Official 2015 COMLEX Level 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[FutureDO2016]

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I realized no one made a thread for 2015 so decided to make one. Anyone take the January 6 or 22 test? There's a Feb date coming up soon too. How was it? What did you use to study and would recommend to future test-takers? Anything particularly high-yield? Good luck everyone!

 

[sr612089]

This sounds exactly like my experience! For most part, microbiology was simple. Just a couple of weird questions. Path was okay, but if I could go back in time, I would have done pathoma again. The histology would really throw me off because it is specific and abstract. I would stick to using Comquest for studying, but I found a majority of the question stems to be a few sentences longer on the real thing. This threw my timing way off, since I was usually twenty minutes ahead on Comquest assesments (using 50 questions @ 1 hour) and had time to look over my marked questions. I looked over the marked questions on my first section only, but quickly realized it was a mistake. If I were any of you, I would keep doing Comquest questions, try to get another pass of FA if possible, and watch the Pathoma videos at night. If you learn from questions, then go ahead and do UWorld, but it's not reprsentative of COMLEX.

I agree. If you are running out of time, just do comquest neuro and repro questions. uworld micro questions are sufficient for micro.

 

[OMS398563]

"I hope the same thing happens as last year, and we all get 100+ points back!"

What happened last year and how did the points come back? If someone does fail they have to retake pretty much a month or so after so how would this play out then? After reading about the Step 2 situation I am not sure I trust the AOA to take care of this or even admit that there is a discrepancy.

Thanks,

 

[wooki]

i am going to go against what is being echoed on here. maybe it's because my test was "easier," i don't know. but my test was definitely do-able. it was heavy on the same topics people on here had. there was a good chunk that was "did you see this sentence in firstaid?" and then there were some questions where you actually had to apply your knowledge. the test is definitely doable assuming if you did your due diligence with firstaid and savarese. sure i had some what the hell is that, i've never seen that before, but i just put down an answer and moved on. most of the ones that i was unsure about after the test was more like i learned that at one point, but then forgot it.

biostats and ethics - i only had a few questions on this, not much. i think 5?
biochem - they touched on this topic more than i expected them to. know your childhood disorders and you will be okay.
anatomy - most of it was muculoskeletal. if you do combank and read savarese, it shouldn't be completely brutal.
microbiology - know your bugs, really well. they don't screw around here. if you don't know how to distinguish between 2 bugs you will be screwed because they always put really close choices on there. there was a good chunk of micro on my test.
pharmocology - wasn't as heavily tested as i was led to believe. know your mechanisms for drugs and you will be good.
cardiology - valve defects, heart failure, capillary pressures, and the like.
endocrine - they lumped a lot of this into GU/repro.
neuroanatomy - know your blood supply and what each part of the brain does. before i had my test, people kept telling me that the neuroanatomy was really hard and wasn't in firstaid. it's in there, i know exactly where my questions came from. (doesn't mean i got them right, heh.)
GU and reproductive - just know the whole section in firstaid. everything. maybe a slight emphasis on pathology.
respiratory - there were only a few questions. know your obstructive vs restrictives.

there were definitely other sections covered, but i am drawing a blank right now. study hard. sleep, eat, breathe firstaid and you will do fine. i probably did a good 3 passes of firstaid (more on the sections i struggled with), 1 pass of pathoma, and about 60% completion on combank. my biggest regret was not finishing combank, but i had to really had to sacrifice them to really focus on firstaid. whether that paid off or not, ill know in a month. also, really budget your time well on the test! if you fall behind on your timer, you can sink really fast. i usually finished my combank blocks with 20-25 minutes to go. on the real time, i was usually on time or at most had 8 minutes to go. i didn't take any breaks, except for lunch. i prepped this by doing 3 combank blocks at a time, it really helped.

don't let some of the stuff on here intimidate you. you don't know how efficiently or diligently some people studied. put your best foot forward and study, really really hard.

good luck!

 

[manno]

i am going to go against what is being echoed on here. maybe it's because my test was "easier," i don't know. but my test was definitely do-able. it was heavy on the same topics people on here had. there was a good chunk that was "did you see this sentence in firstaid?" and then there were some questions where you actually had to apply your knowledge. the test is definitely doable assuming if you did your due diligence with firstaid and savarese. sure i had some what the hell is that, i've never seen that before, but i just put down an answer and moved on. most of the ones that i was unsure about after the test was more like i learned that at one point, but then forgot it.

biostats and ethics - i only had a few questions on this, not much. i think 5?
biochem - they touched on this topic more than i expected them to. know your childhood disorders and you will be okay.
anatomy - most of it was muculoskeletal. if you do combank and read savarese, it shouldn't be completely brutal.
microbiology - know your bugs, really well. they don't screw around here. if you don't know how to distinguish between 2 bugs you will be screwed because they always put really close choices on there. there was a good chunk of micro on my test.
pharmocology - wasn't as heavily tested as i was led to believe. know your mechanisms for drugs and you will be good.
cardiology - valve defects, heart failure, capillary pressures, and the like.
endocrine - they lumped a lot of this into GU/repro.
neuroanatomy - know your blood supply and what each part of the brain does. before i had my test, people kept telling me that the neuroanatomy was really hard and wasn't in firstaid. it's in there, i know exactly where my questions came from. (doesn't mean i got them right, heh.)
GU and reproductive - just know the whole section in firstaid. everything. maybe a slight emphasis on pathology.
respiratory - there were only a few questions. know your obstructive vs restrictives.

there were definitely other sections covered, but i am drawing a blank right now. study hard. sleep, eat, breathe firstaid and you will do fine. i probably did a good 3 passes of firstaid (more on the sections i struggled with), 1 pass of pathoma, and about 60% completion on combank. my biggest regret was not finishing combank, but i had to really had to sacrifice them to really focus on firstaid. whether that paid off or not, ill know in a month. also, really budget your time well on the test! if you fall behind on your timer, you can sink really fast. i usually finished my combank blocks with 20-25 minutes to go. on the real time, i was usually on time or at most had 8 minutes to go. i didn't take any breaks, except for lunch. i prepped this by doing 3 combank blocks at a time, it really helped.

don't let some of the stuff on here intimidate you. you don't know how efficiently or diligently some people studied. put your best foot forward and study, really really hard.

good luck!

thanks for the breakdown, my COMLEX is July 7, i agree with you about knowing First Aid. Since i started reading first aid and doing questions my average in the qbanks have gone up. I have taken a coúple of COMSAEs before even looking at first aid and my scores were 353 and 332. I plan to take COMSAE B after going through first aid ones, hopefully i'll see some improvement as with the combanks.

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

i am going to go against what is being echoed on here. maybe it's because my test was "easier," i don't know. but my test was definitely do-able. it was heavy on the same topics people on here had. there was a good chunk that was "did you see this sentence in firstaid?" and then there were some questions where you actually had to apply your knowledge. the test is definitely doable assuming if you did your due diligence with firstaid and savarese. sure i had some what the hell is that, i've never seen that before, but i just put down an answer and moved on. most of the ones that i was unsure about after the test was more like i learned that at one point, but then forgot it.

biostats and ethics - i only had a few questions on this, not much. i think 5?
biochem - they touched on this topic more than i expected them to. know your childhood disorders and you will be okay.
anatomy - most of it was muculoskeletal. if you do combank and read savarese, it shouldn't be completely brutal.
microbiology - know your bugs, really well. they don't screw around here. if you don't know how to distinguish between 2 bugs you will be screwed because they always put really close choices on there. there was a good chunk of micro on my test.
pharmocology - wasn't as heavily tested as i was led to believe. know your mechanisms for drugs and you will be good.
cardiology - valve defects, heart failure, capillary pressures, and the like.
endocrine - they lumped a lot of this into GU/repro.
neuroanatomy - know your blood supply and what each part of the brain does. before i had my test, people kept telling me that the neuroanatomy was really hard and wasn't in firstaid. it's in there, i know exactly where my questions came from. (doesn't mean i got them right, heh.)
GU and reproductive - just know the whole section in firstaid. everything. maybe a slight emphasis on pathology.
respiratory - there were only a few questions. know your obstructive vs restrictives.

there were definitely other sections covered, but i am drawing a blank right now. study hard. sleep, eat, breathe firstaid and you will do fine. i probably did a good 3 passes of firstaid (more on the sections i struggled with), 1 pass of pathoma, and about 60% completion on combank. my biggest regret was not finishing combank, but i had to really had to sacrifice them to really focus on firstaid. whether that paid off or not, ill know in a month. also, really budget your time well on the test! if you fall behind on your timer, you can sink really fast. i usually finished my combank blocks with 20-25 minutes to go. on the real time, i was usually on time or at most had 8 minutes to go. i didn't take any breaks, except for lunch. i prepped this by doing 3 combank blocks at a time, it really helped.

don't let some of the stuff on here intimidate you. you don't know how efficiently or diligently some people studied. put your best foot forward and study, really really hard.

good luck!

Your exam was nothing like mine. Congrats, you got the easy one.

 

[DOFOSHO]

.

 

[abolt18]

Hello. I currently plan on taking USMLE and COMLEX at the end of the month. COMSAE D is in the high 500s. However, I barely know any OMM, even the basics. I can't explain to a dog what OMM is. Is the amount of OMM on the COMLEX comparable to the amount on the COMSAE. I'm planning on just not studying OMM and going in there with a firm grasp of the topics covered in FA. Did about 1.5 passes through Uworld and FA. Am I going to be shocked by the amount of OMM on the current comlex? Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Personally I think this would be foolish considering that OMM makes up 10-20% of the test and it's REALLY easy points with minimal effort. Read savarese cover to cover right after you take the USMLE and memorize chapman's points and viscerosomatics, and you just took your score well into the 600's. In my opinion it would be more worthwhile and more beneficial to spend 2-3 days reviewing OMM for easy points.

 

[abolt18]

Hello. I currently plan on taking USMLE and COMLEX at the end of the month. COMSAE D is in the high 500s. However, I barely know any OMM, even the basics. I can't explain to a dog what OMM is. Is the amount of OMM on the COMLEX comparable to the amount on the COMSAE. I'm planning on just not studying OMM and going in there with a firm grasp of the topics covered in FA. Did about 1.5 passes through Uworld and FA. Am I going to be shocked by the amount of OMM on the current comlex? Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and yes the OMM should be similar to the COMSAEs, except more because there are twice as many blocks.

 

[dfib slim]

Personally I think this would be foolish considering that OMM makes up 10-20% of the test and it's REALLY easy points with minimal effort. Read savarese cover to cover right after you take the USMLE and memorize chapman's points and viscerosomatics, and you just took your score well into the 600's. In my opinion it would be more worthwhile and more beneficial to spend 2-3 days reviewing OMM for easy points.

This is like pulling teeth. I read Savarese and did all the OMM questions in Combank in 1 day. Shouldn't have taken 5 days in between. Can't wait to get this over with tomorrow.

 

[DOFOSHO]

.

 

[manno]

Hello. I currently plan on taking USMLE and COMLEX at the end of the month. COMSAE D is in the high 500s. However, I barely know any OMM, even the basics. I can't explain to a dog what OMM is. Is the amount of OMM on the COMLEX comparable to the amount on the COMSAE. I'm planning on just not studying OMM and going in there with a firm grasp of the topics covered in FA. Did about 1.5 passes through Uworld and FA. Am I going to be shocked by the amount of OMM on the current comlex? Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Well, you may already know that OMM is high yield for the COMLEX, i don't like it but in order to do well on the COMLEX i am studying for it.

 

[MedicalMBA]

i was told, "savarese has tons and tons of mistakes".

Would 2 days of studying omm between usmle and comlex be enough to get the omm points?

Definitely take the time to at least get down the basic high yield stuff for OMM. You can read through savarese in a day and do OMM questions in COMBANK or even in the back of Savarese the next day. The exam is officially supposed to be around 20% OMM questions so I would say it would be irresponsible to go in there with no OMM knowledge, especially since most people say the OMM is free points if you know your basics. Two days should be plenty for you to get most of the OMM questions right. Focus on diagnosing different dysfunctions (cranial, thoracic/lumbar, sacrum, innominates), treating ribs, and the viscerosomatic reflexes/facilitation levels and chapman's points. Savarese has a great section on this. I would say these are probably the most high yield based on the COMSAEs.

Goodluck!

 

[MirrorTodd]

Finally read through the entire thread and I hope that I got the more difficult of the tests because I don't feel good about it at all. Thinking back on it, I'd say that I felt far more sure of questions on forms C and D versus the comlex that I took last week.

 

[Elevencents]

Your exam was nothing like mine. Congrats, you got the easy one.

I don't understand. Aren't you being graded based on the form you take so it shouldn't matter if it's easy or hard?

 

[DOFOSHO]

.

 

[blastoff]

You are the man for this! Thanks! Hopefully more people on the forum can also elaborate on what their comlex experience was like. I know I certainly will after i take this beast. From what i gathered there are 2 formats going around. Theres the harder one that has a lot of questions not in first aid with long question stems and the other one is the one you just posted about.

i am going to go against what is being echoed on here. maybe it's because my test was "easier," i don't know. but my test was definitely do-able. it was heavy on the same topics people on here had. there was a good chunk that was "did you see this sentence in firstaid?" and then there were some questions where you actually had to apply your knowledge. the test is definitely doable assuming if you did your due diligence with firstaid and savarese. sure i had some what the hell is that, i've never seen that before, but i just put down an answer and moved on. most of the ones that i was unsure about after the test was more like i learned that at one point, but then forgot it.

biostats and ethics - i only had a few questions on this, not much. i think 5?
biochem - they touched on this topic more than i expected them to. know your childhood disorders and you will be okay.
anatomy - most of it was muculoskeletal. if you do combank and read savarese, it shouldn't be completely brutal.
microbiology - know your bugs, really well. they don't screw around here. if you don't know how to distinguish between 2 bugs you will be screwed because they always put really close choices on there. there was a good chunk of micro on my test.
pharmocology - wasn't as heavily tested as i was led to believe. know your mechanisms for drugs and you will be good.
cardiology - valve defects, heart failure, capillary pressures, and the like.
endocrine - they lumped a lot of this into GU/repro.
neuroanatomy - know your blood supply and what each part of the brain does. before i had my test, people kept telling me that the neuroanatomy was really hard and wasn't in firstaid. it's in there, i know exactly where my questions came from. (doesn't mean i got them right, heh.)
GU and reproductive - just know the whole section in firstaid. everything. maybe a slight emphasis on pathology.
respiratory - there were only a few questions. know your obstructive vs restrictives.

there were definitely other sections covered, but i am drawing a blank right now. study hard. sleep, eat, breathe firstaid and you will do fine. i probably did a good 3 passes of firstaid (more on the sections i struggled with), 1 pass of pathoma, and about 60% completion on combank. my biggest regret was not finishing combank, but i had to really had to sacrifice them to really focus on firstaid. whether that paid off or not, ill know in a month. also, really budget your time well on the test! if you fall behind on your timer, you can sink really fast. i usually finished my combank blocks with 20-25 minutes to go. on the real time, i was usually on time or at most had 8 minutes to go. i didn't take any breaks, except for lunch. i prepped this by doing 3 combank blocks at a time, it really helped.

don't let some of the stuff on here intimidate you. you don't know how efficiently or diligently some people studied. put your best foot forward and study, really really hard.

good luck!

 

[MedicalMBA]

Thanks for the advice. What COMBANK score for omm questions is a good indicator for success on COMLEX omm questions. Just took a 50 question omm test on COMBANK and got 76%, national average was 73%.

Also, your status is premed. Is the advice you're giving me based on your own experience as a medical student (and you've just forgot to update your status) or is your advice based on what you've read on SDN?

Thanks for pointing that out. I forgot to change it. I am a medical student although I haven't taken the COMLEX yet. That's a pretty good average for not studying OMM at all. You obviously have a good foundation. I still think you should look through savarese for the topics I mentioned. It will be more high yield than anything else you could do between your USMLE and COMLEX aside from brushing up on micro and pharm nuances.

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

IMHO when people say that this or that is high yield and they haven't taken the real exam yet, they have no clue what they are talking about. The real exam is nothing like the Comsae. I took 2, I also did comquest and some combank. My quest avg is ~70%. The real exam is nothing like anything we have seen. 90% of my OMM was not in Sev and there were tons of q's that is not in first aid.

 

[MedicalMBA]

IMHO when people say that this or that is high yield and they haven't taken the real exam yet, they have no clue what they are talking about. The real exam is nothing like the Comsae. I took 2, I also did comquest and some combank. My quest avg is ~70%. The real exam is nothing like anything we have seen. 90% of my OMM was not in Sev and there were tons of q's that is not in first aid.

I'm sorry you had such an awful experience with the COMLEX. Obviously it doesn't seem fair that some people get easier forms than others, just have to hope the curves will even everything out. I understand why you are so frustrated and am I sure many of us will be in that position soon enough. But either way, all any of us can do is study the most "high yield" topics as possible. This is the most efficient way to study and we really have no other choice. Keep your head up and trust that the curve will work everything out. Enjoy your post-boards time, you are officially a free man!

 

[dfib slim]

Just took this thing today. A good amount of WTF questions but a lot of the time the answers were set up to where you could get it correct through process of elimination. About 1/3 OMM not in directly in Savarese but stuff you might remember from class or reason through. Timing was definitely not an issue, I think I finished 2 hours early. I basically only studied UWorld, First Aid, and Pathoma. Took the USMLE first then read Savarese, watched those YouTube videos on autonomics and Chapman's points, and did the OMM questions in Combank. 5 days was too long IMO, 3 should be enough in between both exams.
UWorld ave - 79%
Combank assessment #1 - 91%
Comsae D - 732
Combank assessment #2 - 95%
Good luck to those still on deck.

 

[blastoff]

Just took this thing today. A good amount of WTF questions but a lot of the time the answers were set up to where you could get it correct through process of elimination. About 1/3 OMM not in directly in Savarese but stuff you might remember from class or reason through. Timing was definitely not an issue, I think I finished 2 hours early. I basically only studied UWorld, First Aid, and Pathoma. Took the USMLE first then read Savarese, watched those YouTube videos on autonomics and Chapman's points, and did the OMM questions in Combank. 5 days was too long IMO, 3 should be enough in between both exams.
UWorld ave - 79%
Combank assessment #1 - 91%
Comsae D - 732
Combank assessment #2 - 95%
Good luck to those still on deck.

Did you have the test with a lot of cardio and repro? Also were there a lot of chapman point questions? Heard the questions they ask are not covered in that video.

 

[abolt18]

Just took this thing today. A good amount of WTF questions but a lot of the time the answers were set up to where you could get it correct through process of elimination. About 1/3 OMM not in directly in Savarese but stuff you might remember from class or reason through. Timing was definitely not an issue, I think I finished 2 hours early. I basically only studied UWorld, First Aid, and Pathoma. Took the USMLE first then read Savarese, watched those YouTube videos on autonomics and Chapman's points, and did the OMM questions in Combank. 5 days was too long IMO, 3 should be enough in between both exams.
UWorld ave - 79%
Combank assessment #1 - 91%
Comsae D - 732
Combank assessment #2 - 95%
Good luck to those still on deck.

I have no doubt you killed it. Did it seem comparable to the COMSAE or COMBANK assessments?

 

[dfib slim]

.

 

[dfib slim]

I have no doubt you killed it. Did it seem comparable to the COMSAE or COMBANK assessments?

For the most part. Definitely felt more like educated guessing with some gimmies and WTF questions. A lot of questions where two of the answers are very similar and the rest have nothing to do with the question.

 

[MedicalMBA]

Just took this thing today. A good amount of WTF questions but a lot of the time the answers were set up to where you could get it correct through process of elimination. About 1/3 OMM not in directly in Savarese but stuff you might remember from class or reason through. Timing was definitely not an issue, I think I finished 2 hours early. I basically only studied UWorld, First Aid, and Pathoma. Took the USMLE first then read Savarese, watched those YouTube videos on autonomics and Chapman's points, and did the OMM questions in Combank. 5 days was too long IMO, 3 should be enough in between both exams.
UWorld ave - 79%
Combank assessment #1 - 91%
Comsae D - 732
Combank assessment #2 - 95%
Good luck to those still on deck.

Thanks for the feedback! How did you find the Combank assessments? Trying to figure out if I want to just do qbank questions in Combank/Comquest between usmle and comlex or assessments.

 

[blastoff]

Thanks for the feedback! How did you find the Combank assessments? Trying to figure out if I want to just do qbank questions in Combank/Comquest between usmle and comlex or assessments.

for what its worth my plan of attack is finish uworld first as a number one priority and get at least 75% combank done towards the end. Also take comsaes just to get in the mode of testing and for the timing. Read that comsaes correlate about 70% percent of what your comlex score look like. Comsae D being the obvious most resembling to the actual one.

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

732 on COMSAE? Are you a robot? You make us seem like minions next to you. Obviously time isn't an issue for a 732er. Good luck!

 

[dfib slim]

Thanks for the feedback! How did you find the Combank assessments? Trying to figure out if I want to just do qbank questions in Combank/Comquest between usmle and comlex or assessments.

Eh, I thought they were too easy compared to the real deal. Felt like those assessments were like 80-90% gimmies if you knew your stuff using UFAP whereas comlex was like 50-60%. All three of those assessments were mandatory class administered so I didn't have to pay for them. I'd just do the OMM questions in combank if I had to pay for the others. I never said to myself I got this question right from doing those combank assessments.

 

[RwnSOM]

Eh, I thought they were too easy compared to the real deal. Felt like those assessments were like 80-90% gimmies if you knew your stuff using UFAP whereas comlex was like 50-60%. All three of those assessments were mandatory class administered so I didn't have to pay for them. I'd just do the OMM questions in combank if I had to pay for the others. I never said to myself I got this question right from doing those combank assessments.

How would you say the COMLEX compared to the COMSAEs, such as COMSAE D?

 

[Oncolizumab1]

I took it yesterday. I didn't think it was awful, but there definitely were some headscratchers. Similar to COMSAE, but there were many more questions not in savarese or FA

 

[dfib slim]

How would you say the COMLEX compared to the COMSAEs, such as COMSAE D?

Only took COMSAE D. The COMLEX had much more WTF questions and longer stems that you had to read. On the COMSAE, more often then not, I could just read the last sentence of the stem and get the question right. Most of the time on the COMLEX I had to skim the whole question to get the info I needed.

 

[tarheel0711]

I usually try to avoid posting on here but kinda down to the wire and just wanted to get input from those that have taken the COMLEX. Is it worth buying a 1 month subscription to COMQUEST, just for some variety in between my USMLE and COMLEX dates or just stick with Uworld and COMBANK. I've finished COMBANK and am working my way through Uworld again and am just trying to see if its worth getting another COMLEX resource just to brush up on it before the COMLEX. I will have 5 days in between my USMLE and COMLEX. Thanks!

Also, for the people that apparently took this beast mode COMLEX this year, did you feel like Uworld helped (if you were prepping for USMLE) or is it completely different from the USMLE level type stuff.

 

[abolt18]

Took this today, wasn't all that bad, at least not compared to the USMLE. Most of it was very straightforward. They definitely got me on some of that neuro pharm though (probably my weakest area). While there were some questions I just had no clue, guessed, and moved on, I felt like the majority were really pretty superficial and straightforward. For example (and this is a made-up example so as to not be breaking any rules), they give you a scenario for an ovarian mass, and rather than having to choose between types of cancers based on histology, you have to choose between "ovarian tumor" and 4 other things that couldn't even come close to fitting the scenario. A lot of my anatomy questions were that way too. 3 of the answers couldn't possibly be correct because they weren't in the same area of the body, and the other just didn't fit the function they described.

TONS of neuro, I mean I felt like there was a TON compared to my USMLE. A lot of women's health/repro stuff too. I had zero audio and zero video. Genetics was very basic. Biochem was focused on key enzymes/cofactors/products in disease processes, but I had a good amount of it. Pharm was very straightforward out of first aid, but they definitely tested all aspects of drugs, from toxicities, to MOA, indication/contraindications. So basically any pharm I missed is because I just didn't remember (always my weakest keeping all those little details straight), not because it was some crazy hard question. Biostats were very basic (maybe 2-3 questions). I don't even remember having to look at any graphs or charts, while I felt like every third question on the USMLE had some graph to interpret.

OMM was straightforward if you 1)do all the COMBANK OMM questions, 2)memorize the youtube videos for viscerosomatics and chapman's, and 3)read Savarese (and don't overlook the little details in that book. There are a lot of gems for pathophysiology of some MSK disorders as well as anatomical relationships of muscles, nerves, and vessels).

USMLE was Monday, 2 days in between, then COMLEX today. It was more than enough time to review Savarese and do COMBANK's questions.
COMSAEs A, B, C, were 566, 555, and 642.
UWorld Avg 73% timed random (had about 150 questions leftover I didn't finish)

Now, I will go enjoy my 4 weeks off. Good luck to anyone about to take it.

 

[mawdoc1989]

Just started the USMLE side of COMBANK and scoring freaking lower thank I did with U World. Took NBME 15 two weeks ago and made a 215, which I was cool with at the time because I had plenty of days left until COMLEX and step 1. Kinda freaking out that I'm doing so badly on COMBANK. I had planned on just doing a lot of questions until COMLEX (12 days), but now I don't know what the heck to do. I feel like I'm getting dumber by the minute ha ha.

Open to any suggestion besides taking any more COMSAEs and NBMEs. I feel like the boards are a big money racket, and I was irate whenever I paid an extra ten bucks on the NBME and didn't get to see the right answers. Neither organization will get another cent out of me until I have to take part 2! Luckily I didn't have to pay for COMSAE D, school did that 😉. Oh and I made a 475 on that one, but it was over a month ago. Just added that in so anyone with advice knows exactly where I stand.

Thanks in advance! I apologize for the agitated tone. I'm just so over feeling like a big dummy lol.

 

[Cardio_4_Life]

Took the real deal today. It was a completely different animal than the comsaes. There were so many random questions that weren't covered in UFAP + COMQUEST/COMBANK.

Questions were WAY WAY longer than any of the banks. I never have trouble with timing and I was using it down to the last minute today. I was shocked at how many of the questions I was really torn up about.

I don't feel good about it at all. Comsae average was 672. Last one I took was a 728. I honestly feel like I got a 550 today. Hopefully I'm just exaggerating and remembering the ones that really stuck out to me, but it feels like there were a bunch.

Good luck to all that have yet to take it. I'm glad I can focus on USMLE now.

 

[Elevencents]

Took the real deal today. It was a completely different animal than the comsaes. There were so many random questions that weren't covered in UFAP + COMQUEST/COMBANK.

Questions were WAY WAY longer than any of the banks. I never have trouble with timing and I was using it down to the last minute today. I was shocked at how many of the questions I was really torn up about.

I don't feel good about it at all. Comsae average was 672. Last one I took was a 728. I honestly feel like I got a 550 today. Hopefully I'm just exaggerating and remembering the ones that really stuck out to me, but it feels like there were a bunch.

Good luck to all that have yet to take it. I'm glad I can focus on USMLE now.

You honestly think you scored 200 points lower than your last COMSAE?

 

[Cardio_4_Life]

I feel really bad about the exam, but hopefully a bunch of the ridiculous questions were "test" questions that don't count.

I'm probably over reacting to an extent, but it was absolutely BRUTAL.

 

[MedicalMBA]

Yeah, it really seems like there are two ridiculously different forms out there. You were obviously killing your COMSAEs so you had the right prep and knowledge going in. Who knows hopefully there are just a lot of test questions and we just have to trust in the curve.
Thanks for everyone coming back and writing up something about their test. Let's keep it going!

 

[abolt18]

I would say I agree that it seemed nothing like the COMSAEs, UWorld, or the USMLE. It was an odd feeling test the whole time.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

Took this today, wasn't all that bad, at least not compared to the USMLE. Most of it was very straightforward. They definitely got me on some of that neuro pharm though (probably my weakest area). While there were some questions I just had no clue, guessed, and moved on, I felt like the majority were really pretty superficial and straightforward. For example (and this is a made-up example so as to not be breaking any rules), they give you a scenario for an ovarian mass, and rather than having to choose between types of cancers based on histology, you have to choose between "ovarian tumor" and 4 other things that couldn't even come close to fitting the scenario. A lot of my anatomy questions were that way too. 3 of the answers couldn't possibly be correct because they weren't in the same area of the body, and the other just didn't fit the function they described.

TONS of neuro, I mean I felt like there was a TON compared to my USMLE. A lot of women's health/repro stuff too. I had zero audio and zero video. Genetics was very basic. Biochem was focused on key enzymes/cofactors/products in disease processes, but I had a good amount of it. Pharm was very straightforward out of first aid, but they definitely tested all aspects of drugs, from toxicities, to MOA, indication/contraindications. So basically any pharm I missed is because I just didn't remember (always my weakest keeping all those little details straight), not because it was some crazy hard question. Biostats were very basic (maybe 2-3 questions). I don't even remember having to look at any graphs or charts, while I felt like every third question on the USMLE had some graph to interpret.

OMM was straightforward if you 1)do all the COMBANK OMM questions, 2)memorize the youtube videos for viscerosomatics and chapman's, and 3)read Savarese (and don't overlook the little details in that book. There are a lot of gems for pathophysiology of some MSK disorders as well as anatomical relationships of muscles, nerves, and vessels).

USMLE was Monday, 2 days in between, then COMLEX today. It was more than enough time to review Savarese and do COMBANK's questions.
COMSAEs A, B, C, were 566, 555, and 642.
UWorld Avg 73% timed random (had about 150 questions leftover I didn't finish)

Now, I will go enjoy my 4 weeks off. Good luck to anyone about to take it.

Good luck, man.

I remember reading your posts when you were applying to med schools. Seems like you aced the test. I'm truly rooting for you.

Remember to come back and update us with your score. We need the encouragement 🙂

 

[DrEndurance334]

Anyone else care to share their experiences? It sounds like there are "two forms"... one old (heavy in Micro/Neuro/Anat/OMM + 1 other random one) and one new one (heavy in lots of WTF questions and also breast path/repro).

I just took COMLEX level 1 this past Wednesday (2 days ago)- I felt extremely prepared going into it with absolutely no doubts about passing- I passed COMSAE D a month before and got a 540 on an 8 hour practice Qbank test provided by our school- I got a 201 on a Uworld assessment 2 weeks before (not taking USMLE until June 22)- however, I felt like I failed after the test.

It seems like I had a similar experience to many people posting on here. My test was EXTREMELY neuro heavy (mostly blood supply), with the remainder being micro, repro, and GI, and a tiny bit of cardio sprinkled in. The pharm was psych/neuro heavy. The question stems were long with a lot of unnecessary distractors and I found myself running short on time which never happened even when I was using UWORLD. Even the OMM questions were worded very strange and unnecessarily tricky. Lots of cranial.

A couple of my classmates I have talked to who have already taken it have had similar experiences. One of my classmates actually talked to one of our D.O. professors, who said there are 15 tests used- so I'm not sure that the whole 2 test thing is true, it may be true there are 2 formats and within those formats there are multiple tests.

Hope that was helpful for anyone. Good luck to those who still need to take it and know your neuro.

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

I think there are two exams, and many versions within those two exams. I love my rotations, but I can't stop thinking about the comlex and my fear of failure.

 

[EmergDoc2B]

Just finished with COMLEX yesterday. My 2 cents.
The 2 test theory doesnt seem to hold water I think its more mixing and matching of questions to create similar but obviously different exams.
So:
UW random timed (I only did random timed) first time % 67
UW second pass random timed 90%
UW 1 assessment 230
UW 2 assessment 232
Comsae D 540
Comsae C 628
Comsae B 650
Comsae A 587
School provided 8 hour 400 question Commbank exam 670
Commbank OMM side 71% (89% completed) I used this as my subject specific questions during 2nd year so Im not sure the percent means anything significant. I just added it to be complete.
Commbank form A 88th percentile (no 3 digit equivalent waste of time and money)
NBME 13 207
NBME 11 228
NBME 12 228
NBME 15 234
My exam:
Was heavy on OMM. May seems like a no brainer but I wasnt expecting > 30% and thats what it felt like. As reported above the stems were daunting and time consuming and there was no skip to the end and get what the question was asking. You had to be engaged understand multiple diagnoses with the patient and then answer convoluted questions based on that stem. I did have several straight forward sacral and thoracic DX but even those were worded in sux a way that if you doubted yourself you were hosed.

Cardio: straight forward EKG's one weird one but nothing horrendous.

Neuro: Very heavy but it was vascular business as mention above and thats my jam so I felt like they were know it or dont style questions based on a classic presentation of symptoms. Where is the patient numb, tingling and where are the sensory defects and motor defects ect. There were a couple of spinal presentations that were mind benders due to the awkward presentation of a classic disease process.

Path/immuno: these were combined a lot on my test. It was subtle and until mentioned to me I wasnt even aware thats how the stems were written. 🙂
It was CD markers, histo of sections asking whether it was cancer or infection.

Micro: I had 2 out of your ass type bugs but one had a clue in the name of the bug that I feel tipped you off to the answer so I would read carefully and if all else fails go with the latin meaning. I also had some very crappy, blurry micro pics of bugs that made the DX more difficult and stressful that need be.

Biochem: on my exam was a joke. there was a TCA cycle question and Urea cycle question and it was just asking did you memorize the cycles, period.

Pharm: Again it was straight forward. I did have an pic that asked about physiology of psych drugs. No group of drugs was more represented than others, I felt. I struggle with with psych drugs so I feel like I remembered those questions more so keep that in mind.

All in all I felt like **** when I left. I was shooting for a 600+ and will be happy to pass. I felt like commbank OMM questions were childs play in comparison to the real thing and savarese is an antiquated POS. Not a single thing we have to prepare ourselves is at the level of the real exam. Its unfortunate because we pay a lot of money to get close but in regard to omm nothing out there compares. Uworld is the bees knees for the hard sciences and if you do well on Uworld then the concepts for comlex are free points. The rub is the questions are purposely vague and leave you picking between two decent answers 50% of the time and then its a question of whether you have balls that clank or are you wishy washy and if you're the latter your hosed. Last thing I would advise would be if youre a coffee drinker get youre buzz on early and use red bull and skip the coffee. I went in and my first two blocks were tough and I felt mentally sluggish. I was also in shock possibly LOL. At lunch I slammed a red bull and went back in and felt the rest of the test was much less of a grind. I wish all of you still prepping for comlex the very best. Build your confidence, trust yourself and dont change an answer unless you have an epiphany with angels singing with shiny lights ect.

Im reloading and taking the USMLE this thursday.

DFS

 

[manno]

Just finished with COMLEX yesterday. My 2 cents.
The 2 test theory doesnt seem to hold water I think its more mixing and matching of questions to create similar but obviously different exams.
So:
UW random timed (I only did random timed) first time % 67
UW second pass random timed 90%
UW 1 assessment 230
UW 2 assessment 232
Comsae D 540
Comsae C 628
Comsae B 650
Comsae A 587
School provided 8 hour 400 question Commbank exam 670
Commbank OMM side 71% (89% completed) I used this as my subject specific questions during 2nd year so Im not sure the percent means anything significant. I just added it to be complete.
Commbank form A 88th percentile (no 3 digit equivalent waste of time and money)
NBME 13 207
NBME 11 228
NBME 12 228
NBME 15 234
My exam:
Was heavy on OMM. May seems like a no brainer but I wasnt expecting > 30% and thats what it felt like. As reported above the stems were daunting and time consuming and there was no skip to the end and get what the question was asking. You had to be engaged understand multiple diagnoses with the patient and then answer convoluted questions based on that stem. I did have several straight forward sacral and thoracic DX but even those were worded in sux a way that if you doubted yourself you were hosed.

Cardio: straight forward EKG's one weird one but nothing horrendous.

Neuro: Very heavy but it was vascular business as mention above and thats my jam so I felt like they were know it or dont style questions based on a classic presentation of symptoms. Where is the patient numb, tingling and where are the sensory defects and motor defects ect. There were a couple of spinal presentations that were mind benders due to the awkward presentation of a classic disease process.

Path/immuno: these were combined a lot on my test. It was subtle and until mentioned to me I wasnt even aware thats how the stems were written. 🙂
It was CD markers, histo of sections asking whether it was cancer or infection.

Micro: I had 2 out of your ass type bugs but one had a clue in the name of the bug that I feel tipped you off to the answer so I would read carefully and if all else fails go with the latin meaning. I also had some very crappy, blurry micro pics of bugs that made the DX more difficult and stressful that need be.

Biochem: on my exam was a joke. there was a TCA cycle question and Urea cycle question and it was just asking did you memorize the cycles, period.

Pharm: Again it was straight forward. I did have an pic that asked about physiology of psych drugs. No group of drugs was more represented than others, I felt. I struggle with with psych drugs so I feel like I remembered those questions more so keep that in mind.

All in all I felt like **** when I left. I was shooting for a 600+ and will be happy to pass. I felt like commbank OMM questions were childs play in comparison to the real thing and savarese is an antiquated POS. Not a single thing we have to prepare ourselves is at the level of the real exam. Its unfortunate because we pay a lot of money to get close but in regard to omm nothing out there compares. Uworld is the bees knees for the hard sciences and if you do well on Uworld then the concepts for comlex are free points. The rub is the questions are purposely vague and leave you picking between two decent answers 50% of the time and then its a question of whether you have balls that clank or are you wishy washy and if you're the latter your hosed. Last thing I would advise would be if youre a coffee drinker get youre buzz on early and use red bull and skip the coffee. I went in and my first two blocks were tough and I felt mentally sluggish. I was also in shock possibly LOL. At lunch I slammed a red bull and went back in and felt the rest of the test was much less of a grind. I wish all of you still prepping for comlex the very best. Build your confidence, trust yourself and dont change an answer unless you have an epiphany with angels singing with shiny lights ect.

Im reloading and taking the USMLE this thursday.

DFS

thanks for the breakdown. The 8 hour COMBANK assessment has new questions or the questions are the same ones on the Qbank. Thanks

 

[EmergDoc2B]

supposedly it was new questions not from the qbank but I saw questions I had marked in the exam. It was only useful for getting an idea of what it was like to sit for 6.5 hours. But if I had to do all over I would have just made an exam out of all my incorrects.

 

[AtlasCarraway]

Taking the COMLEX on Wednesday. Feeling okay about it, but after taking USMLE on Saturday I have absolutely zero motivation to study.

COMSAE A (5/17/2015): 543
COMSAE B (6/7/2015): 617
COMSAE C (6/15/2015): 628

"Healthcare Delivery Issues" has had my number on all three tests, and I need to improve my OMM section scores too. Going to spend tonight on viscerosomatics and Chapman's points, and then take tomorrow off. I would be ecstatic with a 700+.

 

[blastoff]

Taking the COMLEX on Wednesday. Feeling okay about it, but after taking USMLE on Saturday I have absolutely zero motivation to study.

COMSAE A (5/17/2015): 543
COMSAE B (6/7/2015): 617
COMSAE C (6/15/2015): 628

"Healthcare Delivery Issues" has had my number on all three tests, and I need to improve my OMM section scores too. Going to spend tonight on viscerosomatics and Chapman's points, and then take tomorrow off. I would be ecstatic with a 700+.

Best of luck! Come back and tell us how it went.

 

[Mabus3]

Took the comlex a few days ago. I took form D in may and got a 580. I took the usmle 3 days before the comlex so I didn't take any more comsae tests or any comlex specific qbanks. Lot of pharm neuro and micro. I had about 4 questions about the same exact bug in the same exact scenerio. Thought that was kind of weird. But the stems were pretty long and way more wtf questions.

 

[Mabus3]

Worst part is having to take scheduled breaks unlike the usmle where you can break between whatever block and extra time rolls into break time

 

[MedicalMBA]

If you finish a Comlex block early is that time lost or is it added to break time/another block?