For those taking COMLEX

[freesolo]

how essential do u think it is to do the comlex qbank? i know ill end up finishing world, and maybe 50% of usmle kaplan qbank.. should i start doing more of the comlex questions? im doing around 150 questions a day right now.. so i know theres no way i'm finishing all of qbank. Will the usmle questions prepare me for the comlex ones other then omm of course.
Thanks

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[Taus]

as long as you know your OMM there really isn't a need to do a COMLEX specific qbank.....sure the q's on the COMLEX are written a little differently....but if you know the material it makes no difference how they ask it

 

[Proverbs31]

as long as you know your OMM there really isn't a need to do a COMLEX specific qbank.....sure the q's on the COMLEX are written a little differently....but if you know the material it makes no difference how they ask it

Thanks Taus....

Does anyone else have an opinion on this too? A friend of mine just took both and she said she felt very unprepared-that they were very different in material and difficulty.
I know people test differently and nerves affect people differently as well as different exams are had by all....(Lets see how many times I can say "Different")..
But I didnt know if others had the same experience- that either QBank worked if you knew your material.

 

[djnels01]

I just took a couple 50 question "tests" on COMLEX qbank tonight and thought the majority of the questions were EXCEEDINGLY easy. And I haven't even been studying for a week... I'm curious if these questions are representative of the real thing; if not, I really don't think there's any point to spending any more time on COMLEX qbank.

On the other hand, it's interesting that the COMLEX qbook has some ridiculously hard questions in it. Now I don't know what source to trust... I'll probably end up using both.

 

[megswinter82]

I've been studying for awhile now and will be taking the beast on June 12. I've done about 60%ish of the COMLEX qbank and around 40%ish of the USMLE. The COMLEX qbank questions are far too easy, and the OMM questins are kinda crappy in my opinion. They often give you confusing, random info and then don't give a good explanation of the answer.

From what I've heard the USMLE qbank is harder than what the actual will be. I'd heard that students who took the COMLEX last year (2007) and relied on the COMLEX qbank were very UNPLEASANTLY surprised by the actual exam.

I took the COMSAE and found the questions to be somewhat easier than USMLE qbank and harder than COMLEX qbank.

If you are looking for good practice ?s for OMM, I would recommend Sevarese. It has several practice exams in the back of the book that are pretty good.

Good luck and Happy Studying!

 

[Proverbs31]

I've been studying for awhile now and will be taking the beast on June 12. I've done about 60%ish of the COMLEX qbank and around 40%ish of the USMLE. The COMLEX qbank questions are far too easy, and the OMM questins are kinda crappy in my opinion. They often give you confusing, random info and then don't give a good explanation of the answer.

From what I've heard the USMLE qbank is harder than what the actual will be. I'd heard that students who took the COMLEX last year (2007) and relied on the COMLEX qbank were very UNPLEASANTLY surprised by the actual exam.

I took the COMSAE and found the questions to be somewhat easier than USMLE qbank and harder than COMLEX qbank.

If you are looking for good practice ?s for OMM, I would recommend Sevarese. It has several practice exams in the back of the book that are pretty good.

Good luck and Happy Studying!

Thanks! Sounds Good...Ill stick with UW and I have Savarese coming on its way Monday!

By any chance have either of you heard of the new OMM book thats supposed to be good for Board review...By Crowe or something like that? Several ppl at my school who went to the UAAO conference say thats supposed to be even higher tier than Savarese....However I heards Sav was the gold standard from previous COMLEX masters...

 

[Proverbs31]

I just took a couple 50 question "tests" on COMLEX qbank tonight and thought the majority of the questions were EXCEEDINGLY easy. And I haven't even been studying for a week... I'm curious if these questions are representative of the real thing; if not, I really don't think there's any point to spending any more time on COMLEX qbank.

On the other hand, it's interesting that the COMLEX qbook has some ridiculously hard questions in it. Now I don't know what source to trust... I'll probably end up using both.

Thanks for the heads up! Good Luck studying

 

[1viking]

Kaplan QBank USMLE is too much for COMLEX. Kaplan QBank COMLEX is WAY too easy for the COMLEX. HOWEVER, the exam style is very similar. I recommend that you take a 400 question simulated test using the Kaplan QBank COMLEX. Then, move on. It will serve you well, and, you don't have burn questions from USMLE World on a simulated test. My point is, you will never review the 400 questions if you were to do it in one sitting, so, do it from a bank that is pretty useless.

Remember, the length of the question feeds are very similar, so it will give you a good gauge for time management.

 

[Madhanit]

I hope Kaplan isn't that much easier then the actual comlex cuz some of the 50 question blocks that I have done have made me really feel good about my chances of getting a derm residency somewhere warm (just kidding derm is hell as far as i am concerned). Anyways I'll be taking the 200Q exam the NBOME sells this weekend sometime and I will let you all know if the questions made me cry or not.

 

[1viking]

I averaged mid 80s on my COMLEX Qbank and scored a lowly 479. Granted, however, I couldn't sleep at all the night before and I was drained before the exam even started. My hotel room was below the ice maker, and it kept me up all night!

 

[djnels01]

I hope Kaplan isn't that much easier then the actual comlex cuz some of the 50 question blocks that I have done have made me really feel good about my chances of getting a derm residency somewhere warm (just kidding derm is hell as far as i am concerned). Anyways I'll be taking the 200Q exam the NBOME sells this weekend sometime and I will let you all know if the questions made me cry or not.

I feel ya, I scored a 92% on my block last night and thought I was finished studying for the summer...

And yes, please do post how that exam goes, I'd be interested to know how it compares to the COMLEX qbank! Thanks for the replys on this everyone-

 

[DO it right]

guys,

I have kaplan qbank as well, but haven't really touched it (came with kaplan course at DMU). I took the official sample and scored a 660. The questions are weird at best..there are some REALLY easy ones....many of them left me mad since they provide so little info. EKG, pictures, couple of questions with extensive lab values...it's all there. Perhaps the easiest ones were the OMM questions...honestly they don't even compare to our OMM exams here. On many occasions I just remembered the stuff from our second year course work which are normally presented by random clinicians here.

distribution of questions felt like this:

pharm> micro=path> OMM, anat > behavioral, phys, biochem

I know that this is the 'good' score, but the questions were so random that i'm not sure what to think of it. They should at least tell us which ones we get wrong.

good luck everyone

 

[lunallena]

Hey all:
while doing the COMSAE, i seem to be weakest in the anatomy questions. i find the questions a bit detailed, with info that's not even on first aid or step up (my study resources). also some of the obgyn questions seem difficult. The 50 question practice test, on the other hand, i find it a lot easier.

Should i study the anatomy through a book, or kaplan online medessentials notes? or any other suggestions? thanks all!

 

[djnels01]

Found out some interesting things tonight after taking a 50 question block from COMLEX qbank:

Apparently you can treat angina/MI with Strain-Counterstrain to the L Pectoral muscle...

AND

Injury to the EXTERNAL laryngeal nerve (not recurrent) causes hoarseness in a thyroidectomy patient...

 

[Proverbs31]

Found out some interesting things tonight after taking a 50 question block from COMLEX qbank:

Apparently you can treat angina/MI with Strain-Counterstrain to the L Pectoral muscle...

AND

Injury to the EXTERNAL laryngeal nerve (not recurrent) causes hoarseness in a thyroidectomy patient...

Hahah!! Ill remember to let the next Acute MI Pt that walks in the hospital know that I can do counterstrain for him! Who needs Nitro! lol

 

[SOUNDMAN]

Found out some interesting things tonight after taking a 50 question block from COMLEX qbank:

Apparently you can treat angina/MI with Strain-Counterstrain to the L Pectoral muscle...

AND

Injury to the EXTERNAL laryngeal nerve (not recurrent) causes hoarseness in a thyroidectomy patient...

the superior branch of the external laryngeal nerve is the one that innervates the cricothyroid and the one most likely to be injured in thyroidectomy, I think it runs along with the superior thyroid artery or is near there... It's late so I might be just spouting crap, it's been known to happen.

 

[djnels01]

the superior branch of the external laryngeal nerve is the one that innervates the cricothyroid and the one most likely to be injured in thyroidectomy, I think it runs along with the superior thyroid artery or is near there... It's late so I might be just spouting crap, it's been known to happen.

Correct but as I remember from class (which WAS a while ago...) it will just cause "floppy cords" making it difficult to hit high notes, i.e. an opera singer or something. I don't remember it causing hoarseness.

On the other hand, it's been beaten into my head that horseness due to nerve injury in the neck/mediastinum, is caused by recurrent n injury. I think their use of "hoarseness" and "external laryn. n" is incorrect and misleading, that's all I'm saying. I do agree that the external laryngeal is most commonly injured in thyroid surgery though.

Just a poorly written question/answer choice IMO.

 

[SOUNDMAN]

totally agree that it was poorly written. I think if they gave a history of aortic root dilation or something like that, maybe that would help give us the recurrent nerve association, but who knows...keep hittin' it like it's a jbone...