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has anyone gotten them yet? i can't stand the waiting....8 weeks is forever!!
comlex scores
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I believe that your school will get the scores next Wednesday, so you can call them to find out. Otherwise I believe the scores are mailed to you the following Wed.
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hey guys - i agree - this is crazy - last year everyone had their scores by July 8th!
I was just at the AOA HOD meeting in Chicago and heard from the rumor mill a couple of things from various people (some of it from my dean).
A) the test was harder this year in comparrison to other years, and they had a hard time setting the passing line
B) they are supposedly putting the scores in the mail to us by July 26th, which means we should get them the following week?
hope that helps and cross your figners
😕
I was just at the AOA HOD meeting in Chicago and heard from the rumor mill a couple of things from various people (some of it from my dean).
A) the test was harder this year in comparrison to other years, and they had a hard time setting the passing line
B) they are supposedly putting the scores in the mail to us by July 26th, which means we should get them the following week?
hope that helps and cross your figners
😕
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I don't think that is a correct date. See this link for a discussion when scores came out last year:
http://www.studentdoctor.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=25791
According to that, scores came out right at 8 weeks from test day.
that would make it this coming Monday, if the trend holds true this year. Though I am unsure why some schools would not get them on the same day?
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OSU-COM got our scores this afternoon. I haven't been home yet, but i doubt my scores will be waiting on me. Anyway, the schools are gettin' them, so everyone should be getting them soon.
take it easy
homonculus
take it easy
homonculus
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Alright I got it
It Reads:
Pass
Standard Score655 Percentile 97% standard error puts that anywhere from 95-98
for my classmates I don't give a crap if you know how well I did. So cough it up. congrats to all those who passed and earned what they got by hard work.
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congrats ryan.....lol..i like that attitude.....i hope i can be saying the same thing one year from now.......if you dont mind me asking....what books/methods did you use to prep for comlex bc i hear its a poorly worded exam, compared to usmle.....
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my best advice is this. Do not cram for exams. Many people in my class crammed for nearly every exam and some were quite successful in the tests, but if you asked them two weeks later anything about it they knew nothing. I on the other hand read things always more than once (sometimes 3-4 times). While those who crammed and did as good or better than me they really had to bust their ass for the boards. So for instance I am not in the top 10% of the class but more like 15%, scores on tests can at times be irrelevant. You have to keep the stuff in your gord or else you are wasting your time learning it in the first place. Retain things for long term memory. Your classes are your best board prep. I really did not put in as much time for boards as many others I feel. Become familiar with First Aid early. There is a book called Pathophysiology for the Boards & Wards that is really good. Lastly, pray for yourself. Say to yourself I will pass because this is what God has intended me to do, and I have worked hard and I will be able to accept whatever my score is because the plan that God has for you may be different than what you have planned for yourself. Workout, exercise, eat well, and do not become an OBESE SLOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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One more thing. I found that how a person does on the shelf exams for Pharm and Phys correlates pretty well with how you will do on the boards for instance I scored 743 and 702 with the mean being 500 and the STD of 100. I know two other classmates who see the same correlation.
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should i use this book throughout 2nd yr with my systems path classes? and who is this book by...i was thinking about using....PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF DISEASE: AN INTRO TO CLINICAL MEDICINE that is part of the Lange Series...??? only problem is that this book is close to 600 pages...
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Did anyone from the NorthEast (PCOM, UMDNJ, NYCOM) get there score report in the mail yet? Argh! Maybe it'll come tomorrow...
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i got my scores this morning. i passed! yahoo! not the most stupendous score, but i don't have to take it again. i am very relieved and happy. it was so hard to wait that long. student affairs had our scores yesterday but wouldn't give them out to most people (rumor has it if you don't get them in the mail today they will tell you).
good luck everyone!
good luck everyone!
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Scores arrived today for me......unfortunately I didn't pass and will be taking it again in October. I have already talked to one other classmate in the same boat. I am just interested how many others out there are facing this hurdle and what suggestions those who passed might have for me as I prepare yet again.
Thanks.
Thanks.
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Dear pwunecom,
I am so sorry to hear that you have to retake that *** exam. The books that were most helpful to me were:
1. First Aid for the Board - although I did find some mistakes.
2. Lange's Pharmacology review - I was weak in pharm, and this helped tremendously!
3. Pharm cards were a good review to tote around with me and I think they just came out with a second edition.
4. Dr. Simmons' Osteopathic review book - this was great! He came and lectured to our class too, but this book even helped me on the USMLE as well as the COMLEX.
5. Micro review cards - these are much better (IMHO) than the bug cards.
My advice is to pick out the subjects about which you know the least. Then focus on them the most (for me, that was pharm and micro for the COMLEX, plus biochem for the USMLE). Then, at the end, review the stuff that you basically know, just to refresh your memory. At Dr. Simmons' website, you can download a ten-page crash section on OPP to review just before the COMLEX.
Anyway, I hope this was of some help to you. Keep your spirits up - I'm sure you will pass this time!
Maire
I am so sorry to hear that you have to retake that *** exam. The books that were most helpful to me were:
1. First Aid for the Board - although I did find some mistakes.
2. Lange's Pharmacology review - I was weak in pharm, and this helped tremendously!
3. Pharm cards were a good review to tote around with me and I think they just came out with a second edition.
4. Dr. Simmons' Osteopathic review book - this was great! He came and lectured to our class too, but this book even helped me on the USMLE as well as the COMLEX.
5. Micro review cards - these are much better (IMHO) than the bug cards.
My advice is to pick out the subjects about which you know the least. Then focus on them the most (for me, that was pharm and micro for the COMLEX, plus biochem for the USMLE). Then, at the end, review the stuff that you basically know, just to refresh your memory. At Dr. Simmons' website, you can download a ten-page crash section on OPP to review just before the COMLEX.
Anyway, I hope this was of some help to you. Keep your spirits up - I'm sure you will pass this time!
Maire
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I appreciate the tips and the encouragement. I am keeping my spirits up, although it was discouraging to get the results because I felt okay on leaving the exam. Oh well, I will do it next time!!!
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Hello:
Good news = "PASS."
Bad news = Rather disappointing percentile.
I'd be interested in learning about whether the schools that had been given more time to study for the COMLEX-Level 1 had a higher average percentile than the schools with less study time. For instance: the students from my Osteo.Med.School got approx. 3 and a half weeks to study for the COMLEX after our last demanding week of class exams. I've heard that there are schools that are given significantly more time to prepare. The conditions for the COMLEX are different than for the USMLE: all students must take the COMLEX on the same date irregardless of how much they've managed to study.
The score report that I got in the mail was bizarre. I got no feedback whatsoever--just a stupid percentile that made me feel bad. The information I want is how other students from my school did in comparison.
Good luck to those of you that are required to take the exam again in October.
P.S. Can anyone give me information regarding which Osteo.Residency fields have COMLEX-Level 1 score "cut-offs"? I'm wondering if my lack of study time has essentially eliminated my candidacy for the more competitive fields like Ortho.Surg., or Emerg.Med.
Good news = "PASS."
Bad news = Rather disappointing percentile.
I'd be interested in learning about whether the schools that had been given more time to study for the COMLEX-Level 1 had a higher average percentile than the schools with less study time. For instance: the students from my Osteo.Med.School got approx. 3 and a half weeks to study for the COMLEX after our last demanding week of class exams. I've heard that there are schools that are given significantly more time to prepare. The conditions for the COMLEX are different than for the USMLE: all students must take the COMLEX on the same date irregardless of how much they've managed to study.
The score report that I got in the mail was bizarre. I got no feedback whatsoever--just a stupid percentile that made me feel bad. The information I want is how other students from my school did in comparison.
Good luck to those of you that are required to take the exam again in October.
P.S. Can anyone give me information regarding which Osteo.Residency fields have COMLEX-Level 1 score "cut-offs"? I'm wondering if my lack of study time has essentially eliminated my candidacy for the more competitive fields like Ortho.Surg., or Emerg.Med.
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We only got two weeks to study after which we had to return to classes for two weeks at UNECOM. I don't know how other schools are but two weeks definitely was not enough time for me, especially since I had a horrible case of the flu during the first week and got next to nothing done.
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we had 3 weeks between finals and the COMLEX. our school did a review for us from about 8-4 during the weeks leading up to it. What schools give more time between it? 3 weeks was a lot, and i can't imagine a school giving you over a month off to study. Also, look at the back of your score report-- it has a breakdown of your categories there.
If your school has the same class schedule as ours, having finals week relatively close to the COMLEX shouldn't have hurt you. Our path final was comprehensive, and just studying for that helped a LOT with boards-- maybe even more so with pharm. If your finals weren't comprehensive, i can see the problem you may have, but i don't think schools with more time off between class and boards would have significantly difft %ile scores.
take it easy
homonculus
If your school has the same class schedule as ours, having finals week relatively close to the COMLEX shouldn't have hurt you. Our path final was comprehensive, and just studying for that helped a LOT with boards-- maybe even more so with pharm. If your finals weren't comprehensive, i can see the problem you may have, but i don't think schools with more time off between class and boards would have significantly difft %ile scores.
take it easy
homonculus
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Your schools that allow three weeks to study for boards are awesome. At DMU we only got 1 week and 4 days( I day being the monday before COMLEX) off of school to study. Then after boards we got until the monday of the 10th and then have been in school since. We just finished last Monday. So we had eight more weeks of class.
The fact that we had under 2 weeks to study wasn't all that bad, what was worse was that some of the classes we had after boards would have helped us on boards.
I passed but not with a very great percentile that I wanted. I had a lot of stuff going on in my life away from school so I guess I am in a way just happy I passed. I put in close to 400 hours of legitimate study time though beginning in Feb and it doesn't show in my score, that is the really frustrating thing. Oh well. I guess I wasn't planning on any difficult special anyways, but a better score would have been nice.
The fact that we had under 2 weeks to study wasn't all that bad, what was worse was that some of the classes we had after boards would have helped us on boards.
I passed but not with a very great percentile that I wanted. I had a lot of stuff going on in my life away from school so I guess I am in a way just happy I passed. I put in close to 400 hours of legitimate study time though beginning in Feb and it doesn't show in my score, that is the really frustrating thing. Oh well. I guess I wasn't planning on any difficult special anyways, but a better score would have been nice.
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You should not correlate the 3 digit score with the number of questions answered correctly. The 3 digit score is an arbitrary system used by COMLEX. You can really only use it for a statistical analysis.
With a 500 mean, 79 SD and a classic gaussian curve:
579 is 84th percentile
658 is 97.5th percentile
737 is 99.9th percentile
those numbers probably correlate very well with actual percentiles reported on the comlex score reports.
Did the person scoring 737 get 79 more questions right than the person scoring 658? highly unlikely. the 3 digit score really is not a "point" or questions answered kind of score. It may be coincidence that there were ~750 questions?
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Regarding the recent posting by 'abs':
well, when you annihilate the exam down to the differences being 'only' 100 questions separating the Mean from the 90th percentile, sure, that sounds much closer than the percentile scores might suggest. Why not continue (and be correct) and state that somewhere near 90-95% of all test takers scored between 400 and 600? That makes things sound even closer that all test takers were essentially within 200 points of each other? My point is that, of course, the majority are withing the middle of the Gaussian curve; that's inherent in the design of the exam, from the test writers to the reviewers from the various Colleges who sit for the COMLEX as Faculty Reviewers. Every student taking the COMLEX Level 1 in June, regardless of what test 'form' one received (e.g., there were 2 different examinations at my institution) had his/her score normalized against everyone else taking that particular examination. The Mean score was still scored a 500, per NBOME design, regardless of the examination taken.
I myself did well on this exam, but I can confidently say that those in my circle (myself included) who likewise did well commanded a stronger understanding of basic science concept and data than those who did closer to the Mean. The COMLEX is not perfect, but inherent in its design (the length, you'll recall, was 750 questions this year: 187-189-187-187) is an attempt by the NBOME to offer questions of varying difficulty such that good guessing and chance are eliminated as mitigating factors...*for the majority of test takers*. The purpose of the exam's design is to develop as good a picture as possible of the distribution of scores over the ranges, with minimal number of examinees falling below 400 or above 650.
I will not deny that, yes, there are some who guessed well for nearly 16 hours this past June, nor will I deny there were those whose luck was down for those same 16 hours and guessed poorly. What I will refute, on the basis of statistics, is that all receiving good scores were necessarily good guessers, and those who did less well were any worse guessers. Given to 50-100 people, this notion may hold more water; given to over 2000 students, I highly doubt it, though I will say that there probably are a large number of students who have greater or lesser abilities for endurance. I am the first to say that there *were* many questions that were "poorly" written; however, everyone taking the test had the same ambiguities, misunderstandings, and contradictions with which to contend over those 16 hours of examination.
well, when you annihilate the exam down to the differences being 'only' 100 questions separating the Mean from the 90th percentile, sure, that sounds much closer than the percentile scores might suggest. Why not continue (and be correct) and state that somewhere near 90-95% of all test takers scored between 400 and 600? That makes things sound even closer that all test takers were essentially within 200 points of each other? My point is that, of course, the majority are withing the middle of the Gaussian curve; that's inherent in the design of the exam, from the test writers to the reviewers from the various Colleges who sit for the COMLEX as Faculty Reviewers. Every student taking the COMLEX Level 1 in June, regardless of what test 'form' one received (e.g., there were 2 different examinations at my institution) had his/her score normalized against everyone else taking that particular examination. The Mean score was still scored a 500, per NBOME design, regardless of the examination taken.
I myself did well on this exam, but I can confidently say that those in my circle (myself included) who likewise did well commanded a stronger understanding of basic science concept and data than those who did closer to the Mean. The COMLEX is not perfect, but inherent in its design (the length, you'll recall, was 750 questions this year: 187-189-187-187) is an attempt by the NBOME to offer questions of varying difficulty such that good guessing and chance are eliminated as mitigating factors...*for the majority of test takers*. The purpose of the exam's design is to develop as good a picture as possible of the distribution of scores over the ranges, with minimal number of examinees falling below 400 or above 650.
I will not deny that, yes, there are some who guessed well for nearly 16 hours this past June, nor will I deny there were those whose luck was down for those same 16 hours and guessed poorly. What I will refute, on the basis of statistics, is that all receiving good scores were necessarily good guessers, and those who did less well were any worse guessers. Given to 50-100 people, this notion may hold more water; given to over 2000 students, I highly doubt it, though I will say that there probably are a large number of students who have greater or lesser abilities for endurance. I am the first to say that there *were* many questions that were "poorly" written; however, everyone taking the test had the same ambiguities, misunderstandings, and contradictions with which to contend over those 16 hours of examination.
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Hey DDuncan,
Do you know if we get a better breakdown than that on the back of our scoresheets. I was hoping to find a little more out about how I did.
By the way congrats on your score, I heard about it and am still working on picking up my jaw. It looks like someones hard work truely paid off. Did you feel that good coming out of there. Because I didn't feel there would be any doubt that I passed but then my score is not very good, considering how much I put into it and how much I knew.
Again, that is an unbelievable score that you need to continue to be congratulated for. So Congrats again.
Do you know if we get a better breakdown than that on the back of our scoresheets. I was hoping to find a little more out about how I did.
By the way congrats on your score, I heard about it and am still working on picking up my jaw. It looks like someones hard work truely paid off. Did you feel that good coming out of there. Because I didn't feel there would be any doubt that I passed but then my score is not very good, considering how much I put into it and how much I knew.
Again, that is an unbelievable score that you need to continue to be congratulated for. So Congrats again.
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I have a question for all you folks that took COMLEX and USMLE, since this is the burning question for me this school year.
I am curious as to how well your scores on both exams correlated (ie: kicked on one and blew the other; both the middle of the road; etc). I, personally, do much better with clinically bent questions vs. "memorize and regurg" little obtrusive facts, which is how I hear the rumor mill describing the COMLEX vs. USMLE. I would hate to take COMLEX and do very well, and then get hit with a bunch of Biostats, and the like, on USMLE and have a crappy score follow me around come residency time. PLUS, now that the AOA and AMA have decided to include a lovely Practical portion of Step II in '04 or '05 (which will wind up being me), I sure as heck don't want to take (in essence) 4 exams, plus the extra $$$$ for exams x4, travel x2, lodging, etc, etc.
Just some thoughts.....I welcome your comments.
Kat 🙂
I am curious as to how well your scores on both exams correlated (ie: kicked on one and blew the other; both the middle of the road; etc). I, personally, do much better with clinically bent questions vs. "memorize and regurg" little obtrusive facts, which is how I hear the rumor mill describing the COMLEX vs. USMLE. I would hate to take COMLEX and do very well, and then get hit with a bunch of Biostats, and the like, on USMLE and have a crappy score follow me around come residency time. PLUS, now that the AOA and AMA have decided to include a lovely Practical portion of Step II in '04 or '05 (which will wind up being me), I sure as heck don't want to take (in essence) 4 exams, plus the extra $$$$ for exams x4, travel x2, lodging, etc, etc.
Just some thoughts.....I welcome your comments.
Kat 🙂
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I took both the USMLE and the COMLEX.
On the USMLE, I got a 240/97 and on COMLEX i got a 91%.
Another guy from our school got a 246/99 and a 99% respectfully.
Another person got a 218/88 and a 97%.
A guy from our school got a 100% on the COMLEX too, but he did not take the USMLE.
On the USMLE, I got a 240/97 and on COMLEX i got a 91%.
Another guy from our school got a 246/99 and a 99% respectfully.
Another person got a 218/88 and a 97%.
A guy from our school got a 100% on the COMLEX too, but he did not take the USMLE.
On the back of our score sheets...we got a relative performance profile. Can anyone clarify exactly what the following mean?:
1. Borderline Performance (the shaded area) - does this mean borderline pass/fail...or borderline national average??
2. Low Performance - Does this mean below national average or fail?
3. Has anyone else done relatively worse in the stuff that wasn't supposed to be emphasised in Level 1, like diagnostic technologies, and management??
4. Can anyone give me a rough estimate of how you did (i.e., your score and then where your bars were in the performance profile)? Because I really can't seem to make sense out of it's correlation to our scores. I did very well in the scientific understanding and osteopathic principles ones, but the rest were mostly on or a little above the shaded area. But I got just about the mean on this test, and considering how many more questions there were in scientific understanding and osteopathic principles than health promotion and things like that, I would have thought I would be getting a better score. Does anyone think this seems a little odd or is it normal?
I would appreciate your replies. Thanking you very much,
Chris
1. Borderline Performance (the shaded area) - does this mean borderline pass/fail...or borderline national average??
2. Low Performance - Does this mean below national average or fail?
3. Has anyone else done relatively worse in the stuff that wasn't supposed to be emphasised in Level 1, like diagnostic technologies, and management??
4. Can anyone give me a rough estimate of how you did (i.e., your score and then where your bars were in the performance profile)? Because I really can't seem to make sense out of it's correlation to our scores. I did very well in the scientific understanding and osteopathic principles ones, but the rest were mostly on or a little above the shaded area. But I got just about the mean on this test, and considering how many more questions there were in scientific understanding and osteopathic principles than health promotion and things like that, I would have thought I would be getting a better score. Does anyone think this seems a little odd or is it normal?
I would appreciate your replies. Thanking you very much,
Chris
