failed comlex 3 3rd time

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

DOindahouse

Senior Member
20+ Year Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Messages
162
Reaction score
0
im done with this ****, over , dunno wht else to say

Members don't see this ad.
 
I failed COMLEX Step 3 also DOindahouse, man i don't know what to do, its the third time for me too. have other people failed this exam? what the hell do i do? how many people have failed this exam? they make it impossible to pass it seems like and we have to dish out another 600 dollars to take it again and again. i'm so pissed.
what do I study? PLease help. i've tried everything and nothing has worked, as i got a 346 this time. i'm gonna take it again next month, please help with what resources helped you pass the exam, as i only have two weeks to study and need to freaking pass! thanks!
 
Do as many questions as you can . . . NMS and Kaplan; concentrate on OB-GYN, Medicine, and Peds . . . use Crush step 3 as a giude to high yield material. Get COMLEX step 3 questions for practice as well. Think like a PCP; the COMLEX will reward you for it. And do not forget Savarese's book for OMM pearls.
You might want to re-scheule a month prior for more effective study. Do not panic. I did the above, and did well.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I was hoping you would pass this time and your lack of posting suggest successful outcome. I am sorry this is not true.

How well did you on step 1 or step 2?? How well did you do on your comlex practive items. I thought they were pretty good practice and if you get above >70% then you certainly will pass.

I saw some of questions (sample questions) in other posts such as what is intial radiological image of knee injury suspect of ligamentous injury. The initial choice would be always be X-ray...

What is your residency? I think if you are in non-primary care residency you may need to study extra hard esp if you previous steps scores were borderline.
 
Dude/dudette:

Agree with previous poster on thinking like a primary care physician. Try to get into that mind set for the test. I can't tell you what the best resource is...for me I used all the USMLEWorld questions and then read through Boards and Wards once. I was fortunate enough to take it the beginning of my intern year, so alot of it was still fresh. Some of my specialty covers alot the primary care stuff, so that helped too. Try to use the review materials with an eye on thinking like a PCP.

Sorry to hear about the third attempt. Hang in there!!

Wook
 
hey doindahouse,
having problems with step 3 too, are you aware of a review course offered by northwest review? It's a 2 day live course, also there's a new book (at least it's new to me) called first aid for the comlex, don't know much about it. Try the NMS series for the usmle step3 it seems to be the closest thing to anything I've seen on the comlex. goodl luck. you can e-mail me at the following: malexanderdo@verizon,net
 
hey doindahouse,
having problems with step 3 too, are you aware of a review course offered by northwest review? It's a 2 day live course, also there's a new book (at least it's new to me) called first aid for the comlex, don't know much about it. Try the NMS series for the usmle step3 it seems to be the closest thing to anything I've seen on the comlex. goodl luck. you can e-mail me at the following: malexanderdo@verizon,net

you guys should join premier review, its a good course offered in ny good luck..
 
How the hell do i register for this dumb test, the web site doesn't really help me other than realizing i don't have a password etc or a DO dean to register me???????????????????
 
Hey, I'm sorry for what you're going through.

I had a bad couple of weeks when I took Step 3 (last month). I had elaborate plans but ended up going back to USMLEWorld qbank (did the same for step 2) and tried to learn from the questions. I got through a little more than half of them before the test. Only get the qbank not the cases (only for USMLE).

I flipped through Savarese for OMT the day before. Historically, I've had difficulty with standardized exams, and USMLEWorld really works for me (step 2 and 3). Got my scores back and did better than the first 2 steps (686).

PM me if you have more questions.

- K
 
Hey, I'm sorry for what you're going through.

wow killer score dude, dont know about comlex scoring, but that score seems might high....
yes I did it the good ole fashioned way, sigh... hard work, but payed off, and I agree with you, USMLE World is the best, Premier Review was great, but not necessary if you are close to step 2 ck material, which I was more than a year from, and kaplan is the worst hands down for everything on step 3. Qbook is ok though. Not bad. Certainly far from the first pick though. And first aid ccs was great, read it again and again, and www.usmlesteps123.com ccs portion ONLY these are the sources that I used, and scored quite well. USMLE Step 3 that is. Cannot say about the comlex, but I have heard that its good for that test too, USMLE World and Premier that is.
 
You've got to think like a FP. A fat, brown FP with a reflex hammer and trauma shears. Hahaha. Here's a question set to get you started studying for the COMLEX 3.

Typical question set:

Patient is a 29yo male presenting for his regular annual physical. The most appropriate diagnosis is:

A. Hypertension
B. AIDS
C. Narcotic withdrawal
D. Depression
E. Adjustment disorder with depressed mood


Physical exam exhibits a well developed male. He exhibits bibasilar crackles. The exam is otherwise unremarkable. Which of the following would have prevented this condition?

A. Echocardiography
B. Yearly CD4 count
C. CAGE questionnaire
D. MMPI questionnaire
E. Aggressive treatment with an ACEI and BB

What other findings would you expect to with this patient.

A. Terry's nails
B. Lower extremity edema
C. Wrist drop
D. Psychomotor ******ation
E. Hypersexual behavior



COMLEX questions like to be typically second or third order questions. I'd try Swanson's FP review this time. Might as well, you've tried everything else. NMS is so crazy, it just might work.

Good luck my fat friend.
 
Patient is a 29yo male presenting for his regular annual physical. The most appropriate diagnosis is:

A. Hypertension
B. AIDS
C. Narcotic withdrawal
D. Depression
E. Adjustment disorder with depressed mood


Physical exam exhibits a well developed male. He exhibits bibasilar crackles. The exam is otherwise unremarkable. Which of the following would have prevented this condition?

A. Echocardiography
B. Yearly CD4 count
C. CAGE questionnaire
D. MMPI questionnaire
E. Aggressive treatment with an ACEI and BB

What other findings would you expect to with this patient.

A. Terry's nails
B. Lower extremity edema
C. Wrist drop
D. Psychomotor ******ation
E. Hypersexual behavior
.

this is sad because it's an accurate assessment of the quality of questions which permeate COMLEX
 
COMLEX 3 UPDATE from May 14, 2007 Test: The questions are still ridiculous.

EX: 27yo female presents to the ED with SOB, diffuse bilateral wheezes, and a left lower lobe infiltrate seen on radiography. The most likely diagnosis is:

A.) Pneumonia
B.) Asthma exacerbation
C.) Anemia
D.) Acute bronchospasm

EX: Your treatment plan would include:

A.) Giving antibiotics
B.) Giving Duoneb treatments
C.) Incentive spirometry
D.) Going back to the call room to take a nap

EX: Your patient did not survive because:

A.) COMLEX Step 3 did not let you utilize more than one wise treament modality at a time
B.) The x-ray finding that you thought was a LLL infiltrate was actually a really bad black and white picture of a blood smear showing basiphilic stipling in a patient with lead poisoning.
C.) You were napping
D.) You did not study hard enough for the boards

Sorry for that outburst... now back to studying...
 
oh hell, i got 3 weeks left, until my 4th try.
been doing usmleworld and strong medicine. only geting like 50% right, some of those Q's suck too

im so skerrrrrrrred
 
Top