COMSAE and COMLEX I

[builttorock]

So it's my understanding from other threads that the NBME CBSSA correlate pretty well with what people had gotten on their USMLE. In your experience, has the COMSAE predicted your COMLEX score?

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[Doctor Bob]

Not at all, not even close
From the scores I got on the COMSAE and the Kaplan Qbank I was convinced I would fail the various COMLEXes. Instead I was pleasantly surprised with the results.
And I'm ok with that. I'd rather have an assessment test underestimate my score than overestimate it.

 

[SOUNDMAN]

Underestimated my score by like 100 points, where as the NBME's were like 15 points or so.

 

[cyclohexanol]

COMSAE underestimated my actual COMLEX Step 1 score by almost 100 points. Whereas the NBME forms were all within a few points of my actual USMLE Step 1 score.

Having said that, I would recommend doing COMSAE just to get a feel for the types of questions that you will be asked, since they are vastly different than USMLEWorld or Kaplan USMLE Qbank questions.

 

[medhacker]

COMSAE overestimated my score by 20 points


It also overestimated by friend's, can't remember by how much though.

 

[It'sElectric]

COMSAE overestimated my score by 20 points


It also overestimated by friend's, can't remember by how much though.

Overestimated by about 30 pts. Still worthwhile to take.

 

[Fitcubanita]

Can anyone else relay their experiences with the 5 Comsae exams? Did some seem harder than others?

For the ones that did reply, which exam form did you take?

Any more feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[SOUNDMAN]

there were 5 of them??? Only one last year when most of us took it from what I remember.

 

[simpleman]

there is 2 now for step I COMSAE I form A and B.

I am gonna purchase them in a couple of weeks. When do you guys recommend taking them before the actual exam? a week or 2?

thanks for the info guys.

 

[cyclohexanol]

there is 2 now for step I COMSAE I form A and B.

I am gonna purchase them in a couple of weeks. When do you guys recommend taking them before the actual exam? a week or 2?

thanks for the info guys.

I'd say 4 weeks out, then 2 weeks out is reasonable. Give your self some time to adjust if you have weaknesses you need to address.

 

[tesore]

I got an email from the NBOME discussing the COMSAE. Fairly interesting...

http://www.nbome.org/comsae.asp

Interesting excerpts
"The scores of Phase 1 and Level 1 were similar, with Level 1 scores being slightly higher. The COMLEX Level 1 scores of examinees who took the timed COMSAE exam were, on average, 26 points higher than their Phase 1 scores. For examinees who took the untimed COMSAE, the mean difference was 10 points less. It was not clear why examinees who took the untimed version scored lower. Since it was each examinee’s own decision to choose the timing mode, it can be inferred that the reasons for taking a particular timing mode might be related to the score differences between the two timing modes.

Out of 1152 examinees, 129 (11.2%) failed Phase 1, and 120 (10.4%) failed Level 1. The failing rates on both exams were very close to the actual Level 1 failing rate in the 2008-2009 testing year. Table 2 shows that 83% of this examinee group passed both exams, and 4.7% failed both. Analysis shows that 6.5% failed Phase 1 but improved to pass Level 1 later. On the other hand, 5.7% passed Phase 1 initially but failed Level 1 later. The chi-square test of this cross-classification table was significant, suggesting that passing or failing Phase 1 was significantly correlated to the passing or failing status on Level 1 (chi-square value=153.9149 and p-value<.0001).

Most importantly, the average COMLEX Level 1 score was higher than the average COMSAE Phase 1 score for this group of examinees. No doubt, the benefits came from becoming more familiar with COMLEX Level 1 and from conducting a self-assessment by taking COMSAE Phase 1.

The results also suggest that the timed COMSAE probably has higher self-assessment value because the testing conditions of timed COMSAE are more similar to the real timing conditions of COMLEX.

On the other hand, like any other measurement tools, COMSAE cannot predict COMLEX in absolute terms. There were still 5.7% of examinees who passed Phase 1 but failed COMLEX. For any COMSAE examinee, especially those who narrowly passed COMSAE, it is important to understand that passing COMSAE does not guarantee passing COMLEX. Without extra effort, it is not guaranteed that the same performance level on COMSAE can be maintained for COMLEX. "

 

[112258]

I did 1a about 10 days ago, and 1b today....only scored 8 points higher today. Real COMLEX next Tuesday...I'll let you all know when I get my scores back in July? I think.

 

[Ajax259]

Did you all feel as if the question style and material presented on the COMSAE was a fair representation of the COMLEX?

 

[Hexanol]

Did you all feel as if the question style and material presented on the COMSAE was a fair representation of the COMLEX?

i personally thought so. Kaplan COMLEX Qbank was similar too in my opinion.

 

[pencilfloor]

I hope so

 

[jp104]

If there's anyone who's taken both Form A and B, can you please comment on the difficulty of the two? I took B, but from what I hear, A was a tad bit harder in difficulty. Any consensus on that? Thanks!

 

[showtime44]

I took only took form B, but heard from some of my friends that B was harder than A. Not really sure how much I trust their judging skills though. So basically

 

[hsmooth]

A question for those who have taken the COMSAE already, do they give explanations/answer key for the test too? It'd be nice to go over what I miss.

 

[jp104]

A question for those who have taken the COMSAE already, do they give explanations/answer key for the test too? It'd be nice to go over what I miss.

Unfortunately, you don't get access to the answers. All you get is your overall score, and a short assessment of how you did in each area of the exam.

 

[EssTwoThreeFour]

Med Hacker - is that...Dr. Sesso!? lol

 

[whifftester]

If there's anyone who's taken both Form A and B, can you please comment on the difficulty of the two? I took B, but from what I hear, A was a tad bit harder in difficulty. Any consensus on that? Thanks!

I think form B is a lot easier than form A, but I guess it is hard to tell because I took form A earlier in my studying and about 2 weeks later I took form B, but I scored 100 points higher on form B. It seemed like either there was less anatomy on form B or the anatomy was easier. But I do think either way form B seemed easier than form A, and I am glad that I took them both.

 

[rohitkedia07]

the second form was dead on exact of what i got for the real thing
some questions even resurfaced on the real exam

 

[whifftester]

the second form was dead on exact of what i got for the real thing
some questions even resurfaced on the real exam

Omg I would be SO happy if it was the same as my real thing. I am worried because I counted a lot of questions that I got wrong on the real thing that were easy questions I should have known. I don't think they were experimental because they were easy and most people would have gotten them right, but for some reason a few I just messed up on them. I thought the second form was really easy and I didn't count much wrong on that form when I took it. I feel like I did better on the second form than the real thing. I can only hope that my situation is the same as yours!! Congrats on finishing and getting your scores!!

 

[whifftester]

the second form was dead on exact of what i got for the real thing
some questions even resurfaced on the real exam

If you dont mind me asking...did you do better on the second form than the first form?

 

[Scottistheman]

My COMSAE B score was 30 points lower than my COMLEX score. That said, it seems the COMLEX always has one random system that has more questions, that varies by which day you take the exam. My COMSAE B had much more anatomy, while my COMLEX had much more Repro (and everyone that took the test that day had tons of repro). I am way better at repro, so I think that is why the scores were different-- and if it were the other way around (COMLEX with more anatomy), I would have done worse on COMLEX.

Also, there were about 5 word for word repeats of COMSAE B on my COMLEX.

 

[BigSib]

In your experience, has the COMSAE predicted your COMLEX score?

See http://www.osteopathic.org/inside-aoa/events/Documents/ome-2013-gimpel-nbome-update.pdf for hard statistics on COMSAE vs. COMLEX 1 score comparison.