Comlex/usmle

[mstann]

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I talked with a lady from work today; a second year medical student at PCOM. She took both COMLEX 1 and 2, and USMLE 1, and got the same score on all three exams, better than 85 percent of all test takers. Her perspective was such:

The COMLEX was more geared toward clinical science and patient oriented problems. The USMLE was more academically based, with more factual and research oriented problems.

She said that the USMLE was a bit harder, only because the osteopathic programs teach to prepare students for the COMLEX, not the USMLE. However, she got the same score on both exams, which is a confidence booster to any that want to get into allopathic residency programs. 👍

As well, she gave me her anatomy and histo books to start looking at in my year off. She said that gross anatomy was so intense she barely passed it (although she had been out of school for 20 years before attending medical school). Good luck to all that are going through that right now!

 

[InductionAgent]

First of all:
If your friend is a 2nd-year OMS, she would not yet have taken COMLEX Level I (done upon completion of the 2nd year), not to mention COMLEX II (taken during 4th-year). Is she a DO grad, in her residency perhaps?

Secondly:
The 2-digit scaled score for the USMLE is not a percentile score.

So unless your friend happened to look up her 3-digit score on a normal distribution calculator and derive that 85th percentile based on a mean score of 218 and a standard deviation of 23, she may not have done quite as well as she thought.

Incidentally, if she did get the 242 that corresponds to a one-tailed probability of 0.15 (100% - 85%), congratulations.

Here's a neat little calculator for this:
http://psych.colorado.edu/~mcclella/java/normal/normz.html

In 2004, USDOs failed the USMLE Step 1 30% of the time on their first try, compared to only 7% of all USMDs
http://www.usmle.org/scores/2004perf.htm

sorry.

-InductionAgent, D.O.

 

[mstann]

First of all:
If your friend is a 2nd-year OMS, she would not yet have taken COMLEX Level I (done upon completion of the 2nd year), not to mention COMLEX II (taken during 4th-year). Is she a DO grad, in her residency perhaps?

Secondly:
The 2-digit scaled score for the USMLE is not a percentile score.

So unless your friend happened to look up her 3-digit score on a normal distribution calculator and derive that 85th percentile based on a mean score of 218 and a standard deviation of 23, she may not have done quite as well as she thought.

Incidentally, if she did get the 242 that corresponds to a one-tailed probability of 0.15 (100% - 85%), congratulations.

Here's a neat little calculator for this:
http://psych.colorado.edu/~mcclella/java/normal/normz.html

In 2004, USDOs failed the USMLE Step 1 30% of the time on their first try, compared to only 7% of all USMDs
http://www.usmle.org/scores/2004perf.htm

sorry.

-InductionAgent, D.O.

My fault, she took her COMLEX 1 and the USMLE step 1. However, she has not taken all of the required classes to be considered in her 3rd year (she is completing a duel D.O. with masters degree in business as well). Therefore, she is considered a 2nd year medical student. And yes, she figured the conversion out for the usmle (she showed me the actual paper results of each test, the COMLEX and USMLE, and their differences). And, I am well aware of the statistics, hence my posting this subject. I thought it was interesting to hear her perspective on the two exams, and the preparation she recieved at PCOM.

st

 

[YinYin]

I have heard that it is not necessary to take the USMLE in order to get an allopathic residency -- is this true? My friend is a DO doing a fellowship at Northwestern and claims that he knows of no one who took the USMLE, but most of his friends got the residencies they wanted.

 

[Raven Feather]

I have heard that it is not necessary to take the USMLE in order to get an allopathic residency -- is this true? My friend is a DO doing a fellowship at Northwestern and claims that he knows of no one who took the USMLE, but most of his friends got the residencies they wanted.

I heard also that not every allopathic residency requires the USMLE in addition to the COMLEX.


About the statistics---I think each program (allo, osteo) emphasizes the curriculum to prepare them for the appropriate test, so it is not suprise that D.O.s have a lower pass rate on USMLE boards. The same would happen for allopaths if taking the COMLEX (especially since they are not taught OMM).