3rd year grades are strange and there are several mentalities people have toward them with good results. It all depends on how grades are determined to decide how you want to expend your energy. In some schools it doesn't make any sense to even attempt to achieve honors so time is better spent elsewhere on research and learning things that are important for future practice but not for comats or boards. OR, like a decent chunk of students do, just barely study during third year and pass your rotations and enjoy your year... I know if I was applying to FM or something I wouldn't have worked even half as hard as I did third year like a lot of my classmates.
Some school's MSPEs contain contextual information that help identify whether most students honor a specific rotation or not. This helps PDs determine how to view your grade. Also, you have to remember there are some trends to see from your 3rd year grades based on the written evaluation comments. Look, I completely admit that 3rd year grades can definitely be about luck and a crapshoot, but the idea is that your 3rd year information ideally tells a narrative for your growth during your intro into clinical medicine. Also, we have to stratify people somehow. Everyone is always wanting to take any way of stratifying people out just because something isn't a perfectly objective measure. It's just not practical unfortunately.
Competency on the wards has nothing to do with failing comlex. The worst test taker at your school will likely pass their rotations fine. The bar to fail a rotation is incredibly low and you will not be prepared for boards if you just go based on your preceptors' comments saying you showed up on time, weren't rude and answered some pimp questions correctly lol. Hell, to fail a comat at most schools is almost unheard of due to the score one needs to fail.
What I mean by some honors mattering is that some specialties have a trend. Surgery cares about honors in surgery. Radiology ideally wants honors in medicine and surgery. Medicine wants honors in medicine. It's not a big deal but it helps. Getting a pass isn't a bad thing by any means and doesn't really hurt you. It just doesn't help you.
All of this ties in to your original question regarding comats. If comats make up most of your grade then by default they matter a lot. In that case, you should be happy because it means you can control your own destiny and aren't going to be as worried about getting 3-bombed by some douchebag attending/resident even if you are doing awesome on the wards. There is no excuse not to score well on comats other than deciding it doesn't matter because you can't really achieve honors due to the evaluation system.
If you haven't, I suggest your check out the NRMP program director survery for your specialty to see the importance of boards, third year grades, research etc. in interviewing and ranking applicants. Maybe your specialty and goal program type (community vs academic) doesn't really emphasize third year grades. Who knows.
