Looking for a 600+ on COMLEX II

[micdoc6513]

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I have six months to prepare for COMLEX Step II. I would like to receive a 600+ score on the exam. Given that amount of time, how would you recommend I prepare? Any advice on what books to use and what subjects are most important would be very appreciated. Thanks! 😀

 

[DeLaughterDO]

I have six months to prepare for COMLEX Step II. I would like to receive a 600+ score on the exam. Given that amount of time, how would you recommend I prepare? Any advice on what books to use and what subjects are most important would be very appreciated. Thanks! 😀

If you really have 6 months of time where you have nothing else to do, I would recommend 5 months of vacation and one month of studying.

Of course, this depends on your shelf exam scores and your overall general knowledge - however, 3-4 weeks is more than adequate to "prepare" for this exam if you don't have any huge knowledge deficits.

My advice to you, study hard in your clerkships and learn the stuff while you're there - it's too late trying to learn medicine from the books when you've already blown learning it on the wards.

good luck!

 

[Plinko]

I have six months to prepare for COMLEX Step II. I would like to receive a 600+ score on the exam. Given that amount of time, how would you recommend I prepare? Any advice on what books to use and what subjects are most important would be very appreciated. Thanks! 😀

Six months from now it will be October, and then you won't get your scores back until late November or December. The residency programs you will be applying to won't get them until even later, and by that time most of the interview offers will already have been dished out. So I am curious as to why you are gunning for such a high score? At that time of the year most people are simply concerned with obtaining a "Pass." Perhaps it is just in your character to excel at all things. If that is the case I applaud your efforts, and would echo Delaughter's suggestions. Believe me, he's in my class and I know of his boards scores....he knows what he's talking about.

 

[micdoc6513]

Six months from now it will be October, and then you won't get your scores back until late November or December. The residency programs you will be applying to won't get them until even later, and by that time most of the interview offers will already have been dished out. So I am curious as to why you are gunning for such a high score?

Thanks for both of your help. For Step 1, my goal was to get a 600 and I scored a 588. For Step II, I would like to get at least higher than my Step I score. I want to get a higher score because I still don't know what speciality I want to go into and I don't want to eliminate specialities with a low board score. I am planning on doing a traditional internship and then applying to residencies during my internship year.

COMLEX is a difficult test to prepare for... there are few specific COMLEX oriented books and the test itself is so poorly written that it is hard to know what to study to get a good score. Since the two of you did well on Step II, any additional advice?

 

[Pilot]

All you really need to do is review the sympathetic and parasympathetic innervations, and specifically which organs in which you will see a visceral-somatic reaction. Also the referred pain sites. You could know almost nothing else, and guess your way through the exam with a good score.

 

[Idiopathic]

I studied for two weeks, reading mainly Boards And Wards, and doing the online question bank (not QBank, I actually cant remember what it was called). I felt woefully underprepared and I think I probably got less than 50% of the questions, but my score was like a 610/89. So theres the key.

 

[fuegorama]

Idio-
Didn't you smoke Step I as well? Wouldn't it be better advice to say..."hey just be me".

 

[Doc Oc]

For Step II I read B&W, Crush, Micro Made Ridiculously Simple, and the Blueprints for Psych, Peds, and OB/GYN.

I studied for about a month, 3-4 hrs a day. I was lucky (sort of) in that I was off the whole month before I was scheduled to take the test (had surgery), so I had nothing better to do while I was on the couch recovering.

For questions I used the NMS book.

673/96 was my score.

Really though, for this test its not what you study, but how much more you study than other people. Alot of people blow off Step II, so if you take it seriously you are already ahead of the pack. Also, pay attention to what people complain about and make sure you know that stuff. People I know complained alot about OB/GYN, ID, and pharm questions, so I aimed more focus there.

 

[Idiopathic]

Idio-
Didn't you smoke Step I as well? Wouldn't it be better advice to say..."hey just be me".

I did much better on Step 1, didnt feel a whole lot of pressure on Step 2, and I think that helps, definitely. But the keys for Step 2 are to be picked up during clinicals and with the occasional review source. Its nothing like studying for Step 1. I guess thats my point...also that the test isnt graded super-severely (i.e. ~40% right to pass? something like that)

 

[Idiopathic]

All you really need to do is review the sympathetic and parasympathetic innervations, and specifically which organs in which you will see a visceral-somatic reaction. Also the referred pain sites. You could know almost nothing else, and guess your way through the exam with a good score.

By the way, my COMLEX II had ZERO questions re: SANS/PANS and viscerosomatic reactions. Tons of cranial, neuro trauma, etc. Maybe 5 questions total on basic HTN or DM II.

No preparation for this test will be of any good quality, since the test is so ridiculously out there.