COMLEX LEVEL 3 2019- 2020

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mikemedman19

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A thread for the last COMLEX. That is all.

Post scores, talk strategy, vent, find it all in the thread.
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Hey all,
Took it Feb 25/26th. Did COMQUEST 1.5x through over the preceding month. First time using it as I only used Uworld while in med school. I have zero affiliations with comquest, and to be honest always heard it was a subpar qbank in med school, but holysh** it was spot on. While using the qbank there were tons of times where I was like"that a super weird really specific random question" and on test day all of those questions came up. I literally had probably 10+ identical word for word questions on the real thing. It was definitely peds and OB heavy. As far as OMM; i just rememorized viscerosomatics and chapmans and felt like that was enough. Absolutely minimal stats on the real thing. Finished 2hrs early each day (and felt good) so either got destroyed or the opposite. The whole exam was pretty much a bunch of really random stuff. Other than burning a qbank; I don't think studying on top would have helped.

I had a hard time finding good qbank suggestions prior to taking it so I just wanted to strongly suggest comquest after my experience...
Best of luck
 
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Scores were released around 1400 today for the last cycle.

So happy to be done with NBOME exams.
 
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NobleGas14 said:
that’s incredibly difficult, I’m really sorry. How did you prepare? Do you feel as if you have test anxiety or something prohibiting you from doing your best?
Click to expand...

preparing to take it again. Have one month. Suggestions? Previously, not much time to study......rotations. Taking a month off.....suggestions please???
 
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theEMdude said:
Hey all,
Took it Feb 25/26th. Did COMQUEST 1.5x through over the preceding month. First time using it as I only used Uworld while in med school. I have zero affiliations with comquest, and to be honest always heard it was a subpar qbank in med school, but holysh** it was spot on. While using the qbank there were tons of times where I was like"that a super weird really specific random question" and on test day all of those questions came up. I literally had probably 10+ identical word for word questions on the real thing. It was definitely peds and OB heavy. As far as OMM; i just rememorized viscerosomatics and chapmans and felt like that was enough. Absolutely minimal stats on the real thing. Finished 2hrs early each day (and felt good) so either got destroyed or the opposite. The whole exam was pretty much a bunch of really random stuff. Other than burning a qbank; I don't think studying on top would have helped.

I had a hard time finding good qbank suggestions prior to taking it so I just wanted to strongly suggest comquest after my experience...
Best of luck
Click to expand...
 
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So. I have a month to study. How would you structure things? How many questions per day? How much time do you spend reviewing each question? I’m getting bogged down.......really nervous. Like, if you do 50 questions, how much time do you spend going over those questions? Notes? Flashcards? Detail your method please...?
 
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ICan'tEven said:
So. I have a month to study. How would you structure things? How many questions per day? How much time do you spend reviewing each question? I’m getting bogged down.......really nervous. Like, if you do 50 questions, how much time do you spend going over those questions? Notes? Flashcards? Detail your method please...?

I only studied for a month while I was on wards. I did like 50-150 questions a day, depending on if I was on call or not. I didn’t spend a lot of time going over my questions like I did for my prior board exams because I just needed to pass COMLEX 3. If I got a question wrong, I would write a quick sentence or two about that topic and then I would review my notes once a week.
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Does anyone want to comment on how did they do on COMLEX III recently ? I am taking it in a few days and am freaking out :((
 
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Did ~90% of COMQUEST once over 1.5months, average 72%. Did a few of the cases on NBOME site. No other resources/no practice tests. Thought i failed some of the cases on test day. Ended up scoring above average. Youll be fine.
 
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sickwitted said:
Did ~90% of COMQUEST once over 1.5months, average 72%. Did a few of the cases on NBOME site. No other resources/no practice tests. Thought i failed some of the cases on test day. Ended up scoring above average. Youll be fine.
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Mind if I ask how much above average we’re talking?
 
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What the F was that?! Worst of all the exams. And I took Step 1 and 2. Decided to try and blow Level 3 out early since I’ve don’t well on all my other boards and I want to focus on my speciality in residency rather than a vague irrelevant exam. Hope I didn’t mess up because that test felt so random and like I was completely guessing on 50% of questions. Praying I did better than I felt because if I have to retake that garbage I will seriously get depressed and question everything. Did the exam writers even go to residency? 90% of it is not at all relevant to what we do as physicians I’m sorry.

Did all of comquest one pass scoring slightly above average. Read one pass of FA for step 3. Felt like I got wrecked on 5 out of 6 multiple choice sections, 1 was alright. The CDMs were actually not too bad.

So many questions were so vague I didn’t know if they wanted you to pick the best next step or the best ultimate step because it would just say what’s the best “management” and in real life you’d do like three of the answers all at once.. I don’t think more studying or clinical time would have gotten me much if anything more so just praying for a pass. Always above average on Level 1 and 2 and Step 1 and 2, so trying to trust in that and my qbank but damn I feel like I bombed that and am somewhat terrified I’ll have to take it again. Overall feeling angry. What a joke
 
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Medit8A said:
What the F was that?! Worst of all the exams. And I took Step 1 and 2. Decided to try and blow Level 3 out early since I’ve don’t well on all my other boards and I want to focus on my speciality in residency rather than a vague irrelevant exam. Hope I didn’t mess up because that test felt so random and like I was completely guessing on 50% of questions. Praying I did better than I felt because if I have to retake that garbage I will seriously get depressed and question everything. Did the exam writers even go to residency? 90% of it is not at all relevant to what we do as physicians I’m sorry.

Did all of comquest one pass scoring slightly above average. Read one pass of FA for step 3. Felt like I got wrecked on 5 out of 6 multiple choice sections, 1 was alright. The CDMs were actually not too bad.

So many questions were so vague I didn’t know if they wanted you to pick the best next step or the best ultimate step because it would just say what’s the best “management” and in real life you’d do like three of the answers all at once.. I don’t think more studying or clinical time would have gotten me much if anything more so just praying for a pass. Always above average on Level 1 and 2 and Step 1 and 2, so trying to trust in that and my qbank but damn I feel like I bombed that and am somewhat terrified I’ll have to take it again. Overall feeling angry. What a joke
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Are you me?

I did comquest and finished ~ 5 days before exam and had a 73% correct. I did that and read the green book and skimmed first aid for what i needed to brish up on. I also did combank for the CDM’s. I used comquest for all Comats and Level 2. Love comquest... not sure how much it helped for this test though. It felt like o studied for the wrong exam. Always done avg or above. Idk about this time, bro. Soooooo much peds and OB in comprison to comquest. Even the internal was the real deep cut esoterica... like 2nd and third line treatments. Real BS. Also, This was the most stereotypical Comlex in that every question was so extremely vague (Both in how it was asked and the symptoms presented) that it was Often times not possible to be more than 50-50 between two answers. Yeah the MCQ,I felt like at least 50% were just guesses. Maybe up to 55%. The Comlex is hard because of how vague they make it. This one felt like it had a really high amount of level one stuff and no real biostats. The CDM’s were not terrible- but still pretty vague.I’ll be happy with any pass. 350? Sure! i’m going to try to have faith in my qbank but that was so rough. Gonna be a lot of praying over next 2 months.
 
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I thought the CDM cases were completely awful. The worst part is that if I fail, I still will have no idea how to study for that nonsense. 350 - let's go!
 
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Hey Everyone,

I looked into the past COMLEX III posts, and basically all that I got was that people did not like COMBank/preferred COMquest( I personally find com quest too easy . .but then again I have done only 2-3 exams on it . .used Com bank mostly), and used Savarese/the questions in COMBank for OMT Prep, and some are not even recommending the practice NBOME exams.

As for the CDM Cases . .is it worth getting the CDM case from NBOME?

As far as fellowships go . . .COMLEX III vs. USMLE Step III? Which one is weighed heavier in what types of fellowships?

Is there anything else I am missing in my prep for COMLEX III? Is there something that you felt that you should have reviewed more?

I have lots of people say that the question banks are not representative of the real thing? In either case, any kind of serious input would be much helpful!
 
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Jay2910 said:
Hey Everyone,

I looked into the past COMLEX III posts, and basically all that I got was that people did not like COMBank/preferred COMquest( I personally find com quest too easy . .but then again I have done only 2-3 exams on it . .used Com bank mostly), and used Savarese/the questions in COMBank for OMT Prep, and some are not even recommending the practice NBOME exams.

As for the CDM Cases . .is it worth getting the CDM case from NBOME?

As far as fellowships go . . .COMLEX III vs. USMLE Step III? Which one is weighed heavier in what types of fellowships?

Is there anything else I am missing in my prep for COMLEX III? Is there something that you felt that you should have reviewed more?

I have lots of people say that the question banks are not representative of the real thing? In either case, any kind of serious input would be much helpful!
Click to expand...

I did Combank, did the CDM cases on it. Felt adequate for the MC questions although there are some really dumb ones. Did a little content review on my weak areas. CDM cases were much easier than the actual test.
 
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Jay2910 said:
Hey Everyone,

I looked into the past COMLEX III posts, and basically all that I got was that people did not like COMBank/preferred COMquest( I personally find com quest too easy . .but then again I have done only 2-3 exams on it . .used Com bank mostly), and used Savarese/the questions in COMBank for OMT Prep, and some are not even recommending the practice NBOME exams.

As for the CDM Cases . .is it worth getting the CDM case from NBOME?

As far as fellowships go . . .COMLEX III vs. USMLE Step III? Which one is weighed heavier in what types of fellowships?

Is there anything else I am missing in my prep for COMLEX III? Is there something that you felt that you should have reviewed more?

I have lots of people say that the question banks are not representative of the real thing? In either case, any kind of serious input would be much helpful!
Click to expand...
The Omm for the most part was easy or as expected. There was just a lot of random 2nd and 3rd line treatments and ob and peds. I think Comquest is usually regarded as better ,as well. I found it extremely predictive of level II performance. If you have the chance do both but we’ll see how mine and everyone else’s went. The test Felt more like level I in alot of ways than level II. Just alot of random factoids. You had one job NBOME...Thanks NBOME.
 
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WorriedDO said:
The Omm for the most part was easy or as expected. There was just a lot of random 2nd and 3rd line treatments and ob and peds. I think Comquest is usually regarded as better ,as well. I found it extremely predictive of level II performance. If you have the chance do both but we’ll see how mine and everyone else’s went. The test Felt more like level I in alot of ways than level II. Just alot of random factoids. You had one job NBOME...Thanks NBOME.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to get through much of COMquest as possible and I feel that they tend to repeat a lot of their peds/obgyn questions. For a person who has problems with exams, I feel like I haven't been exposed to as much. I hated level II, I felt like combank did not help and there were lots of random pics that they wanted you to know. What random factoids? do you have anymore specifics on various topics?
Also how long does the second day really take? My buddy said about 1/2 a day? But I'm seeing online that the second day is another 7 hour day totally?
 
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Jay2910 said:
I'm trying to get through much of COMquest as possible and I feel that they tend to repeat a lot of their peds/obgyn questions. For a person who has problems with exams, I feel like I haven't been exposed to as much. I hated level II, I felt like combank did not help and there were lots of random pics that they wanted you to know. What random factoids? do you have anymore specifics on various topics?
Also how long does the second day really take? My buddy said about 1/2 a day? But I'm seeing online that the second day is another 7 hour day totally?
Click to expand...
Plan for both days being 8hrs.
 
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Just did the test. The questions are vague and a lot of step 1 knowledge. Felt like it should ask about mostly management plans but it didn’t. IM resident scored slightly below average on my in service exam. Feels really nervous and hope I passed the test.
 
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I felt the same way when I took mine a month before you. I’m still worried that I failed. Like you said alot of step 1 material. I hope we both passed.
 
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Took mine two weeks ago.. CDM cases have me worried, but MCQs felt like every other comlex exam. CDM wasn’t too hard but I always “over order” testing so idk what to think.. treatment and diagnosis I was correct for most of them, but it’s a new section and I don’t know how to gauge/trust my performance..
I avg’d 41 seconds/question on COMQUEST And finished with 73% correct. Was done with the exam with 1.5hrs to spare for each section and done by 1230-1 o’clock both days. Wasn’t trying to hurry or anything, just used to the questions at this point in the game and didn’t want to over think anything.

Level 1- 598
Level 2-601

here’s to waiting another few weeks..
 
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Hey did anyone take COMSAE Form 3 or COMBANK Level 3 Assessment and how it correlated to their actual score?


Thanks!
 
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RunsOnCaffeine said:
Kinda worried for the release of scores over the next couple days. Ignorance is bliss.
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Right! My heart is pounding out of my chest as I type this. Which is ridiculous. I feel so sure that I failed. I wonder what we will be posting here in 24-72hrs?
 
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I hate it when they don't release the scores... It's not like they haven't had the scores calculated for the last 2 months.
 
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DrJackRyan said:
I hate it when they don't release the scores... It's not like they haven't had the scores calculated for the last 2 months.
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yup. I know an MD that took his Step 3, 2 weeks after my level 3 and got his results back 2 weeks ago. I’m sure those OMM questions are what made the extra month Wait.
 
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Here we go.
 

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Scores released! So happy to say I passed and am done with Comlex forever! Ended up being my best one of the 3...worried for nothing.
 
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Scores released for LEVEL 3!

Passed!!
Please DM with questions! best of wishes to everyone, you got this!
 
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I'll add to this for people like me who searched far and wide on SDN and reddit for any info about COMLEX Level 3. Passed after only using COMQUEST - finished the Qbank 1 week out. Took COMSAE Phase 3 one week out and then tried to repeat as many questions from COMQUEST as possible the week leading up to the exam. Ended up scoring 125 points higher on the real thing vs COMSAE Phase 3. Scored around 100 points lower than my COMQUEST predicted score from my first pass. I'm happy I took it early intern year and would suggest it to anyone. As above, please DM with questions and good luck!
 
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Hi everyone,

Passed Level 3 today. Got the email at 1220 est. worried about this test for during a busy year. Done with comlex forever..

level 1: 550
Level 2: 520
Level 3: 620

used comquest to study and used the clinical cases on nbome to get familiar with the bs question format. Did about 20-40 questions a day during the week and on weekends I’d try to do 50-100 questions depending on how lazy i was during the week. Studied on and off for about 6 weeks.
 
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Congrats to everyone! Can those who used comquest post your first time pass % compared to your score? Thank you!
 
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