thanks

like shyrem said, boards and wards is the best study book for comlex 2.

 

[axm028400]

I just took the exam on Wednesday, and absolutely agree that you need to buy both combank and comquest to prepare, they are both too short to just do one or the other, and I had questions on my exam that were similar to both banks. As for format, it is exactly like comquest. I used FA, USMLEworld, and boards/wards in addition, but I took the USMLE step 2 the week before. I felt like there were some questions on the exam that you don't need to stress out about, b/c they're just so random that you could study for a year and not cover them; you'd have to research in medical journals. After the exam, there were questions that I looked up that I couldn't even find the answer to still. But overall, I felt that the exam was ok. The only thing that was sort of difficult were the series questions, b/c if you miss the diagnosis then you're going to automatically miss the next few questions. Lots of OMM, but nothing too difficult I didn't think if you cover Savarese. Good luck! PM me with any specific questions!