Official 2017 Comlex Level 2 CE Experiences and Scores Thread

[Mdincorporated]

lets do this! For those who have taken it, any tips or advice on what you used and worked?

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[Dannyboy676]

There's not, although for level 1 I took B, D, and then E a week before the test and E happened to be 3 points off of my real score. They are all bs questions anyway, so all it really does is let you know if you'll probably pass.

I scored pretty low on the one I took two months ago... so not something to be stressed about?


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[jrlob91]

I scored pretty low on the one I took two months ago... so not something to be stressed about?


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2 months is an eternity. I would probably focus more on your knowledge base, and not be stressed out. I think Comsaes are good for question format and simulation of real exam timing (50 per "block"), but for the most part doing 400 COMBANK questions or USMLE questions in a row will be far more beneficial. Comsaes also are useless because it's impossible to quantify your score at all because there's no real breakdown of scoring. Basically, don't worry about it. Our school makes us take D and get a 450 at least 5 days before our exam because i guess there's no way you do 50 points worse on the real thing.

 

[Dannyboy676]

2 months is an eternity. I would probably focus more on your knowledge base, and not be stressed out. I think Comsaes are good for question format and simulation of real exam timing (50 per "block"), but for the most part doing 400 COMBANK questions or USMLE questions in a row will be far more beneficial. Comsaes also are useless because it's impossible to quantify your score at all because there's no real breakdown of scoring. Basically, don't worry about it. Our school makes us take D and get a 450 at least 5 days before our exam because i guess there's no way you do 50 points worse on the real thing.

I really need to buckle down and do 8 sets of uW straight sometime soon.


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[MelMcT2009]

There's not, although for level 1 I took B, D, and then E a week before the test and E happened to be 3 points off of my real score. They are all bs questions anyway, so all it really does is let you know if you'll probably pass.

Haha E was three points off for mine as well!

 

[jrlob91]

Haha E was three points off for mine as well!

Maybe there's some relevance to that exam specifically haha

 

[BCDO2018]

Do you know of any resources where I can find the answers to COMSAE form D? Thanks!

 

[Elevencents]

Most poorly written test I have ever taken. Puts COMLEX 1 to shame. I thought COMQUEST tested your knowledge and reasoning ability as a future physician 100x better than this...thing. Couldn't give you an accurate prediction of my score within 100 points.

For those wondering - 1/4 ethics, 1/4 Peds, 1/4 ECGs (didn't even really need to read the ECG for half of them) and 1/4 close your eyes and pick an answer.

 

[tbone1430]

Took the beast today. Basically peds and obgyn with a few cardio, pulm, and neuro mixed in. And of course they had to throw in some wtf questions just for fun. Little background of what I did previous:
Mtb, first aid, and savarese were the books I stuck to. Did combank around 70% average whole way through. Took Comsae A three weeks ago and got a 550 so we will see. Good luck everyone!

 

[rogue_2]

Took COMSAE D on Friday, got a 442, took COMSAE A today, got a 430. And my test is tomorrow. 62% done with COMBANK (first pass) with a 67.3% average, and on my second pass of UW (using it mostly for USMLE). I am officially terrified. And my COMLEX I was a 515

 

[KP2AZ]

Took COMSAE D on Friday, got a 442, took COMSAE A today, got a 430. And my test is tomorrow. 62% done with COMBANK (first pass) with a 67.3% average, and on my second pass of UW (using it mostly for USMLE). I am officially terrified. And my COMLEX I was a 515

The Good news is that the COMSAE's aren't that good at predicting scores. Good luck tomorrow, and try to remain calm!

 

[KP2AZ]

I took 'The Beast' yesterday. For the most part the test was as expected based on what everyone else has been saying so far. OBYN, Peds, OMM, Ethics. Lets just hope the curve on Ethics questions are favorable, since none of us are lawyers? Last Comsae 1 week before the test was 550's, so hopefully I'm at least over a 500 on the real deal...but the score could literally be anywhere from 400 to 600.

 

[Back 5]

How well would you say that UWORLD Cardio prepared you for the real COMLEX Cardio? I guess it's safe to ask, generally, if UWORLD prepared you enough for COMLEX 2?

 

[ekomkar]

Took the exam yesterday, and not sure how exactly I feel. Way too long, with with way too many videos and a lot of imagining. Plus sooooo many biostat!I mean really? Is this COMLEX??? Nothing prepares you for this exam sadly. Comquest questions are way too nice. COmbank atleast has some crappy wording like the COMLEX, so I guess its a little better, but nothing is as worse as this one. And the problem is not just with the question stem, its the answer choices. I think at least by doing U world one learns the concepts well. I had only done about 50% of it, in targeted subject blocks and thought it was helpful. Also, I never had timing problems in any of my COMSAEs or Practice blocks, but I was really rushing through this one. Barely finishing, and had no time to go over my marked answers. May be its just me...but thats how I felt.

 

[ekomkar]

How well would you say that UWORLD Cardio prepared you for the real COMLEX Cardio? I guess it's safe to ask, generally, if UWORLD prepared you enough for COMLEX 2?

Yes, please do U world cardio. Thats the only way I could apply my brain to answer questions. For most questions there were audio auscultation findings ( nothing hard though), and none of the comlex qbanks really prepare you for that. I think you would just feel more confident in choosing the right answers with that and not waste time.

 

[KP2AZ]

Yes, please do U world cardio. Thats the only way I could apply my brain to answer questions. For most questions there were audio auscultation findings ( nothing hard though), and none of the comlex qbanks really prepare you for that. I think you would just feel more confident in choosing the right answers with that and not waste time.

Agreed on that. There was oddly quite a bit of cardio and some strange EKG's that didn't come up in Comquest or OME, but only once on UW.

 

[Dannyboy676]

Anyone have a good resource for ekg's and heart sounds?
I'm not good at interpreting them quickly yet.
Test is in 16 days, done with uW first round tomorrow then doing marked/incorrect, obgyn again, omm savarese notes, peds step up2ck, onlinemeded notes


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[ekomkar]

Anyone have a good resource for ekg's and heart sounds?
I'm not good at interpreting them quickly yet.
Test is in 16 days, done with uW first round tomorrow then doing marked/incorrect, obgyn again, omm savarese notes, peds step up2ck, onlinemeded notes


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Don't worry, if you are doing STEPup2CK, it is good. Just Memorize those EKGs well. Glance that lecture a day before. For heart sound, they are very obvious. Recognizing is not a problem, most are second order questions.

 

[King1111]

Hey guys, I take my exam July 5th and was wondering if anyone had any advice on areas they wish they would have reviewed or spent more time on from the topics and questions they saw on their exams and any insight into images (xray ct path or disease presentations ) that appeared on the exam would be great! thanks!

 

[masterofnone101]

Can someone also shed light on how to prepare for the Ethics and Biostats? I understand ethics is random - but any good source? And is First Aid OK for Biostats???

 

[Chillywilly]

Wow! I don't even know what I just took.

25-30% biostats , law and ethics that were not straightforward and most of the time I was blindly guessing.

OBGYN , Peds and cardio and neuro heavy wth some respiratory. Very straightforward for the most part with some vague questions as well. All the other subjects were sparse.

OMM was very straightforward, I felt like I over studied.

the multi part questions at the end of each block were especially vague.

I swear if I end up with a crappy score it's because of the law and biostats . It sucks that you study so hard and these are type of questions you get. Lots and lots of audio and poor quality imaging.

There's really nothing that can prepare you for biostats and the ethics/law questions. I even felt Uworld questions were easier than what I just took for those questions.

 

[masterofnone101]

Were the biostats calculations using basic formulas from First Aid or knowing terms like the type of bias, etc? Just trying to figure out how to best tackle the biostats. Ethics is a crapshoot.

 

[King1111]

Were images mostly EKG and chest xrays or pathology histology slides.

on biostats, where the charts already up for sensitivity and specificity or do we have to do it all? and is it more calculation based on interpreting results given in word format, like the outcome of the studies? i have no clue how i should even try to review this stuff

 

[KP2AZ]

NBOME | Score Release Information

Don't know if it was already posted, but here is the time table for score release dates for Level 2 (and level 1). Why in the world does it take so much longer to get back level 2 scores?!? I'm wondering if after this cycle of tests (June 14-July 5) there wont be as much ethics with a new set of questions.

 

[jw3600]

NBOME | Score Release Information

Don't know if it was already posted, but here is the time table for score release dates for Level 2 (and level 1). Why in the world does it take so much longer to get back level 2 scores?!? I'm wondering if after this cycle of tests (June 14-July 5) there wont be as much ethics with a new set of questions.

Seems like its anywhere from 3-5 weeks. Not bad. Level 1 was closer to 6-8 last year.

 

[Buckeye1992]

I felt the biostats could be reasoned through with the equations from FA for step 1. I only had one ? Where I wasn't exactly sure what they were wanting. There are a lot of ethics questions but I am not sure what exactly you could do to prepare for them. It seemed like the questions were similar to comquest and there weren't crazy OMM questions like on combank.

The only thing I thought was a bit hard was the sequence questions as they weren't always clear and if you were wrong on the first one you were screwed for the next question(s).

 

[Dannyboy676]

I just took comsae C.
Scored 585, way above my level I
Some obscure questions, but I feel this was basically an augmented version of the fm shelf.
No biostats though.
Hoping to bump that score by a little bit. got twelve days to boost my peds, biostats and omm


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[ellekay324]

Took this exam on 6/19 and it was ridiculous. I personally felt like it was significantly worse than level 1. For context, I got a 600 on level 1 and I'm 100% sure that I got a much lower score on level 2. I felt like I was taking a law exam. Felt like my entire first block had zero medicine. Random ethics, chain of command, insurance policy stuff. Also A LOT of EKGs, some of which were not in any of the resources I used, and the answer choices were disorders I had never heard of before. Lots of peds. Lots of biostats. Bioterrorism. Lots of extremely random derm with images. I thought I was pretty decent with derm, but many of these were weird and obscure. OMM was much more straightforward than level 1 OMM.
My studying mostly consisted of Online Meded love, Uworld (x1), Step up to medicine, emma holliday, and some Combank. Only did about 50% of Combank though. Used blueprints for obgyn during that rotation and case files for peds, had extensive notes from each which I reviewed a little bit before.

Good. Luck. Find your local law student and borrow their notes about medical law.

 

[jrlob91]

That test was complete and utter bs. Thanks COMLEX, for consistently showing everyone why people hate the DO testing system. Why the hell do we need to know medicolegal Latin terms? So glad to almost be done with this crap.

 

[jrlob91]

2 months is an eternity. I would probably focus more on your knowledge base, and not be stressed out. I think Comsaes are good for question format and simulation of real exam timing (50 per "block"), but for the most part doing 400 COMBANK questions or USMLE questions in a row will be far more beneficial. Comsaes also are useless because it's impossible to quantify your score at all because there's no real breakdown of scoring. Basically, don't worry about it. Our school makes us take D and get a 450 at least 5 days before our exam because i guess there's no way you do 50 points worse on the real thing.

LOL just kidding, COMSAEs suck

 

[dabrownsensation]

Took it today, pretty sure we've all had the same exact test so far. The first section actually seemed pretty decent and it unfortunately gave me a slimmer of hope. Then the second section came and basicallly was a torrent of WTF, question after question. Even with all the heads up there was no way I could have prepared for the Bar Exam questions that were asked. Why exactly should I know what the latin legal terms are when I have hospital counsel that I can go to.

Secondly, pretty sure I spent more time typing comments about the questions rather than answering questions because you know...YOLO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . I apologize to those at my testing site who were probably thinking, "WTF kind of test is that guy taking".

I'm pretty sure I passed but like someone else said it could range anywhere from 400-600. It really is a crapshoot.

 

[KP2AZ]

Anybody else going through the "stages of grief" while waiting for their scores to come out? I think I'm at "Bargaining" ?

 

[jrlob91]

Anybody else going through the "stages of grief" while waiting for their scores to come out? I think I'm at "Bargaining" ?

Still on anger, not sure if I'll ever get off that one lol

 

[ortnakas]

For people that did USMLE too... which was worse? And if you were me and had COMLEX four days after your USMLE, what would you focus on for those four days (other than the green Bible obviously)?

 

[PianoMedic]

For people that did USMLE too... which was worse? And if you were me and had COMLEX four days after your USMLE, what would you focus on for those four days (other than the green Bible obviously)?

Worse how? I felt like level 2 was a more fair level 1. I thought step 2 felt like a slightly more fair but more difficult level 2. I also had a brutal test (see the step 2 experiences thread) so my experience with usmle step 2 is probably a worst case scenario haha.

Green book or however you study omm, Micro from step 1 (refresh the basics of gram pos and neg, know what things are fungi vs parasites, just overview type stuff), bioterrorism and toxic exposure. All I can come up with at the moment.

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[KP2AZ]

For people that did USMLE too... which was worse? And if you were me and had COMLEX four days after your USMLE, what would you focus on for those four days (other than the green Bible obviously)?

Honestly the OMM wasn't too bad. Just remember when you're going through the green book that the questions are going to be clinical, so there is a good bit of Savarese that isn't necessary (name all the ligaments of the pelvic structure type stuff). Taking notes on Combank/Comquest OMM and studying that was the most helpful IMO.

 

[OrthoRehab33]

Was doing combank/comquest useful other than doing the omm sections?

 

[PianoMedic]

Was doing combank/comquest useful other than doing the omm sections?

Hope someone else has insight for you here. I bought comquest and didn't have time to use it, so can't really say. I just kinda winged it lol.

 

[KP2AZ]

Was doing combank/comquest useful other than doing the omm sections?

I used Combank/Comquest to go section by section on my weaker subjects to reinforce while doing random on UW. IMO it's helpful to see kinda how COMLEX is going to ask things. Its a little more vague, they don't really include that many labs, and they like to trick you with wording more than conceptual knowledge. I picked COMQUEST because there were only 1400 questions and you can get through that pretty fast if you're also doing UW.

 

[OrthoRehab33]

I used Combank/Comquest to go section by section on my weaker subjects to reinforce while doing random on UW. IMO it's helpful to see kinda how COMLEX is going to ask things. Its a little more vague, they don't really include that many labs, and they like to trick you with wording more than conceptual knowledge. I picked COMQUEST because there were only 1400 questions and you can get through that pretty fast if you're also doing UW.

Did you feel like it was representative? Too easy/buzzword heavy? Ive finished UW and am cranking through combank and comquest- I feel like I get questions that are either slam dunks or way too specific (thrown in with a lot of stupid mistakes I make going too fast) and I definitely picked up on them tricking you with wording (Most appropriate vs most specific vs most accurate etc) was there a lot of that on COMLEX?

 

[t5Nitro]

Taking Step 2 on June 26 and Level 2 on July 1. Step 1: 251 and Level 1: 695. So far have done 1 pass of UWorld, 1 pass of COMBANK, watched all the OnlineMedEd videos, and read through some sections of First Aid and Step Up to Medicine during rotations --> this method helped me get honors in all the COMATs (still waiting on Peds COMAT score).

My plan is to redo UWorld again, rewatch OnlineMedEd videos, and read through First Aid in the next three weeks. NBME 4 (258 - 6/3), 6, and 7 along with UWSA 1 and 2. Saverese and COMBANK OMM questions in between Step 2 and Level 2.

Are each of these sources laid out by rotation subject so that you just go through them as you go through the rotation? So if you're on peds you do UW + Combank peds questions + read FA peds + SUTM peds + OME peds videos? Congrats on good scores. Looking for advice on how to take on 3rd year.

 

[KP2AZ]

Did you feel like it was representative? Too easy/buzzword heavy? Ive finished UW and am cranking through combank and comquest- I feel like I get questions that are either slam dunks or way too specific (thrown in with a lot of stupid mistakes I make going too fast) and I definitely picked up on them tricking you with wording (Most appropriate vs most specific vs most accurate etc) was there a lot of that on COMLEX?

There was a little bit of "most appropriate vs most specific", but the questions are in between comquest & UW. They are slightly longer than comquest questions, but not as specific/lab based/data driven as UW. You can't go wrong with the knowledge from UW over the COMLEX Q-Banks. It kinda felt like the COMLEX was written from the perspective of a Primary Care doctor if that makes any sense whatsoever.

 

[ninjaman22]

Are each of these sources laid out by rotation subject so that you just go through them as you go through the rotation? So if you're on peds you do UW + Combank peds questions + read FA peds + SUTM peds + OME peds videos? Congrats on good scores. Looking for advice on how to take on 3rd year.

Thanks! And yeap that's exactly how I did it except there is no SUTM for peds! I felt like I learned most from doing questions and reading explanations vs. reading books, and that's why I focused most of my energy on doing practice questions.

 

[theosteoblasts]

That test yesterday was a joke. How they expect you to keep it together for bioterrorism, more than two sections worth of ethics and biostat then translate the english of the SAT section correctable question stem I dont know.

Pass me please AT Still for I have met your rage and am humbled.

Could have done anything from 400- 600 srs.

Well lets hope 400.

 

[Back 5]

Lol, good luck folks. Walking out of that test, I could have scored anywhere from a 300-600. Absolutely no way to gauge. I marked roughly 20 - 25 questions per block and usually had 5-10 mins remaining after each block to review my marked questions. Such a bizarre testing experience. I only studied UWorld to prepare.

 

[Dannyboy676]

I actually didn't think it was too bad but reading this thread on the heaviness of biostats, ethics definitely prepared me. Most were easy, some less clear cut.


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[LittleFoot]

Took it today. Tons of medical law type ethics questions that came from left field. Lots of EKG's, pretty straight forward though, I just suck at EKGs. OMM was pretty easy. Other than that felt pretty balanced Time wasn't an issue for me like it was for USMLE. But I approach the questions to COMLEX differently - read last sentence and then scan prompt for pertinent info / buzz words, choose answer and move on.

 

[CrayXMP14]

I actually didn't think it was too bad but reading this thread on the heaviness of biostats, ethics definitely prepared me. Most were easy, some less clear cut.


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what did you do to prepare for ethics ?

 

[Dannyboy676]

what did you do to prepare for ethics ?

Didn't prepare much ... and some questions you can't really prepare for


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[Postictal Raiden]

Took the test yesterday. First 5 blocks felt really good. OMM was straightforward, ethics qs were obvious, and medicine qs were doable.

After lunch, the 4 blocks were impossible. Couple tough biostats, few WTF ethics and legal s qs, OMM got much more convoluted, and even the medicine questions got a lot more tricky.

Coming out of the test I felt like crap. I remember nearly half of the test. I looked up answers and realized I missed about quarter of the qs I remember. Some of the mistakes I did were very embarrassing that any premed could answer correctly.

All in all, the test was wasn't terrible, per se. It's just the number of WTF qs was considerably higher than those encountered on level1.

 

[KP2AZ]

Took the test yesterday. First 5 blocks felt really good. OMM was straightforward, ethics qs were obvious, and medicine qs were doable.

After lunch, the 4 blocks were impossible. Couple tough biostats, few WTF ethics and legal s qs, OMM got much more convoluted, and even the medicine questions got a lot more tricky.

Coming out of the test I felt like crap. I remember nearly half of the test. I looked up answers and realized I missed about quarter of the qs I remember. Some of the mistakes I did were very embarrassing that any premed could answer correctly.

All in all, the test was wasn't terrible, per se. It's just the number of WTF qs was considerably higher than those encountered on level1.

The good news is that it sucked for all of us! I think the motto of Level 2 this year is "anywhere from 400-600"