COMLEX Comlex PE Post Test Anxiety

[doc2be245]

Hello Everyone,

I just took Comlex PE three days ago and I am freaking out. I keep remembering things that I forgot to do during the day from missing a part of the physical to documenting things in assessment and plan. This is affecting me to the point where I am just like "how can I even pass this exam?" The sad part is I won't find my score out until April. How bad can you be and still pass this exam? All the posts on SDN of people failing just sound like they failed for no reason whatsoever. I've had to take 2 days off from my current family rotation just because I am traumatized by this experience.

The things I will say is I was very nice to the patients, answered their questions to the best of my ability and told them my plan even when I didn't know exactly what was wrong with them. I also always did chest and lungs at the minimum on bare skin and tied them up after I was done.

Did anybody have some really horrible days and still pass this exam?

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[Leggomyeggo128]

I had a terrible day. Convinced I had failed. But I passed.

 

[RadDocGoneBadDoc]

Hello Everyone,

I just took Comlex PE three days ago and I am freaking out. I keep remembering things that I forgot to do during the day from missing a part of the physical to documenting things in assessment and plan. This is affecting me to the point where I am just like "how can I even pass this exam?" The sad part is I won't find my score out until April. How bad can you be and still pass this exam? All the posts on SDN of people failing just sound like they failed for no reason whatsoever. I've had to take 2 days off from my current family rotation just because I am traumatized by this experience.

The things I will say is I was very nice to the patients, answered their questions to the best of my ability and told them my plan even when I didn't know exactly what was wrong with them. I also always did chest and lungs at the minimum on bare skin and tied them up after I was done.

Did anybody have some really horrible days and still pass this exam?

Pretty much everyone feels like they failed, but really its no indication of if you actually failed. I felt like I failed after almost every board exam, but sometimes I did really well and sometimes I barely passed. Hang in there...April will be here before you know it!

 

[ortnakas]

Almost everyone feels like they failed.

Almost everyone passes. You’re probably fine.

Worst case scenario: Even if you are one of the unlucky few to fail, assuming you’re a third year, you have time to retake and pass before interview season and maybe even before submitting ERAS.

Deep breaths.

 

[doc2be245]

So it turns out I found out early and I failed. I already rescheduled and I'm devastated. I am a 3rd year so hopefully, I will pass 2nd time. How much will this affect me matching?

 

[Dr. Jigsaw]

I'm sorry you failed, I'm still waiting for my results in April but I would say you should just focus on passing the 2nd time. Did you fail the humanistic or biomedical section?
It will definitely affect your chances of matching but it just means you just have to apply broadly and to a lot more programs and try to make all the other aspects of your application shine

 

[studentdoct4281]

doc2be245

What was your OMM like in the encounters? what did you mess up on.....did you folllow the smashfm, fedtacos oldcarts?

 

[crazy87]

I am just here to post for all the first time PE takers searching "I feel like I failed the PE" and hope that this post offers some relief in part via commiseration.

My experience: It felt devastatingly awful coming out of the PE. Of all the exams we have ever taken, this one caused me the most distress. I was convinced I failed. A few bouts of crying, a couple nightmares.... and like a lingering sense of doom for the whole however-many-weeks we had to wait for the scores. It is not unusual to feel this way and still pass (I passed!).

One thing I found was that it doesn’t really help hearing from someone else, “I made this and this tiny mistake, I passed don’t worry,” and you’re sitting there thinking, “Yeah, I made WAY more mistakes than that.” I can say from personal experience that the exam DOES allow for many, many mistakes. How they decide which mistakes are acceptable and which aren’t will remain an unfortunate mystery.

Why does it feel so bad for some of us coming out of the exam? Because even though we may feel confident in a clinic/hospital setting, even though we may have gotten good feedback from preceptors on “humanism,” even if we are not struggling to pass other medical exams, none of that matters when it comes to this test. You basically don’t even know how it’s scored, and it’s extremely subjective. That’s probably the worst part, the subjectivity. Also, the timing constraints. It feels unfair to think this timed, fake exam is supposed to determine whether you are going to be a good physician. It also feels bad because unlike Level 1, you will remember a lot more of what you specifically did and can be reminded of mistakes you now realized you made (weeks or days later) throughout your wait for the scores. There’s also a mixture of med student anxiety and perfectionism that might contribute to how some of us tend to be very hard on ourselves for mistakes that might be out of touch with the reality of the situation (as in, you didn’t do as terrible as you think you did because your expectations for yourself are high.) I could go on, but you get the picture.

This is what helped me get through the terrible wait: talk yourself through what's the absolute worst that can happen if you fail this test. The worst case scenario is that you fail and have to retake it (and don’t think about what will happen past failing once, because that’s not the situation at hand as you are awaiting your first PE results). It might affect some residency options, but it's not like the kiss of death. Reality is that students do fail this exam (and other boards) and still obtain residencies and are still physicians. If you fail, sure, things will be more difficult for you in regards to getting a residency, but it’s not the end of your medical career. It is not the end of the world. I have read online in forums (perhaps this one) that residency directors are aware of the subjective nature of this exam and they take that into consideration. I repeated this to myself, like, “If I fail, it’s not the end of world. I will still be a doctor, I’m well on my way. It will be harder, but not impossible.” Remind yourself of that, because it’s true! If it happens and you fail this test, you will deal with the plans for what to do and your plan of action afterwards, but for now, try to focus on something else and keep busy.

GOOD LUCK on the wait.

 

[truesauron22]

For anyone who may stumble on this post for sure thought I failed as well did a maneuver completely incorrect and put it as positive on my notes( thought automatic fail for misrepresentation). OMM was shotty only did 2 cases but prompted for 3 and definitely thought I didnt have them in right positiion. Walked out telling someone they might have fibromyalgia with a blank stare on his face as I wallked out. I prepared well but even that will still have you walking out miserable. If you studdied decently for it you will be fine. But anxiety will consume you until you see the P.