Did anyone else think COMLEX Level 2 CE was joke?

[Inquiringmind24]

I just took the COMLEX Level 2 CE yesterday and pretty much felt insulted after taking it. The questions were extremely vague and poorly written. I didn't feel that it was even a fair assessment of my medical knowledge. There were questions on kid's car seats for crying out loud! The images were garbage as well. On so many questions there was simply not enough information to make the distinction between two possible diagnoses. Actually on quite a few questions all they gave was one sentence. And don't forget about all of the spelling errors...

After all of that studying and doing well-written and thought provoking USMLEWorld questions, this test seemed to me like a total sham. I'm just glad that I'll be taking the real Step 2 in a couple of days so all of this studying and preparation wasn't for nothing.

I really think the NBOME needs to take a second look at the quality of their board exams. Either they need to improve them big time or just have students take the USMLE steps and then give a separate OMM board exam. If anyone had taken this exam recently and wants to share their thoughts please do.

Okay I'll quit complaining and if it's any consilation, I don't think any students would have to worry about failing this test.

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[Bonebreaker]

I took it yesterday as well. I do agree that the test was a poor representation of the things we ought to have learned during the first three years of medical school. There was seriously too many ambiguous question stems. And if that wasn't enough, they add follow up questions to punish you for guessing incorrectly between two valid answer choices. And what was the deal with the vocabulary questions. I felt like I was taking the verbal sections of an SAT again. I hope the writers reevaluate what they consider important concepts worth testing.

 

[turkdlit]

I just took the COMLEX Level 2 CE yesterday and pretty much felt insulted after taking it. The questions were extremely vague and poorly written. I didn't feel that it was even a fair assessment of my medical knowledge. There were questions on kid's car seats for crying out loud! The images were garbage as well. On so many questions there was simply not enough information to make the distinction between two possible diagnoses. Actually on quite a few questions all they gave was one sentence. And don't forget about all of the spelling errors...

After all of that studying and doing well-written and thought provoking USMLEWorld questions, this test seemed to me like a total sham. I'm just glad that I'll be taking the real Step 2 in a couple of days so all of this studying and preparation wasn't for nothing.

I really think the NBOME needs to take a second look at the quality of their board exams. Either they need to improve them big time or just have students take the USMLE steps and then give a separate OMM board exam. If anyone had taken this exam recently and wants to share their thoughts please do.

Okay I'll quit complaining and if it's any consilation, I don't think any students would have to worry about failing this test.

hahah! LOL! I jsut took it yesterday and had the same matching questions on the damn car seat...got all them wrong too when I checked out the AAP website. What a bunch of garbage, I've been b*itching about that one all day to my classmates as well...

And yes, all the hard work studying USMLE world went to waste on this exam...but it'll all be worth it when we take the real things (i.e. CK). Just shrug it off and realize that for most of us, the COMLEX just won't matter much for residency.

 

[Nicola1926]

Whats up with the public insulting of the test YOU need for your license. I think it is really silly and counterproductive when osteopathic medical students come on SDN and insult their own profession, as if we don't have enough to deal with. I mean seriously, if you are going to insult your profession at least do it among those in your profession ONLY!!

 

[turkdlit]

Whats up with the public insulting of the test YOU need for your license. I think it is really silly and counterproductive when osteopathic medical students come on SDN and insult their own profession, as if we don't have enough to deal with. I mean seriously, if you are going to insult your profession at least do it among those in your profession ONLY!!

So are you concerned about the actual quality of our profession, or how others perceive it? Because if we simply insult our profession amongst ourselves, then that doesn't really change anything, it just means allopathic doctors don't hear it.

I'm not really sure what you're getting at basically. I do agree that coming on SDN and complaining doesn't change anything...but I think we're just venting. Having studied my as* off only to have off the wall questions about child safety seats and vague vignettes that leave you assuming things about the patient (which is poor practice in real medicine as well), leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, honestly. Have you had a chance to take the COMLEX yet?

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

Whats up with the public insulting of the test YOU need for your license. I think it is really silly and counterproductive when osteopathic medical students come on SDN and insult their own profession, as if we don't have enough to deal with. I mean seriously, if you are going to insult your profession at least do it among those in your profession ONLY!!

My radar is picking up on a Super-D.O., captain.

 

[TheEleventhReel]

My radar is picking up on a Super-D.O., captain.

Definately sounds like someone who practices cranial in their spare time...

 

[Nicola1926]

So are you concerned about the actual quality of our profession, or how others perceive it? Because if we simply insult our profession amongst ourselves, then that doesn't really change anything, it just means allopathic doctors don't hear it.

I'm not really sure what you're getting at basically. I do agree that coming on SDN and complaining doesn't change anything...but I think we're just venting. Having studied my as* off only to have off the wall questions about child safety seats and vague vignettes that leave you assuming things about the patient (which is poor practice in real medicine as well), leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, honestly. Have you had a chance to take the COMLEX yet?

So, is if your objective is to improve the quality of our profession, and I use that lightly...why aren't you sending your concerns to the NBOME??? The people on here can't do anything about improving the quality of the COMLEX. If you really want to help our profession then start voicing your concerns with those making the questions. I don't take COMLEX II until Sept, so I can't comment on the quality. I can say that if I do have negative things to say, I won't be calling up my allopathic friends telling them how poorly written I thought my test was.

 

[Nicola1926]

Definately sounds like someone who practices cranial in their spare time...

And so what if I do.

 

[Nicola1926]

My radar is picking up on a Super-D.O., captain.

I just respect my profession and will always defend it. You should try it sometime

 

[predodoc]

I dont take step 2 till sept. but I didnt think step 1 was that poorly written even compared to usmle. The questions were a little shorter, slightly easier and had more questions that were difficult to figure out unless you knew the answer, but far from a terrible test. maybe step 2 is different.

Also, a few of you say usmleworld didnt help at all for step 2? Usmleworld helped me alot to learn the material for step 1 even though the test was not like it. Is it the same way for step 2, or is it totally useless? Im planning on buying it tomorrow?

 

[hammertoe]

The questions that the NBOME writes are such a joke. I had a case about a boy in the locker room who was ashamed about his small penis and they wanted to know the age where boys are concerned about penis size. Answers were like 4-5, 9-10, 12-13...etc. How ridiculous is that?

I, too thought USMLE World was good for COMLEX Level 1 but it is WAY off for Level 2. Good for USMLE but took me down the wrong path for COMLEX 2. I used combank and thought it was great for mimicking those dumb-ass questions put out by the NBOME. Lots of good tips too for the test. I give those guys a lot of credit for putting that together.

Anyway...hope you guys got through the test okay.

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

I just respect my profession and will always defend it. You should try it sometime

You'll have to teach me one day. Just me and you..

 

[Old_Mil]

I just took the COMLEX Level 2 CE yesterday and pretty much felt insulted after taking it. The questions were extremely vague and poorly written....

...After all of that studying and doing well-written and thought provoking USMLEWorld questions, this test seemed to me like a total sham. I'm just glad that I'll be taking the real Step 2 in a couple of days so all of this studying and preparation wasn't for nothing.

Basically.

just have students take the USMLE steps and then give a separate OMM board exam.

Good idea.

 

[turkdlit]

So, is if your objective is to improve the quality of our profession, and I use that lightly...why aren't you sending your concerns to the NBOME??? The people on here can't do anything about improving the quality of the COMLEX. If you really want to help our profession then start voicing your concerns with those making the questions. I don't take COMLEX II until Sept, so I can't comment on the quality. I can say that if I do have negative things to say, I won't be calling up my allopathic friends telling them how poorly written I thought my test was.

I'm hardly "calling up my allopathic friends"...I'm not sure where you're coming from but you might want to take some xanax when you head back there. Me and many others are certainly not out of line to use SDN, an anonymous forum, to vent any frustrations we have about the exam. I'd be happy to voice my concern to the NBOME but I plan to have very little to do with them or the AOA after I graduate.

 

[predodoc]

The questions that the NBOME writes are such a joke. I had a case about a boy in the locker room who was ashamed about his small penis and they wanted to know the age where boys are concerned about penis size. Answers were like 4-5, 9-10, 12-13...etc. How ridiculous is that?

I, too thought USMLE World was good for COMLEX Level 1 but it is WAY off for Level 2. Good for USMLE but took me down the wrong path for COMLEX 2. I used combank and thought it was great for mimicking those dumb-ass questions put out by the NBOME. Lots of good tips too for the test. I give those guys a lot of credit for putting that together.

Anyway...hope you guys got through the test okay.

So you think I would do just as well or better by doing only combank and maybe usmleSecrets as I would if I did all of usmleworld?

 

[Inquiringmind24]

I'm hardly "calling up my allopathic friends"...I'm not sure where you're coming from but you might want to take some xanax when you head back there. Me and many others are certainly not out of line to use SDN, an anonymous forum, to vent any frustrations we have about the exam. I'd be happy to voice my concern to the NBOME but I plan to have very little to do with them or the AOA after I graduate.

Well said brother. To the other girl's response, I'm not bashing the NBOME or the DO profession, I'm just pissed about spending $500 and countless study hours on an exam that required no thinking what so ever and was carelessly put together. When you put all of these years of high tuition and hard work in and your governing body makes a mockery of it, I'd say the students have a right to be mad and annoyed. And what better place to vent than good old SDN

 

[TheEleventhReel]

And so what if I do.

I guess it means that:

1. You'll diagnose more sphenoid torsions than I will.
2. You've been blessed from above to be able to "feel" those cranial rhythms
3. Most importantly, you're missing out on some great TV

 

[frank51]

I recently took the test as well, the images were definitely very poor in quality, and there were a lot of ambiguous questions, for some of the psych and OB question they wouldn't even tell you the pt's age, and what do you do about the questions that practically give you the answer in the stem of the question??? You don't know whether the question is extremely easy or you're just too dumb and can't figure it out. I thought COMLEX I was better written.

 

[hammertoe]

predodoc...I don't like the USMLE secrets format so I'd definately choose Crush if I had to pick. My recipe for success was Crush, B&W, with some Blueprints mixed in for OB/GYN (which I suck at) and COMBANK for questions. I also used a tad bit of USMLE world but abandoned it because it was way overkill and I'm glad I did because those questions are nothing like the ones the NBOME writes.

 

[surrender903]

predodoc...I don't like the USMLE secrets format so I'd definately choose Crush if I had to pick. My recipe for success was Crush, B&W, with some Blueprints mixed in for OB/GYN (which I suck at) and COMBANK for questions. I also used a tad bit of USMLE world but abandoned it because it was way overkill and I'm glad I did because those questions are nothing like the ones the NBOME writes.

hammer toe, thanks for the feedback. im taking my test *knock on wood* on july 7th. really nervous.

did anyone else do the released questions from the NBOME?

 

[Bonebreaker]

I thought Combank was a nice addition to get a feel for the COMLEX type questions, but It wasn't even close to being comprehensive in terms of material. Though its seems like overkill, USMLE World, FA, and Crush is what I used. It helped with most of the questions. Of course there are plenty that just take a lucky guess between two legitimate answers due to ambiguity.

Bottom line: There will be questions that you will have no way to prepare for.

 

[marie337]

did anyone else do the released questions from the NBOME?

Where did you find these? I can't seem to find it on the website. I know for step 1 they have an $8 book available. Is there one for step 2 or do they not have enough good questions to spare?

 

[DragonWell]

Where did you find these? I can't seem to find it on the website. I know for step 1 they have an $8 book available. Is there one for step 2 or do they not have enough good questions to spare?

At least for step 1, I believe that booklet has been discontinued and replaced by the COMSAE - an online practice exam similar to what the NBME offers. According to the website, there will be an online practice test for Phase 2 available in "May or June 2008".

 

[surrender903]

Where did you find these? I can't seem to find it on the website. I know for step 1 they have an $8 book available. Is there one for step 2 or do they not have enough good questions to spare?

i cant even remember now, i got them so long ago.

i just tried to look for them online but it doesnt seem too apparent.

if what dragonwell is true then i suppose ill try that online if it comes out in the next week.

for now im using combank.

 

[DragonWell]

I think there's 50 questions included with the computer tutorial.

http://www.nbome.org/comlexcbt/cbe_intro.htm

 

[LonePair]

1) Any very high yield topics found on COMLEX II CK? Any tips would be appreciated.
2) I've been doing WORLD and KAPLAN Q banks, and now I am new to this COMBANK I hear of. Worth it?!
3) I heard the OMM on level II is much more difficult than for level I, is this true? how to prepare if the Savarese is not enough.

4) Is it more valuable doing 200-250 Q a day and less strict reading thru FA/boards and wards/CRUSH ; or the other way around?

Thanks everyone.

 

[hammertoe]

Lonepair - In contrast to the title of the thread...COMLEX 2 CE is NO joke. I know some smart people who took this exam lightly and ended up failing. The questions are crappy...yes...but you can answer most of them if you prepare appropriately.

That said, I think it's better to go system by system, doing questions after each of them to find out how effective your studying was. This worked out for me well and I think it's a solid approach. COMBANK is definately worth the price because it give you a pretty similar look to what you are going to see and they have 50 or so OMM questions that are good. They also have a money back guarantee on their 3-month membership if you fail the test. I also liked the NMS book for questions.

Just like someone listed above though, no matter what you use there will be questions that you just cannot prepare for.

 

[LonePair]

Thank you for the tip. I think I will go ahead and start COMBANK tommorrow.

- I still have yet to sign up for USMLE...

 

[hammertoe]

LonePair...you should really consider whether or not you need to take the USMLE. It's not required for all specialties and can actually hurt you if you do poorly and have good COMLEX scores. The only good thing is that if you do bad on the USMLE, you don't have to report your score through ERAS...and I know this for a fact. Programs will never know you took it unless you want them to. Think about it.

 

[LonePair]

Thanks for tips Hammertoe. I am still not sure about taking USMLE - for the reason: just like you said, it may hurt ya.

Interestingly: I heard there is something new on ERAS this year that does not allow you to hide the score. I'll found out more details and write back- the chair of clinical educ at my school mentioned this a week ago at my 4th y. orientation.
In previous years, I heard the ERAS question pops up: USMLE completed? yes/no answer, but we were not required to report our score on the application.

 

[FutureInternist]

I did not think it was possible for the higher ups to write an exam that was worse than COMLEX step 1 but the step 2 totally proved me wrong. .
The Qs were VERY ambigious (sp?) with the answer choices a seemingly unending list of random things I had never heard of in 4 years of med school.
I know a lot of people that totally rocked it but I just can't see how anyone could come to a rational answer choice based on the way the Qs are worded.

And LonePair is right...DO students can no longer withhold their USMLE scores so if you decide to take it make sure you put everything into it & not use it as a test run for the COMLEX like some people or a "just wanted to see if I would pass" mentality.

 

[hammertoe]

That really stinks. I think this is really going to prevent a lot of students from taking the exam. It is my personal belief that there should be one exam for all students and then if they want us DOs to have an OMM portion, tack on an extra 50-80 questions at the end on a different test. So essentially, you would receive a board score and an "OMM score." Much to political for this to happen though. So, unfortunately, the NBOME will continue making $$$ off those ridiculous questions.

 

[DragonWell]

In case anybody's interested, it looks like the NBOME now has the practice test up for "Phase 2".

http://www.nbome.org/comsae/index.html

 

[LonePair]

I just took that Phase II NBOME exam. I thought it was tougher than I expected: plenty of random stuff. "Most effective preventative measure". Anterior chapman points for gastritis and MI? - OMM that's not in the green book is where I get lost.
I'm a bit discouraged, I got a 586 and I believe that's just under a 90 two-digit score. I really wanted to do higher. Got a week left so I better work on some high yield... COMBANK is much easier than what the real comlex is going to be like. I also did World and Kaplan but there's just a different feel the NBOME questions. They're either really easy or just leaves u hanging, building on that headache.

 

[oreosandsake]

I did not think it was possible for the higher ups to write an exam that was worse than COMLEX step 1 but the step 2 totally proved me wrong. .

Just great....

funny how people say the comlex is easy. When i walked out of step 1 for usmle i didn't think it was that bad. every question had an educated answer choice regarding a topic that i had encountered before in school, even if my choice might have been incorrect.

comlex questions had be completely baffled, and i must have guessed on about 10-15% of them blindly, so much in fact that I ended the exam very early in the day.

somehow, i still ended up doing pretty well. SO, I guess the conclusion is that everyone has to guess on those crazy questions. it just feels stupid to study to hard for a test that felt like i COULDN"T REALLY PREPARE FOR.

I was hoping step 2 would be better written... sad, what do you expect from the same question writers.

 

[BMW19]

Where is everyone getting these "phase II NBOME Q's" do you have to purchase them on NBOME website? These are for step II comlex? Thanks

B-

I just took that Phase II NBOME exam. I thought it was tougher than I expected: plenty of random stuff. "Most effective preventative measure". Anterior chapman points for gastritis and MI? - OMM that's not in the green book is where I get lost.
I'm a bit discouraged, I got a 586 and I believe that's just under a 90 two-digit score. I really wanted to do higher. Got a week left so I better work on some high yield... COMBANK is much easier than what the real comlex is going to be like. I also did World and Kaplan but there's just a different feel the NBOME questions. They're either really easy or just leaves u hanging, building on that headache.

 

[GBotDO]

I think there's 50 questions included with the computer tutorial.

http://www.nbome.org/comlexcbt/cbe_intro.htm

Thanks, after weeks of UW and Secrets, this sample was just enough to prepare me for the "WOW, this is a poorly written test" factor.

I actually had two questions back to back (not 2-part questions) for which the patient had blatantly obvious torticollis and the answer was:
a) accessory nerve

[rant]
Billions of sacral questions, thousands of viscerosomatic reflex questions, a couple cervical/extremity/cranial/etc questions. Thank God (and wikipedia) that I happened to be curious about the difference between res ipsa loquitor and prima facie a few days ago. I can't possibly give a f_k about emtala, cobra, etc. OH AND HOW MANY DIFFERENT QUESTIONS CAN YOU ASK ME ABOUT GERD/GASTRIC ULCERS BEFORE MY HEAD EXPLODES?!
[/rant]

USMLE in two days, and here I am at 2:41 am. I knew I shouldn't have logged in to sdn...

GBotDO

 

[1viking]

Actually, I thought the content was good. Very few rare diseases. All the common stuff. Honestly. Now, the questions relating to those diseases were challenging. Ethical questions were a beast.

I did, however, have a two step question where question 1 was a question. question 2 was the exact same question with the exact same answers. There was no difference. I must have thought about what was going on for 10 minutes. I thought, "I hope that my test isn't screwed up".

 

[allendo]

Just finished the damn thing.

Had about 50 UTI's and PE's I guess that's all FP's see now days.
The rest were stupid questions about who qualifies for medicare and how many hours per week they can work bla bla bla. I have to agree with the people who have bashed the exam. I had to diagnose very little or think and had tons of medical legal questions that I have not seen in any textbook. I'm embarrassed that this is our licensing examination.

 

[thegunshow]

Truly a test that you can't really study for because of the broad and random nature of the content. About 50% of the test is really, really basic questions about UTI, COPD, Meningitis, etc that you probably knew the answer to after MS1. The other 25% are vague questions in which multiple answers could work, the last 25% is a bunch of strange latin words and phrases, ethics, social services type questions.
Good luck

 

[Krazykritter]

Just took the Level 2 today as well & I totally agree with the above.

I had a TON of medicolegal questions that I don't know where you were supposed to learn the answers. Lots of EKG's. My test had more diagnosis questions that were really straightforward & I'm a little worried now b/c it felt too good?

Bet I won't have that feeling next week after I finish USMLE on Thursday.

 

[jaelmsly]

So, I know this thread is old, but I just took step 2 for COMLEX and I have to say I sort of agree with what is being said on here. There were MANY questions on the test where I felt that you could argue two possible answers, or any number of things could be going on in the question stem. My biggest complaint though was that some areas seemed to be entirely ignored...I don't believe i had a single question on diagnosing or management of HTN or hyperlipidemia, and yet there were something like four questions on the same relatively rare genetic childhood disorder. Seems sort of an odd distribution of questions for a test that is supposed to be directed toward primary care and covering the typical 3rd year rotation material. Furthermore, it seemed like hardly any questions were straightforward cases...everything had some weird twist to it, which I really don't understand, since I'd think they would want you to show that you know basic presentation, diagnostics and management for common conditions encountered in third year. Instead you get things like...well, child car seats (no, i didn't have that on my test, but I completely understand what they are talking about...I did have very random stuff show up on there that I felt wasn't very representative of all the stuff I should know at this point). At any rate, here we are, about a year after that last post, and things seem the same with COMLEX step 2...gets a bit frustrating.

 

[jaelmsly]

And definitely a ridiculously disproportionate amount of UTI questions!

 

[SOUNDMAN]

Seriously I had like 30-40% of OMM, it was very heavy in some sort of OMM/musculoskeletal stuff. And I had like two lung questions that's it. I was appalled at some of the questions. I actually had a "business" question of what protocols need to be inplace, etc to decrease litigation. I'm like seriously and this is a medical test? Overall who knows how it went.

 

[DaveinDallas]

So, I know this thread is old, but I just took step 2 for COMLEX and I have to say I sort of agree with what is being said on here. There were MANY questions on the test where I felt that you could argue two possible answers, or any number of things could be going on in the question stem. My biggest complaint though was that some areas seemed to be entirely ignored...I don't believe i had a single question on diagnosing or management of HTN or hyperlipidemia, and yet there were something like four questions on the same relatively rare genetic childhood disorder. Seems sort of an odd distribution of questions for a test that is supposed to be directed toward primary care and covering the typical 3rd year rotation material. Furthermore, it seemed like hardly any questions were straightforward cases...everything had some weird twist to it, which I really don't understand, since I'd think they would want you to show that you know basic presentation, diagnostics and management for common conditions encountered in third year. Instead you get things like...well, child car seats (no, i didn't have that on my test, but I completely understand what they are talking about...I did have very random stuff show up on there that I felt wasn't very representative of all the stuff I should know at this point). At any rate, here we are, about a year after that last post, and things seem the same with COMLEX step 2...gets a bit frustrating.

Felt the same way after COMLEX 1....studied my tail off, did about 1600 Kaplan questions....and then get smacked around by the inane way the questions were worded....in more than one instance (like 50%) I had to ask Pat Sajak for a vowel....and in the other 50% I knew what they wanted to ask but didn't know how to write the question.....

While I came to school wanting to be a D.O., something needs to seriously be done about the quality level of the questions....I'm beginning to think the USMLE/OMM as the way to go......but first we've got to deal with cranial.....

 

[lasvegasDO]

Seriously I had like 30-40% of OMM, it was very heavy in some sort of OMM/musculoskeletal stuff. And I had like two lung questions that's it. I was appalled at some of the questions. I actually had a "business" question of what protocols need to be inplace, etc to decrease litigation. I'm like seriously and this is a medical test? Overall who knows how it went.

I was completely thrown under a bus when I realized how much more OMM COMLEX 2 asked when compared to COMLEX 1. It was completely misleading. On COMLEX 1, I had maybe 10% OMM. On COMLEX 2, it was easily 1/3 of the exam. And contrary to all the reports on here, it wasn't just viscerosomatic points...I wish! There was so much OMM and "osteopathic philosophy" related questions. I guess they wanted to compensate for the lack of OMM on the part 1

 

[funshi baba]

just finished COMLEX 2CE. First of all.......YYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

ok! at the end of my exam, i came to the conclusion that comlex is really about picking which one is the least wrong as oppose to picking the best answer. It was OMM heavy in a weird way. I only recall i sacral question and it didnt show up until block 7 or 8.

Contrary to what i am made to be believe about poor images, i felt the images were pretty decent. Definitely better than COMBANK (pics were atrocious sometimes). I maybe saw like 2-4 questions that was similar to the ones in combank. Most of the qbanks (UW and COMbank) only increased ur awareness about diff topics u should know for comlex. I didnt feel combank was similar to comlex at all.

COMLEX was very vague!! You dont even have to know the specific drug of choice, just know the class and the best answer might be a medication in that class but not d DOC. Alot of legal, administrative questions. No BIOSTAT!

In my 6th block, i felt like they were trying to trick into the wrong answer. I got so upset, i made 3 commments which i never do.

Anyway, its over. UW is def overkill for me, but would use it if i had to do it again (GOD pls dont take that literally!).

That's it!

let the etoh flow!

 

[samnite]

just finished COMLEX 2CE. First of all.......YYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

ok! at the end of my exam, i came to the conclusion that comlex is really about picking which one is the least wrong as oppose to picking the best answer. It was OMM heavy in a weird way. I only recall i sacral question and it didnt show up until block 7 or 8.

Contrary to what i am made to be believe about poor images, i felt the images were pretty decent. Definitely better than COMBANK (pics were atrocious sometimes). I maybe saw like 2-4 questions that was similar to the ones in combank. Most of the qbanks (UW and COMbank) only increased ur awareness about diff topics u should know for comlex. I didnt feel combank was similar to comlex at all.

COMLEX was very vague!! You dont even have to know the specific drug of choice, just know the class and the best answer might be a medication in that class but not d DOC. Alot of legal, administrative questions. No BIOSTAT!

In my 6th block, i felt like they were trying to trick into the wrong answer. I got so upset, i made 3 commments which i never do.

Anyway, its over. UW is def overkill for me, but would use it if i had to do it again (GOD pls dont take that literally!).

That's it!

let the etoh flow!

I just took it today and everything that you have said is spot on. I liken this test to playing the lottery since you're really not 100% sure if you picked the right answer (of course some answers are so obvious that you end up spending time trying to read into it too much).

Now for my disjointed random thoughts on the exam:


I had a question repeated from one block to the next (gotta love the COMLEX ).

The OMM is the easiest part of the exam. Know your levels and the basics of when to do and not to do treatments and these will be your favorite questions on the exam.

There were some weird public health questions that don't really show up in the qbanks (disaster/crisis management). I just took my best guess and moved on. Perhaps the qbank writers should implement this topic more?

There were ZERO biostats questions. I wonder if only the USMLE tests this topic for step 2.

I found that the COMLEX has a way of making the presentations so vague that studying the subjects didn't mean you knew the answers in many cases....just that you were able to make an educated guess by ruling out the least logical answer choices.

Overall, it's a really long test that is as much a marathon as it is a test of knowledge. I usually ended up with 5-6 minutes left at the end of each block and then used it to review answers. This became an issue for the "break" blocks because the 10 minute optional breaks subtract from your total time (meaning you had to finish early and accumulate the time so that you wouldn't cut into the next block's time). I wish COMLEX would just give us an hour to play with and use however we want like the USMLE. I know that I didn't use the whole 40 minute lunch break and it would have been cool to be able to use that extra time for breaks between the later blocks.

I didn't use COMBANK, but did all of UW, read FA, read BW, read Crush, and watched a few kaplan videos here and there as well as some kaplan qbank. I am taking the USMLE as well, though, so I was going to have to read all of this anyway.

I would say UW is a lot more rigorous than you need for COMLEX, but I did learn a lot from UW and it helped fill in gaps in my knowledge. If you have the time/money, I'd do UW since it's more like a textbook/qbank that you learn from. However, I haven't used the COMBANK so I'm not sure if I could say just doing that is enough.

 

[Bitsy]

I just took the COMLEX Step 2 CE today. Yeah, I thought it was a very poorly written exam and wasn't at all representative of what I would think would be key topics. Mine was very OB/GYN heavy and male GU heavy. I had one question repeated twice, which was frustrating b/c I didn't like the question the first time I encountered it. There was a lot more OMT than I was expecting and not just viscero-somatics like Step 1, but overall those ?s were very doable except for the handful of cranial ?s I got I also had some weird law questions (and not just your typical ethics questions either) complete w/ latin terminology. I used Crush, FA, skimmed Savarese, & about 65% of USMLE World. USMLE World may have been a little much, but it really does help fill in your knowledge gaps and I did well on Step I w/ bank so I stuck w/ it. I did not use Combank or Comsae this round so I can't comment on those resources. Overall, I don't even know what I would have done differently.....The questions aren't hard (especially in comparison to USMLE World) but they are either worded oddly or the answer choices have more than one seemingly right option. Good luck to everybody yet to take the test