How much time do you get for board review?

[theraball]

I'm curious as to how much time osteopathic programs allot for COMLEX prep. At our school there are three weeks of free time before boards, followed by intro to clerkships and then rotations. I've heard of much lengthier review periods at other schools. What's yours? Do you wish it were longer, or do they give you lots of alternative prep during the spring, e.g. free Kaplan courses?

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[jp104]

At NYCOM we end classes around May 4th and have to take the boards before June 26th. So we have about 7 1/2 weeks if we take the COMLEX on the absolute last day. We then start a introduction to clinical education class on July 1st till the 31st. On Aug 3rd we begin our rotations.

 

[EM2BE]

Step 1 - 4 weeks without any classes, or can study while classes going on (summer) and have up to 10 or 11 weeks total

Step 2 - 4 weeks

 

[Taus]

As long as you have 3-4 dedicated weeks off, you'll be fine if you spend a few hours/day studying for the boards while classes are still going on. No one will ever care if your class grades dipped a little bit towards the end if you rocked the boards. The opposite is not true.

 

[rkaz]

For students interested in also taking the USMLE, do you also take that at the same time as the COMLEX? So do you study for both boards during those 3-4 weeks?

 

[jp104]

For students interested in also taking the USMLE, do you also take that at the same time as the COMLEX? So do you study for both boards during those 3-4 weeks?

The general rule of thumb is taking the USMLE 1 week before the COMLEX. You study for the USMLE for 3-4 weeks, then use that week between both to brush up on OMM.

 

[spicedmanna]

Well, it's looking like I'm going to have nearly zero dedicated time off to study for boards.

 

[bkpa2med]

I have 6 weeks.

 

[rkaz]

I'm curious as to how much time osteopathic programs allot for COMLEX prep. At our school there are three weeks of free time before boards, followed by intro to clerkships and then rotations. I've heard of much lengthier review periods at other schools. What's yours? Do you wish it were longer, or do they give you lots of alternative prep during the spring, e.g. free Kaplan courses?

I wonder how AZCOM manages to have such good results with boards if the school only gives its students 3 weeks to study. 😕 I've heard about their great board pass rate, but maybe that is just a percentage of people who pass, which says nothing about the actual score...? Do you happen to know what the average student COMLEX/USMLE scores are? I'm curious about this, since I very likely will matriculate at AZCOM if accepted.

The general rule of thumb is taking the USMLE 1 week before the COMLEX. You study for the USMLE for 3-4 weeks, then use that week between both to brush up on OMM.

Thanks!

 

[theraball]

I wonder how AZCOM manages to have such good results with boards if the school only gives its students 3 weeks to study. 😕 I've heard about their great board pass rate, but maybe that is just a percentage of people who pass, which says nothing about the actual score...? Do you happen to know what the average student COMLEX/USMLE scores are? I'm curious about this, since I very likely will matriculate at AZCOM if accepted.

Technically, we get 3 weeks, but in reality it's longer than that, because they give us a lighter load in spring quarter of MS2 and encourage us to study for boards. That's not to say it's a light load in the absolute sense, because nothing in medical school is easy.

It's true that AZCOM traditionally has had a very high initial pass rate on COMLEX although the actual scores are middle of the pack. I suspect some of that is due to the kind of students they admit, and also the exams are rather board-like.

 

[beachblonde]

How much time does NSU give?

I've searched and haven't had any luck finding the answer, sorry...