COMLEX or USMLE?

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climbingdocs

climbingdocs

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I am a 3rd year DO student, and I have been wondering if I should take USLME step II or just stick with taking COMLEX II. The reason why people tell me not to take it is that I did well on step I and if I do worse on step II it will hurt me. But I don't want to limit myslef either. Any thoughts?
 
take the usmle....i cannot emphasize this enough. you have the option to not automatically release the scores again after you take step two. if you bomb it you don't have to release the scores. TRUST ME: TAKE THE USMLE!!!
 
climbingdocs said:
I am a 3rd year DO student, and I have been wondering if I should take USLME step II or just stick with taking COMLEX II. The reason why people tell me not to take it is that I did well on step I and if I do worse on step II it will hurt me. But I don't want to limit myslef either. Any thoughts?
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Did well on step I of the USMLE or COMLEX?
 
dang it, I could have saved $480, thats what I get for rushing, but may be amyl is right hmmmm
 
Hey, if you pulled down a 236 on step I, then you are definately capable of big things on step II. I agree you don't need to take step II with that kind of step I, but you may as well, especially since you already paid for it. Another solid score will only help your application. Besides you might learn something along the way.
 
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hehehe I was about to call my bank and tell them to hold transaction cause apparently the 480 is not out of the account yet.... :laugh: not sure if thats legal though. I think I will just take USMLE since I have to study for COMLEX anyway... But is it true for sure that I have an option not to release my score if I don't want to?
 
Paulyfarmacy said:
Don’t mean to turn this into some kind of validation thread but I have same question as climbingdocs, except not so fresh on usmle… comlex: 643, usmle: 222. Take usmle2 next july? Don’t take it? Take comlex late so it doesn’t affect anything?
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Personally I think you're fine with anything over 220.

However you may want to ask some DO's on this forum how many interviews they have received and what their board scores were.

Boards aren't everything but thats how they weed people out from the get go.
 
vent you are my idol but i have to disagree. i think anes is getting tougher each year and more and more people are taking step two early. i broke 220 and have been told by a few schools they are waiting to see my step two.... i was given the advice not to take step two early and wait and it is probably my biggest regret of this interview season.
two of the programs super high on my list even require step two to be ranked. now i am scrambling to study for it and put up a decent number.
just my experience this year. good luck!
 
I agree with Vent. Taking it could do more harm than good. And just not reporting it is not an option, because if you're caught lying and saying that you didn't take it when you did, you're done. All of this assuming a step one >220. $480 is gonna be nothing compared to interview expenses.
 
i agree with the money thing, $480 will be a drop in the bucket by the time you are done. take the nmbe practice tests before and if you aren't doing well on them, postpone. they cost $45/each -- it was one point off of my actual step one score. i haven't taken step two yet but studying for it on usmleworld it seems MUCH easier than step one. good luck!
 
For what it is worth, I too paid for the USMLE Step II a little prematurely and planned to take it in Sep. After getting almost dozen interviews by the end of Sep I decided to pay the extra 50 bucks and move my testing period back to Dec-Feb just to make sure a sub par score doesn't hurt me. By the way, I'm a DO, with a 560's COMLEX, and a 220ish USMLE Step I.
 
amyl said:
i agree with the money thing, $480 will be a drop in the bucket by the time you are done. take the nmbe practice tests before and if you aren't doing well on them, postpone. they cost $45/each -- it was one point off of my actual step one score. i haven't taken step two yet but studying for it on usmleworld it seems MUCH easier than step one. good luck!
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What are you guys studying for step 2? Our school bought us (with our tuition money) Kaplan Qbank. Do you think USMLE world is more realistic then Kaplan Qbank? Did you guys have to take shelf exams, if so how well did you do?
When are you taking step 2?
 
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Check out the USMLE/COMLEX forum. I bought both World/Q bank. They are both good. World is more difficult, Q bank is a confidence builder. If can't decide buy them both. A month subscription to either is only about 100$.
 
ok, I am going to buy USMLEworld month before the exam, I really appreciate your help, guys. I am thinking of taking it mid July, since we will be done with 3rd year mid June. Any thoughts when to take the PE?
 
amyl said:
vent you are my idol but i have to disagree. i think anes is getting tougher each year and more and more people are taking step two early. i broke 220 and have been told by a few schools they are waiting to see my step two.... i was given the advice not to take step two early and wait and it is probably my biggest regret of this interview season.
two of the programs super high on my list even require step two to be ranked. now i am scrambling to study for it and put up a decent number.
just my experience this year. good luck!
Click to expand...

This definitely seems like a change from when I interviewed. Seems like only a couple of programs needed Step II. I don't believe all the hype though.
 
Any other DO's with USMLE step I only wanna chime in on interview invites for this year?


I have to say that a 236 is a damn good score and I seriously wouldn't mess with it. But kudos to you if you're step II bound.

As for 220 I still think that is a respectable score for anesthesiology. However I'd like more than some anecdotal evidence that its just not enough these days. I find that hard to believe...but its certainly within the realm of possible🙁.
 
VentdependenT said:
Any other DO's with USMLE step I only wanna chime in on interview invites for this year?


I have to say that a 236 is a damn good score and I seriously wouldn't mess with it. But kudos to you if you're step II bound.

As for 220 I still think that is a respectable score for anesthesiology. However I'd like more than some anecdotal evidence that its just not enough these days. I find that hard to believe...but its certainly within the realm of possible🙁.
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I applied to over 40 programs. I got over 25 interview offers with ONLY step I of 230ish. Only 2 programs required step II for ranking... not worth it in my opinion. It will take a lot of valuable 4th year time and put you at risk of adding a red flag to the app. Also, at a couple of interviews, I was told that step I is what they use to figure out if you are capable of passing anesthesia boards. How it correlates, I do not know.
 
badgas said:
I applied to over 40 programs. I got over 25 interview offers with ONLY step I of 230ish. Only 2 programs required step II for ranking... not worth it in my opinion. It will take a lot of valuable 4th year time and put you at risk of adding a red flag to the app. Also, at a couple of interviews, I was told that step I is what they use to figure out if you are capable of passing anesthesia boards. How it correlates, I do not know.
Click to expand...

It doesn't correlate.

You know what does correlate? your intraning exam scores and anesthesia written board scores....how crazy is that?
 
Anyone want to chime in on whether a 240/99 step 1 score Caribbean student from the states should take step 2 early, or also wait? I would love to hear some experience on this or advice! Thanks!
 
VentdependenT said:
Any other DO's with USMLE step I only wanna chime in on interview invites for this year?


I have to say that a 236 is a damn good score and I seriously wouldn't mess with it. But kudos to you if you're step II bound.

As for 220 I still think that is a respectable score for anesthesiology. However I'd like more than some anecdotal evidence that its just not enough these days. I find that hard to believe...but its certainly within the realm of possible🙁.
Click to expand...

I have Step 1 results alone and am at about 12 of 20 on the invites and no rejections, thus far. The advice given in the 'stickies' section that one need only take step 2 in order to bolster a weak to average Step 1 seems to remain true in my experience this year. A 236 hardly needs any sort of bolstering.
 
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climbingdocs said:
So what about taking step 2 and not sending scores to the residency program? 😕
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Then what is the point? If you take it early enough for it to matter, you may be asked about taking it and you can NOT lie about it. If you take it too late for it to matter, then what is the point? Do you really want to spend an extra 8 hrs of your life in an exam that can't help? Just my thoughts on it.
 
badgas said:
Then what is the point? If you take it early enough for it to matter, you may be asked about taking it and you can NOT lie about it. If you take it too late for it to matter, then what is the point? Do you really want to spend an extra 8 hrs of your life in an exam that can't help? Just my thoughts on it.
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good point.... ok now I am :scared:
 
climbingdocs said:
good point.... ok now I am :scared:
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If I were you I'd spend ZERO effort on trying to take that test before next year's Match. I don't care if you are going into Dermatology, a 236 is a kick ass score.

Until further evidence is provided I still hold fast that a 220 is a respectable score for an anesthesia applicant.

Yawwwn, man I don't wanna be on call today. At least I got my Netflix with me.
 
VentdependenT said:
Yawwwn, man I don't wanna be on call today. At least I got my Netflix with me.
Click to expand...

ok I want to go where you are, if you are even talking about Netflix while on call :laugh:
One more thought. So I already payed for that damn USMLE 2 😡 and they are not gonna give me my money back 🙂mad:😡). I am thinking that I have to study for COMLEX 2 anyway; so far I am getting in the 90s percentile on shelf exams, I am really OCD as far as studying so what if I do as good or better on step 2? Looking at my trend I should do ok right? 😕:scared:
 
climbingdocs said:
ok I want to go where you are, if you are even talking about Netflix while on call :laugh:
One more thought. So I already payed for that damn USMLE 2 😡 and they are not gonna give me my money back 🙂mad:😡). I am thinking that I have to study for COMLEX 2 anyway; so far I am getting in the 90s percentile on shelf exams, I am really OCD as far as studying so what if I do as good or better on step 2? Looking at my trend I should do ok right? 😕:scared:
Click to expand...

Thats the million dollar question isnt it?
 
Have USMLE step 1 - 230/94.....comlex step 1 574/87, comlex step 2 618/90......Should I take USMLE step 2 , or my comlex step 2 is good enough and will satisfy requirements for the match?
 
climbingdocs said:
ok I want to go where you are, if you are even talking about Netflix while on call :laugh:
One more thought. So I already payed for that damn USMLE 2 😡 and they are not gonna give me my money back 🙂mad:😡). I am thinking that I have to study for COMLEX 2 anyway; so far I am getting in the 90s percentile on shelf exams, I am really OCD as far as studying so what if I do as good or better on step 2? Looking at my trend I should do ok right? 😕:scared:
Click to expand...


If you're getting 90s percentile on your shelf exams, then the USMLE Step 2 CK ought to be a breeze. I think it was more straightforward than those #$%@^# shelf exams. Seriously. Take it from someone who has finished with both parts of Step 2. Chill out...you'll do fine. 👍
 
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