New COMSAEs?!

[Medic741]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Just took my first COMSAE and spent the entire test going WTF or wondering about the drug or microbe name i had never seen before. Ended up with a 515, on NBME’s scoring 230’s with UWORLD finished at 70% timed random so I was really expecting to have done better

Any advice / encouragement?? Is COMLEX similar to the COMSAES? Have a month to go and feeling totally hosed.

 

[Cheeni17]

Eff comlex and focus on usmle. Then spend two days doing omm before comlex. Comlex is a crap test written by imbicils

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Just took my first COMSAE and spent the entire test going WTF or wondering about the drug or microbe name i had never seen before. Ended up with a 515, on NBME’s scoring 230’s with UWORLD finished at 70% timed random so I was really expecting to have done better

Any advice / encouragement?? Is COMLEX similar to the COMSAES? Have a month to go and feeling totally hosed.

515 on the new COMSAEs is pretty decent actually. The curves are brutal and the tests are complete crapshoots. One week you'll hit 600+ and the next you'll barely break 500. The class average on the school administered COMSAE was 80+ points lower than the one from last year and according to our faculty most schools are seeing the same thing. Basically the NBOME has no idea how to build a predictive practice test. To put that into perspective if anyone broke 500 on the COMSAE they were in the top 15% of the class on the COMSAE lol

I too think the questions on the COMSAEs are terrible and vague. It's like instead of writing a difficult question that probes your knowledge more they simply make things super vague or try and trip you up with weird words in order make the questions harder.

 

[Spectreman]

Yep, the new blueprint exams are currently wreaking havoc all over. My buddy’s school only have 30% of the class hit the required 450. The admin has no idea what to do about it.

Prof at my school tried to tell me they’re just the same questions and all that’s changed is how they’re categorized, I’m like “no dude, you’re wrong...” Even faculty from these other schools are scratching their heads going “what they heck is this?”

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Yep, the new blueprint exams are currently wreaking havoc all over. My buddy’s school only have 30% of the class hit the required 450. The admin has no idea what to do about it.

Prof at my school tried to tell me they’re just the same questions and all that’s changed is how they’re categorized, I’m like “no dude, you’re wrong...” Even faculty from these other schools are scratching their heads going “what they heck is this?”

Personally I think there is more OMM integration type questions, and that the curve is much harsher than previously. I don't even think the NBOME really knows what they are doing or how the new scores correlate. Probably why we won't get our real scores until mid July because they are essentially making a new scale.

 

[DNC127]

Eff comlex and focus on usmle. Then spend two days doing omm before comlex. Comlex is a crap test written by imbicils

This is a recipe for not doing well on comlex. Ask the multiple people in my class who got 250+ USMLE and <550 comlex. Which is a death sentence almost if you want DO ortho or ENT etc.

 

[Chibucks15]

This is a recipe for not doing well on comlex. Ask the multiple people in my class who got 250+ USMLE and <550 comlex. Which is a death sentence almost if you want DO ortho or ENT etc.

Eh I also know people who have done fine doing that plan. I think it depends on how you use those few days. Like you have to actual crank out work rather than casually reading

 

[Medic741]

Yep, the new blueprint exams are currently wreaking havoc all over. My buddy’s school only have 30% of the class hit the required 450. The admin has no idea what to do about it.

Prof at my school tried to tell me they’re just the same questions and all that’s changed is how they’re categorized, I’m like “no dude, you’re wrong...” Even faculty from these other schools are scratching their heads going “what they heck is this?”

Haha merger, new exam great year to be a DO student. In all seriousness that is insane.

 

[IntheClouds4ever]

COMSAEs are completely useless.. You can't review anything and the score report is so vague and arbitrary depending on how many questions you get on a certain subject.. Stick to UFAP (plus green book: more than a 2-3 day review), do the uworld assessments and you'll be fine for the COMLEX.

 

[Spectreman]

Personally I think there is more OMM integration type questions, and that the curve is much harsher than previously. I don't even think the NBOME really knows what they are doing or how the new scores correlate. Probably why we won't get our real scores until mid July because they are essentially making a new scale.

How is the school supposed to allow students to take it if 70% didn’t hit 450 and they won’t have scores till July after rotations begin? Makes no sense, they’re gonna have to address it sooner.


To be more specific, my friend’s school took the 101, which according to Reddit is the worst of them. My school will take 104A, so we’ll see how that goes. I take mine May 29

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

How is the school supposed to allow students to take it if 70% didn’t hit 450 and they won’t have scores till July after rotations begin? Makes no sense, they’re gonna have to address it sooner.

Our school adjusted and made the cutoff 400. In order to actually sit for COMLEX you have to hit 400 on a COMSAE. They made this determination based off of current class data and previous year's curve (by that I mean if the mean on the class COMSAE was X amount, they have years of data that show the bottom 20% or so are at risk of failing). I really don't think the NBOME will address it at all. They are a clown organization.

To be more specific, my friend’s school took the 101, which according to Reddit is the worst of them. My school will take 104A, so we’ll see how that goes. I take mine May 29

Yeah 101 sucked, I took that one first a few months ago and it wasn't pleasant.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Is there any difference between last years comsae C, D, and E and the ones on the nbome site now? I was under the impression these were the new comsaes.

I’ve never heard of these other comsaes and the y’all are making me nervous.

 

[Espressso]

Is there any difference between last years comsae C, D, and E and the ones on the nbome site now? I was under the impression these were the new comsaes.

I’ve never heard of these other comsaes and the y’all are making me nervous.

Yeah last years C, D, E are the old blueprint (old as in last years). The new blueprint ones are labeled 101, 102, 103. I took 102 about a week before our schools mandetory comsae to make sure I was above the cut off. They had to lower the cut offs down to 350 the week before as well. What a mess.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Oh crap. Why is my school forcing me to take the old ones!?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Oh crap. Why is my school forcing me to take the old ones!?

I didn't even know they were available for schools to do that.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

f it’s a real science question just skip the omm information. It’s useless. Level and the comats are riddled with omm findings in the stems and unless it’s an actual omm question you can just skip the information

You can't do that anymore. They have made it so you often cannot answer the question unless you know the OMM stuff.

I'm not just saying all this because I've been wrecked by the COMSAE's. I've actually done really well, but as a whole the new COMSAEs are destroying entire classes. I did a few of the old ones before they got rid of them and the new ones are harder with OMM the biggest difference.

I'm sure the actual COMLEX is probably exactly like the COMSAE's content/question wise, I don't think anyone is saying that isn't true.

 

[Neopolymath]

Oh crap. Why is my school forcing me to take the old ones!?

My school required COMSAE D immediately after spring break. My school is using a COMBANK FL at the end of the semester. My school has no idea what it is doing.

 

[Neopolymath]

You can't do that anymore. They have made it so you often cannot answer the question unless you know the OMM stuff.

I'm not just saying all this because I've been wrecked by the COMSAE's. I've actually done really well, but as a whole the new COMSAEs are destroying entire classes. I did a few of the old ones before they got rid of them and the new ones are harder with OMM the biggest difference.

I'm sure the actual COMLEX is probably exactly like the COMSAE's content/question wise, I don't think anyone is saying that isn't true.

This is a problem. I have perfected skipping the OMM bull**** written in all the stems that aren't real OMM questions. It's like a quick nap for my brain until the next real sentence

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

My school required COMSAE D immediately after spring break. My school is using a COMBANK FL at the end of the semester. My school has no idea what it is doing.

Wut? COMBANK is garbage....

This is a problem. I have perfected skipping the OMM bull**** written in all the stems that aren't real OMM questions. It's like a quick nap for my brain until the next real sentence

Yeah it's not all of them in the slightest, but the difference between the old forms A/B and 101/102/103 was noticeable IMO.

 

[Neopolymath]

Wut? COMBANK is garbage....


Yeah it's not all of them in the slightest, but the difference between the old forms A/B and 101/102/103 was noticeable IMO.

Tell me about it. I'm sitting at a top, top percentile in that awful thing by just skimming for buzzwords and clicking an answer and moving on. Talk about a waste of time. We have to do half the qbank before summer. You can imagine the rest of this school's policies. I feel so bad for students who are going to get bitchslapped by even the stupid Comlex at my school because they can't even get preparing for that right while telling students they don't give a **** about the USMLE.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Tell me about it. I'm sitting at a top, top percentile in that awful thing by just skimming for buzzwords and clicking an answer and moving on. Talk about a waste of time. We have to do half the qbank before summer. You can imagine the rest of this school's policies. I feel so bad for students who are going to get bitchslapped by even the stupid Comlex at my school because they can't even get preparing for that right while telling students they don't give a **** about the USMLE.

Wow

 

[Ho0v-man]

Well dang. I guess in the end it doesn’t change anything. Prep for step and and cram omm in the few days before. There literally is no other study advice out there so...whatever.

Thanks for the heads up guys/gals

And here I was so proud of my 650. Such a waste of time

 

[phagocytosis41]

Just took my first COMSAE and spent the entire test going WTF or wondering about the drug or microbe name i had never seen before. Ended up with a 515, on NBME’s scoring 230’s with UWORLD finished at 70% timed random so I was really expecting to have done better

Any advice / encouragement?? Is COMLEX similar to the COMSAES? Have a month to go and feeling totally hosed.

I got a 520 I feel your pain, but my UWORLD is way less than you at a 55.

 

[phagocytosis41]

515 on the new COMSAEs is pretty decent actually. The curves are brutal and the tests are complete crapshoots. One week you'll hit 600+ and the next you'll barely break 500. The class average on the school administered COMSAE was 80+ points lower than the one from last year and according to our faculty most schools are seeing the same thing. Basically the NBOME has no idea how to build a predictive practice test. To put that into perspective if anyone broke 500 on the COMSAE they were in the top 15% of the class on the COMSAE lol

I too think the questions on the COMSAEs are terrible and vague. It's like instead of writing a difficult question that probes your knowledge more they simply make things super vague or try and trip you up with weird words in order make the questions harder.

Idk Kinda disappointed I got a 520... I felt UWORLD Didn't even prepare me well. I know path pretty good But still don't know. COMLEX is a dumb exam.

 

[DNC127]

Does anybody know anyone that has taken a new blueprint for COMLEX lv2?

 

[DNC127]

No. Debating doing a comsae as a baseline, but not sure if i should do the new vs. the old. Wanna take one and report back? 😉

I will venmo you 10$ to take one of the new ones

 

[PC89]

Felt more like actual COMLEX with its vague questions and OMM

 

[samac]

Personally I think there is more OMM integration type questions, and that the curve is much harsher than previously. I don't even think the NBOME really knows what they are doing or how the new scores correlate. Probably why we won't get our real scores until mid July because they are essentially making a new scale.

To be fair there’s a longer wait every year with the late May/June tests as they develop the new curve. It’s nothing new.

 

[astronauticaldoc]

How is the school supposed to allow students to take it if 70% didn’t hit 450 and they won’t have scores till July after rotations begin? Makes no sense, they’re gonna have to address it sooner.


To be more specific, my friend’s school took the 101, which according to Reddit is the worst of them. My school will take 104A, so we’ll see how that goes. I take mine May 29

Hey can you post a link to the reddit thread talking about COMSAE 101 or other new 2019 COMSAEs, I've been trying to dig for this information, and I'm having trouble finding it, thanks!

 

[deleted986861]

No one at my school had a problem with the new comsae. Average was in the 520s. Most made above 480
Which is our schools preset passing rate.

 

[Spectreman]

No one at my school had a problem with the new comsae. Average was in the 520s. Most made above 480
Which is our schools preset passing rate.

Did your school tell you your avg? Cause Nova won’t tell us.

 

[deleted986861]

Did your school tell you your avg? Cause Nova won’t tell us.

Personal average was >550, school average from the chart looked around 520s

 

[12jas]

Personal average was >550, school average from the chart looked around 520s

If you are a fourth year why would you have taken the NEW 2019 comsae's? I think you are confused that the people in this thread are talking about the NEW tests not the ones you took last year or the year before that... I highly doubt your school averaged 520 on the NEW 2019 Comsae.

 

[deleted986861]

If you are a fourth year why would you have taken the NEW 2019 comsae's? I think you are confused that the people in this thread are talking about the NEW tests not the ones you took last year or the year before that... I highly doubt your school averaged 520 on the NEW 2019 Comsae.

I just became a fourth year technically. I took a 2019 comsae like 3 weeks ago. Don’t know what the attitude is about dude.

 

[12jas]

I just became a fourth year technically. I took a 2019 comsae like 3 weeks ago. Don’t know what the attitude is about dude.

So you took a Comsae for level 1 as a fourth year?

 

[deleted986861]

So you took a Comsae for level 1 as a fourth year?

Oh I didn’t see in the thread it was just comsae level one no I am talking about level 2, so if we are only talking level one my bad. I will however check on level one for you guys I have buddies in that year and can get you their average on it.

 

[deleted986861]

Sorry it’s been a late response. Found out the class below me averaged 510 on the new comsae for their class.