COMLEX Official 2018 Comlex 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[ThrowAwayStepDO]

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[tunicaexterna]

I think its safe to say that some amount of formerly AOA programs will favor DO applicants. Its probably more like the USMLE won't mean much at these places than that the comlex means a whole lot. Its also by no means a reason for someone to advocate for only taking COMLEX. These programs are undeniably vastly outnumbered by programs where comlex means jack, but that doesn't mean that programs that have been exclusively taking comlex scores for years will suddenly see them as meaningless.

Exactly. Old AOA programs and ACGME programs that have historically taken comlex aren’t going to magically stop taking comlex into consideration.

 

[073116]

It’s funny that you think the Comlex means anything in 2020.

You are naive thinking comlex won't worth anything in 2020. What school you go to? ANY DO student in school in East coast (especially tri-state area) knows that TONS of people matching to almost ANY specialty with comlex scores. Including derm. Once again, sdn pre-med mentality is strong here and people just repeat same mantra again and again.

 

[073116]

I share your frustration - I scored <100 points compared to my comsae and UWSAs. This exam is ridiculous. Are you planning to take USMLE?
Also is 466 that bad for matching in primary care - what are your interests ?

Yet another one. smh. So do you guys think those who get 400 and up to 470 - they don't match? They do match in FM, IM and surprise surprise in a lot of other specialties too. You'll loose location privilege, but it just means you'll do residency where you'll match. No big deal. You can always apply to your preferred state/city after residency. This sdn drama is strong here.

 

[HueySmith]

Is 598 a good score?

 

[AvrgPreMedKid]

This is for people in the future who wonder how the Comsae's correlate with the real thing. Just my n=1, of course.

COMSAE A, 4/30/2018: 704
COMSAE B, 5/7/2018: 767
COMSAE C, 5/14/2018: 663

COMSAE A felt easy - thought I crushed it harder. COMSAE B felt like I got wrecked afterwards - was pleasantly surprised with the score. COMSAE C was whatever - I was kind of disappointed to have my lowest score be the closest to my actual test, but I didn't worry too much because I heard varying stories about correlation.

Actual COMLEX Level 1, 5/21/2018: 750

I was stoked. This was my actual target score. In the two months leading up to the score release, I wondered what score I would be happy with. Would I be disappointed under 700, what score would I actually be happy with, was 750 realistic? I wrote down my goal of 750 in April, and I prayed for the fulfillment of my potential as I did all through the first two years of med school. Believe in yourselves, set tangible goals, hold yourself accountable, and make it happen.

As for resources, I didn't have a set study plan. I just knew I wanted to get through Combank and UWorld. I started Combank around January and got halfway through before purchasing a 60-day sub for UWorld. I thought I could get through UWorld twice in 60 days, boy was I wrong. I got through once, all on random, sometimes timed tutor, but always random, finished with about ~75% correct. After I finished UWorld, I finished Combank. All the while, I referred back to sketchy micro/pharm, Firecracker, and other random resources to brush up on what I needed to. I was top 5 in my class, so I learned most subject material pretty well in the first two years of school, which I think is the best board prep you can do for yourself.

 

[triggapointtrey]

I appreciate the honest advice from you all. All valid points. I think my best bet at this point is to study for USMLE maybe 3-4hrs a day during rotations (I feel like I do still have a lot of time, and I just COMBANK'd all the practice COMAT questions for my FM the night before and did above average, so thus far nothings really time consuming) and I can study maybe 8hrs or so during elective and vacation times since they're back to back and will have a lot less assignments/no shelfs to stress about. Content obviously got weaker, but relearning it should be a bit easier. And I know this time it's not the content I'm going focus on as much, but more so just being exposed to as many practice questions/exams as I possibly can (do all NBME, restart UWORLD, Do the SA-2) and only using FA/Pathoma/Sketchy as supplements. Like I said, I received decent practice scores on NBME15 and UWSA-1, but I'm going to need to consistently average at least 230+. Maybe my low COMLEX was a matter of only taking 3 COMSAE's and 2 COMBANK-SA's that inflated my grade. Also totally neglected OPP, but at least I'm done with that. But again, definitely was not expecting under a 500. I'm going to focus on solely on UWorld and do as much NBME's as I can. If I'm ranging from 230-250 then I'm going to take it. If I'm floating around 215-220, I'm not risking it. All I've learned is practice scores are just that, practice scores. Obviously they help you gauge where you stand, but there will always be a couple cases of deviation, since really your score is from the one test you sit in for on that one day. Nothing's guaranteed. I'm going to have to do substantially better on Level 2 as well.

Last question: Is USMLE offered all year long? And if so, do I try to take it soon (like within the next two months or so) or near end of the third year. How do those schools that take Step 1 in their third year do it?

Thanks folks!

 

[deleted645092]

I appreciate the honest advice from you all. All valid points. I think my best bet at this point is to study for USMLE maybe 3-4hrs a day during rotations (I feel like I do still have a lot of time, and I just COMBANK'd all the practice COMAT questions for my FM the night before and did above average, so thus far nothings really time consuming) and I can study maybe 8hrs or so during elective and vacation times since they're back to back and will have a lot less assignments/no shelfs to stress about. Content obviously got weaker, but relearning it should be a bit easier. And I know this time it's not the content I'm going focus on as much, but more so just being exposed to as many practice questions/exams as I possibly can (do all NBME, restart UWORLD, Do the SA-2) and only using FA/Pathoma/Sketchy as supplements. Like I said, I received decent practice scores on NBME15 and UWSA-1, but I'm going to need to consistently average at least 230+. Maybe my low COMLEX was a matter of only taking 3 COMSAE's and 2 COMBANK-SA's that inflated my grade. Also totally neglected OPP, but at least I'm done with that. But again, definitely was not expecting under a 500. I'm going to focus on solely on UWorld and do as much NBME's as I can. If I'm ranging from 230-250 then I'm going to take it. If I'm floating around 215-220, I'm not risking it. All I've learned is practice scores are just that, practice scores. Obviously they help you gauge where you stand, but there will always be a couple cases of deviation, since really your score is from the one test you sit in for on that one day. Nothing's guaranteed. I'm going to have to do substantially better on Level 2 as well.

Last question: Is USMLE offered all year long? And if so, do I try to take it soon (like within the next two months or so) or near end of the third year. How do those schools that take Step 1 in their third year do it?

Thanks folks!

While taking it during 3rd year probably isn’t ideal since you’re further removed from that material as you go along, I would take it the earliest during 3rd year as you can. Looking at the date ranges on the USMLE registration page you can take it any time during the year. As for practice tests, while there’s always the possibility of deviation from your NBME scores, the data published with my last practice test was straight from NBME and stated that 70 percent of test takers score within 10 points of their NBME averages, and 90% got within 20. This data becomes more accurate the more practice tests you take. My Step 1 was actually higher than my NBME averages and was spot-on with my 2nd Uworld assessment.

 

[FAdoc2020]

Oh no, you called me champ. It must be serious. I’m sorry for hurting your feelings here... we opened the circle up. Everyone can jerk in here

Just trying to boost your confidence since you lack it. Hang in there

 

[073116]

Thought I'd finally create an SDN account after all these years lurking just to share my results and contribute to proving just how flawed the COMLEX is. (And yes, I'm extremely salty, upset, angry, and mostly just plain confused about this test is graded) I took my COMLEX on 6/7/18 and received my score on 7/18/18. I was also planning on taking the USMLE, but was advised against it by my school until I received the results of my COMLEX. Read all the 700+ scores on here and decided I should probably try to figure out what went wrong. Not sure how many people on here post their ACTUAL practices scores and final exam score, but like one previous poster stated, the trend seems to be "practice tests: 398,422,490,520 real thing 710! No idea how!" or "comsae A: 600, B: 650, C: 800, D: 700, X: 654, Y :999, PhD in microbiology, anatomy, physiology, actual COMLEX: 407". I think the saddest part is that I'm confident that it's not untrue (not to that extent, but I digress).

ANYWAY, I'd like to share my scores and dates on here so maybe someone could provide some kind of explanation of my performance.

I've always done well on school exams, rank is in the top 25%, but I get that rank doesn't truly dictate much of your score and that all schools are different, so I approached boards knowing I shouldn't be expecting a certain score, but to stay true and dedicated during the process, as I'm sure we all have done.

COMSAE Form A 1/16/18 (school administered, assessing baseline, no board prep at this point, just focused on school exams): 492, this was by far the easiest one, but was taken far before board prep. After this COMSAE I started to develop a game plan.
COMSAE Form E 3/31/18: 522 (had just started dedicated, just some Q banks, nothing intensive, but this one felt tough and ambiguous)
COMSAE Form C 5/15/18: 598 (this one felt a bit easier than Form E , but I also developed a consistent study plan and began to understand the "language" of COMSAE's, so I learned how to study more efficiently (again, for COMSAEs specificaly, because it definitely didn't feel like I was learning to critically think or understand medicine. Just got better at remembering random questions they tend to ask)
COMBANK Q Bank: Started doing some question sets here and there in February 2018, but began doing lots of sets around April with UWorld as well. Combank averaging around 55% correct initally--> ended with 72% near the end of May (around the time I took Form C). But Q Banks can only tell you so much about where you stand. Used it more as a learning tool. (Also, so many random "guideline" questions that apply to literally like 1 scenario, so you either just know it or don't) didn't have time to reset and redo questions.
UWorld Q Bank: Did about 75% of the questions, 76% correct by 5/22 (about 2 weeks out from my test, decided to go over incorrect and start doing more USMLE/NBME/SA practice tests from here on out), mostly timed 40 Q blocks. Started UWorld mid-April, which I think was a bad idea on my part. Wish I had gotten through all the questions so I could thoroughly review them and possibly 2nd pass them, but I needed to practice test taking at this point.
NBME13 5/16/18: 219, wasn't happy but I had just taken COMSAE Form C the day before, and it was my first taste of a USMLE formatted exam (aside from the UWorld questions stems, which I used more for learning)
NBME15 5/20/18: 234, happy with this one. Improvement based really on just going over similar questions in UWorld and trying to learn how to think through questions.
COMBANK Self-Assessment 1 (5/31): 620 (really couldn't find any valid data on how accurate these things were, but they gave you a %tile and 3-digit score) Felt easier than COMSAE, felt just like a 200 Q COMBANK exam.
COMBANK Self Assessment 2 (6/2): 642, 5 days out before my test. This one felt more "COMSAE" like, and I had marked much more than the 1st Self Assessment, but I did better. Again, idk how they scored these. I also did some thorough content review between the two days.
UWORLD Self Assessment-1 (6/5): 246. This was the last practice exam I had taken before COMLEX day (6/7). I was appalled that I scored a 246. Didn't think I was capable of breaking 230 on a USMLE styled exam, but I also read up on SA1 being inflated. Did not take SA2 because of time, and wasn't 100% set on taking USMLE at that point. (Was told DO students should hold off until completing COMLEX 1st)

Either way, I took note of my strengths, weaknesses, and esentially tried to be realistic with my goal. I had never worked so hard in my life, I knew I was the farthest thing from a genius, but I just stayed committed to putting everything into this. I used First Aid, Pathoma, Zanki, SketchyMicro, SketchyPath and some lecture notes for content, but most of the learning came from UWorld/COMBANK questions, and the practice tests.

COMLEX Test Day (6/7): Was able to sleep fairly well the night before. Had a quick episode of panic driving to the testing center, but I put on some music and just tried to tell myself that anxiety and fear isn't an option right now. Got to the center, things went smooth,and before you know it I'm reading questions stems that were twice as long as any question I had done before, but I didn't let it throw me off. My test consisted of Micro, OPP(seriously felt like OA was in every choice I marked...idk), Neuro (literally my worst) OPP again (obscure terms used to unnecessarily confuse you, even if you know how to do a treatment), random bio-terrorism questions that had me wondering if I had signed up for the right test, way too much biochem (which I thought COMLEX barely tested, luckily UWorld prepared me for it), more vague Micro stems, straight forward pharm I thought, and just odd scenarios on what to do next, except it just seemed way too out of scope. Maybe I just didn't review enough on CDC related questions like vaccinations, reportable diseases, etc. Walked out feeling like a zombie, but upon reflection, it didn't feel too bad. Harder than the COMBANK SA, similar to COMSAE, and UWorld/NBME questions helped in terms of biochem/pharm/physio.I think I had a total of 1 Heme/Onc question. Not kidding. The test definitely had some theme to it in terms of the content tested. Anyway, enough of this excessive prefacing of my COMLEX score. Scores came out on the 18th during a rotation, and I immediately checked.

COMLEX score: 466. Was devastated. I had hoped for a 600+, realistically would have still been happy with a 550+ at this point. But a 466? I just don't get it. Not sure where to go from here, but I'm finally just accepting my score. Maybe I just wasn't used to that many questions back to back, but idk. All I know is that I don't feel like I deserved the score I got, and I understand that I passed, but not passing wasn't my concern after all the studying and practice I had done.

tl;dr --> COMLEX score was 150 below my averages.

Comsae E and D are usually more predictive. (I don't think you can use Comsae A that was developed many years ago and was easiest). You got 522 on E, so going from that score, you need to deduct 50 - just to account for fatigue and stress (exactly why schools want 450 (50 above passline) on comsae to know you will pass). Unless you are statistically strong test taker (apparently you are not). So your projected score should have been 472. You scored on real exam 466 - that is within 6 points of your projected score. Not 150 points less like you said. As for Combank SA - they are garbage, no one does them for test prediction.

 

[alprazoslam]

In short UFAPs is enough to get 99th%tile
Wasted a lot of time on combank (sucks) snd didn’t need it for anything but omm
Walked out feeling like crap and got in hi 700s and I didn’t have all of ufaps memorized and made mistakes. All comlex specific q banks suck even comquest (doing it for comats currently and they don’t even source anything and it has errors (albeit less than combank)

Uworld all the way then if you want u can do rx
But again. All comlex specific q banks and the trash don’t waste time or money on them


TLDR- don’t waste your time searching if comlex or comquest are worth it. They are not. Don’t spend dollars on any q bank besides the big 3

 

[dostudent545]

Comsae E and D are usually more predictive. (I don't think you can use Comsae A that was developed many years ago and was easiest). You got 522 on E, so going from that score, you need to deduct 50 - just to account for fatigue and stress (exactly why schools want 450 (50 above passline) on comsae to know you will pass). Unless you are statistically strong test taker (apparently you are not). So your projected score should have been 472. You scored on real exam 466 - that is within 6 points of your projected score. Not 150 points less like you said. As for Combank SA - they are garbage, no one does them for test prediction.

he took comsae e like 2 months before his exam. that was more of a baseline than an accurate predictor of his board prep

 

[Oreo#1]

Just trying to boost your confidence since you lack it. Hang in there

Pro tip. Make sure to interject your opinions when your resident is talking to the attending for morning rounds. It’ll make you look confident and the resident will be impressed by your skills

 

[AvrgPreMedKid]

I know this forum doesn't have a high opinion of COMSAEs but were form B and E close to your real COMLEX scores for those who have taken it?

Form D was required for us and overestimated a lot of people in my class.

Form B overestimated by 17 points for me. Didn't do the others you mentioned.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Several posts in this thread have been reported as inappropriate, and have been removed. Please remember that if you see a post that violates the terms of service to report it to moderators rather than continuing to argue in-thread. Users who continue to argue and flame each other will be thread-banned.

 

[Halcyon45]

Has anyone tried Score Confirmation? Any experiences with it? I heard its donating 50$ to them but I just wanted to make sure incase anyone here had any positive experiences with it. Just REALLY bummed with my score so I wanted to see if maybe there was an error.

 

[hegla]

Anyone take it this month that doesn't mind sharing their thoughts?

 

[heychloe]

People seem to think just because 2020 will have ACGME that all these historical DO programs will all of a sudden dump Comlex in favor of USMLE. giving someone the advice to take USMLE just because “just do it man” is terrible freaking advice. If you have focused on Comlex material and are not scoring well on USMLE practice test DO NOT take USMLE just to get a mediocre 210 because once you do that ... the 210 WILL take precedence over a 550, let’s say, and you just screwed yourself. Take Comlex if you’re unsure about USMLE .... and remember ... the beautiful thing about us having a choice ... is us having a choice to take step 1 after seeing our Comlex scores if you really want to

You aren't completely wrong. But there are other factors you may want to consider.
1. # of DO schools and DO students have been increasing in crazy speed. Historical DO programs are not enough to handle the flow. There will not be an increase in historial DO programs, but a decrease as some fail(or decide not to) to convert to ACGME.

2. Comlex average was very high at 555 for class of 2019's cycle, and it seems class of 2020 will have a much lower average in comparison as AOA tries to readjust the average. Do you really think the program directors will seriously use the 'percentage convertor' and calculate each applicants' percentage based on individual exam dates of 1000 applicants? If PDs had issues with the consistency/quality of comlex before, they will have even more issues after my class(2019) sweeps through the match. And class of 2020 will take the brunt of comlex's lack of consistency.

3. IMO, it's much less stressful to focus on and take the Step because a) the scope of knowledge tested is clear b) most study materials out there are focused on step. WHen you hear 'high yield' on pathoma, it means high yield for step. c) NBME and UWSA are actually a decent predictors of your real score. Yea some versions 'consistently' underpredicts or overpredicts but you still end up within the range. In comparison, Comsae is an absolute crapshoot with no consistency. d) the quality of questions are heaven and earth. Seriously Comlex is full of wtf questions. I'd rather be tested on my evidence based medical knowledge and ability to think through complicated vignette rather than get free pointers b/c I memorized the lame chapman's point that you will never see or hear outside of comlex and DO school. Simply put, a waste of time that can otherwise be used to learn real medicine.

But then again, it's your life, your career.
There still are some historical DO programs like you said. Just not a whole lot.
Even a PD from historical DO program had told me to take the Step. n=1 tho.

 

[alprazoslam]

Everybody who can pass step w at least a 210 should take it. Not sure why people argue this. Comlex is a garbage exam and whiles it’s not needed to match it will make life easier. Quit drinking the DO look aid people. I wouldn’t want to go into the 2020 match without a usmle

 

[Oreo#1]

Everybody who can pass step w at least a 210 should take it. Not sure why people argue this. Comlex is a garbage exam and whiles it’s not needed to match it will make life easier. Quit drinking the DO look aid people. I wouldn’t want to go into the 2020 match without a usmle

THIS is terrible advice. Some places won't even let you rotate in their hospitals if you don't have at least a 215 or 550.... knock COMLEX out of the park and you're golden. Screw up Step and everything else doesnt matter. I've had several friends already screwed this year. 580+ on comlex and 213 on Step = DENIED away rotations and that excellent COMLEX score means nothing anymore

If you're scoring well on step practice exams then TAKE IT. If you're borderline I would highly recommend seeing where COMLEX leaves you after you get those scores back

 

[alprazoslam]

THIS is terrible advice. Some places won't even let you rotate in their hospitals if you don't have at least a 215 or 550.... knock COMLEX out of the park and you're golden. Screw up Step and everything else doesnt matter. I've had several friends already screwed this year. 580+ on comlex and 213 on Step = DENIED away rotations and that excellent COMLEX score means nothing anymore

If you're scoring well on step practice exams then TAKE IT. If you're borderline I would highly recommend seeing where COMLEX leaves you after you get those scores back

If somebody can make a 550 they should be able to make a 210 period and they should take it.
Even more wont let u rotate without a usmle score since they don’t want to mess w comlex
Also Look at the charting outcomes brah and see the breaking point for ACGME IM FM matching is at. People with 210+ almost always match. I don’t know what specialties your talking about people not getting away rotations at. Are you talking ortho or gen surg? If so then no 210 won’t cut (Nor will 580 oftentimes) it but yeah for IM and FM it will at many ACGME programs that are not academic or in desirable areas.

 

[#stressedout]

I would also love to hear some feedback from anyone that took it this month. Also, is there a rough estimate of what percentage of questions you need to get right to pass? I'm pretty much averaging 50% on Qbanks and am getting worried.

 

[hegla]

I would also love to hear some feedback from anyone that took it this month. Also, is there a rough estimate of what percentage of questions you need to get right to pass? I'm pretty much averaging 50% on Qbanks and am getting worried.

I second that! Please PM if you would rather not post publicly

 

[sandstorm223]

I would also love to hear some feedback from anyone that took it this month. Also, is there a rough estimate of what percentage of questions you need to get right to pass? I'm pretty much averaging 50% on Qbanks and am getting worried.

I think you may be in trouble. Not trying to scare you but....I'm pretty sure you need somewhere around a 60% (+/- 3-4%) to pass. If you really are averaging 50% still you need to push your test back. Don't risk a fail, it's not worth it.

 

[alprazoslam]

I think you may be in trouble. Not trying to scare you but....I'm pretty sure you need somewhere around a 60% (+/- 3-4%) to pass. If you really are averaging 50% still you need to push your test back. Don't risk a fail, it's not worth it.

Nobody knows the raw score required it varies greatly per form

 

[#stressedout]

I think you may be in trouble. Not trying to scare you but....I'm pretty sure you need somewhere around a 60% (+/- 3-4%) to pass. If you really are averaging 50% still you need to push your test back. Don't risk a fail, it's not worth it.

That's what I was afraid of :/
honestly at this point I'm just hoping to pass. I would love more time but only issue is I'm not sure if my school will allow me to delay anymore.

 

[Oreo#1]

If somebody can make a 550 they should be able to make a 210 period and they should take it.
Even more wont let u rotate without a usmle score since they don’t want to mess w comlex
Also Look at the charting outcomes brah and see the breaking point for ACGME IM FM matching is at. People with 210+ almost always match. I don’t know what specialties your talking about people not getting away rotations at. Are you talking ortho or gen surg? If so then no 210 won’t cut (Nor will 580 oftentimes) it but yeah for IM and FM it will at many ACGME programs that are not academic or in desirable areas.

I guess thats the million dollar question - is a 210 worth getting over a really good COMLEX? Will that supercede the COMLEX score or will it not? No one really knows - it really just comes down to preference

 

[alprazoslam]

I guess thats the million dollar question - is a 210 worth getting over a really good COMLEX? Will that supercede the COMLEX score or will it not? No one really knows - it really just comes down to preference

Yeah pretty much. Your right tho in the fact it prob wouldn’t look good in former aoa

 

[Gemi512]

Hi!

I was struggling while studying for comlex and usmle. Whenever i was on SDN, everyone seems like they are doing great on their practice exams. At the time, my scores weren't improving much and I felt reallyyyy down (lots of tears). I just wanted to let those who were struggling like i was to keep going and trust yourself!

I did the following
DIT 1x
First aid 2x
Combank 1x
USMLE Rx 400 questions
Uworld 2x
pathoma reading 3x
pathoma videos 2x
Saverese 3x

If you ask me if you should take USMLE or not, I would say if you've studied hard and feel like you know the material then take it!

March Form E = 410
April Form D = 466
May Form A = 632
June Form B = 588
4 days before the real thing Form C = 503 (this freaked me out a bit)
COMLEX taken end of June: Official scores 570+

May Form 13 = 194
June Form 15 = 213
June Form 18 = 203 (made me super sad that my scores went down)
3 days before the real thing Form 17 = 221
USMLE taken a week after COMLEX: Official scores 235+

 

[IdahoUdaho]

Step 1: 212
Comlex: 560 (4 days later)
I didn't do any comlex specific stuff besides omgomt once. No practice exams or combank. Did Uworld twice, and a bunch of nbme exams. Sucks my step wasn't were I was scoring (mid 220's) but fairly happy with comlex since I wasn't specifically studying too much for it.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

THIS is terrible advice. Some places won't even let you rotate in their hospitals if you don't have at least a 215 or 550.... knock COMLEX out of the park and you're golden. Screw up Step and everything else doesnt matter. I've had several friends already screwed this year. 580+ on comlex and 213 on Step = DENIED away rotations and that excellent COMLEX score means nothing anymore

If you're scoring well on step practice exams then TAKE IT. If you're borderline I would highly recommend seeing where COMLEX leaves you after you get those scores back

Read charting outcomes. A 210 is better than just COMLEX in basically every specialty, yes even FM, IM, and Peds.

 

[Oreo#1]

Read charting outcomes. A 210 is better than just COMLEX in basically every specialty, yes even FM, IM, and Peds.

Again - I would rather have one GREAT score rather than a Great score and one mediocre score... my 2 Cents and others can do what they want with it...... If I scored mediocre on Comlex then I would take step and be happy w/ a mediocre score on that as well.

 

[#stressedout]

Did anyone else feel like their practice tests/COMSAEs didn't reflect their OMM knowledge properly? I'm pretty confident in OMM and I've done all the OMM questions in COMBANK and averaged 90%. I'm just baffled because on every single comsae I've taken I always scored in the "borderline" range. OMM was the subject I was hoping would help my score but now I'm not sure if it will, especially after hearing how different the questions have been on the actual thing.

 

[alprazoslam]

Did anyone else feel like their practice tests/COMSAEs didn't reflect their OMM knowledge properly? I'm pretty confident in OMM and I've done all the OMM questions in COMBANK and averaged 90%. I'm just baffled because on every single comsae I've taken I always scored in the "borderline" range. OMM was the subject I was hoping would help my score but now I'm not sure if it will, especially after hearing how different the questions have been on the actual thing.

When it comes to OMM nothing correlated with anything

I didn’t do good in omm for two years and maybe averaged uhhh 70-80on combank and got like the highest mark (all way to right) on omm on comlex


I still suck at omm it’s just such a bs topic and it doesn’t matter can’t predict anything with it.

My comlex asked two many wtf omm questions apparently none of us knew what was going on

 

[tunicaexterna]

Did anyone else feel like their practice tests/COMSAEs didn't reflect their OMM knowledge properly? I'm pretty confident in OMM and I've done all the OMM questions in COMBANK and averaged 90%. I'm just baffled because on every single comsae I've taken I always scored in the "borderline" range. OMM was the subject I was hoping would help my score but now I'm not sure if it will, especially after hearing how different the questions have been on the actual thing.

My OMM was borderline on comsae d and on the real thing it was pushing all the way to the right. I also am terrible at OMM fwiw


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[#stressedout]

When it comes to OMM nothing correlated with anything

I didn’t do good in omm for two years and maybe averaged uhhh 70-80on combank and got like the highest mark (all way to right) on omm on comlex
I still suck at omm it’s just such a bs topic and it doesn’t matter can’t predict anything with it.
My comlex asked two many wtf omm questions apparently none of us knew what was going on

My OMM was borderline on comsae d and on the real thing it was pushing all the way to the right. I also am terrible at OMM fwiw

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[alprazoslam]

Combank and savarese was more than enough for Omm though. If it’s not in there nobody knows it. Except for the omm wizards that actually read the omm manual

 

[hegla]

Bump if anyone has taken it this month and has any first impressions since a few August test dates have passed. Thanks!

 

[deleted645092]

What time of day do scores get released? Took it 7/16 so I’d expect it should be released sometime tomorrow.

 

[Philotic]

Because we're always looking for those patterns:

Beginning of dedicated:
Comsae D (school mandated): 360~

1 week later:
Combank practice assessment 1 (school mandated): 450~

2 months out:
Comsae B: 490~

1 month out:
Comsae A: 600~

1 week out:
Comsae C: 500~

COMLEX: ~500-510

Looks like C was the most predictive for me, although I wish it could have been A haha. Scored lower than my averaged out Comsae's during my dedicated (would have been predicted ~530), but I'm just happy to be done with this thing! I did feel like the Comlex was overall harder than Combank/Comquest (not quite as difficult as uworld in terms of how deep you have to think), but the formatting was very similar and I did feel like maybe 90% of the material was stuff that I had studied before. Made silly mistakes, of course!

Materials used: FA, Pathoma (vids only), Sketchy Micro (some Pharm), uworld x 1 (avg 52%), Combank x1 (avg 66%), Comquest x1 (67%), Savarese x 1.

Behavioral science was my weakest scoring category. Hope this helps!

 

[StormRising]

COMSAE D: 481
COMBANK Self Assesment: 566
NBME 13: 215
NBME 18: 223
COMSAE C: 649
NBME 19: 225
UWSA 2: 234

USMLE Step 1: 233
COMLEX: 561

Happy with step 1 but a little disappointed with COMLEX. Was hoping to break 600s

 

[073116]

Because we're always looking for those patterns:

Beginning of dedicated:
Comsae D (school mandated): 360~

1 week later:
Combank practice assessment 1 (school mandated): 450~

2 months out:
Comsae B: 490~

1 month out:
Comsae A: 600~

1 week out:
Comsae C: 500~

COMLEX: ~500-510

Looks like C was the most predictive for me, although I wish it could have been A haha. Scored lower than my averaged out Comsae's during my dedicated (would have been predicted ~530), but I'm just happy to be done with this thing! I did feel like the Comlex was overall harder than Combank/Comquest (not quite as difficult as uworld in terms of how deep you have to think), but the formatting was very similar and I did feel like maybe 90% of the material was stuff that I had studied before. Made silly mistakes, of course!

Materials used: FA, Pathoma (vids only), Sketchy Micro (some Pharm), uworld x 1 (avg 52%), Combank x1 (avg 66%), Comquest x1 (67%), Savarese x 1.

Behavioral science was my weakest scoring category. Hope this helps!

I just don't understand how can you improve 90 points in 1 week between Comsae D and Combank? Or is it Combank overpredicts?

 

[Philotic]

I just don't understand how can you improve 90 points in 1 week between Comsae D and Combank? Or is it Combank overpredicts?

Haha not sure! my scores were kind of all over the place, as you can see. I did try to study a lot during that week in between cause the first score scared the crap out of me. Went through a lot of FA during that week!

 

[dostudent545]

Combank Self Assessment 2: 588-590 (1 month before)
Comsae E: 622 (2 weeks before)
Actual Comlex: 601
Actual Step 1: 232
Didn't really take any other comlex practice tests. Took 4 nbmes and uwsa 2 to practice for step 1 instead.

In order~
nbme 15: 200
nbme 16: 205
combank 2: 590
uwsa 2: 222
nbme 17: 219
comsae E: 622
nbme 18: 219

Overall, I'd highly recommend taking usmle. It felt much more structured than comlex. I walked out of usmle feeling as though I was able to do my best based on my studying and the knowledge I had learned from the past 2 years. I walked out of comlex wondering where the **** they got those questions and just thankful that it was over.

In terms of resources. Mainly stuck to UFAPS (sketchy only for micro). I also did BnB before dedicated and annotated FA as I went through. Took step first and had a week in between exams during which I did savarese and some FA sections I heard were high yield.

 

[jaf208]

Bump if anyone has taken it this month and has any first impressions since a few August test dates have passed. Thanks!

Took COMLEX today. No idea how I did, although I'm pretty sure I passed it (all I want is a 550+) and I got a 585 on COMBANK assessment about a week ago, I felt like I was guessing on a ton of questions.

My overall impressions were that there was a lot of OMM but it was VERY easy (and I am terrible at OMM). At least 70% was just viscerosomatics (they literally asked about S2-S4 dysfunction in context of ED 3 or 4 separate times), followed by sacrum/innominate dx, then Muscle energy/HVLA in general, also some rib dx/tx. I was surprised how much OMM there was but it was also straightforward for most part so wouldn't stress too much.

What really caught me off guard were the ethics/law/healthcare policy type questions! There was a LOT of it, and I'm usually good with those but there were plenty that had like 3 right answers and the stems were super long. This got really irritating as the test went on and tbh was the hardest part of this exam for me (which I would have never ever predicted). There was very little biostats (I'm talking 4 or 5 qs max) but the ones they did ask were quite difficult (some vague NNT question, relative risk, odds ratio).

It was heavy on RGU/endocrine, neuro, psychiatry. Fair amount of straightforward heme/onc. Not as much micro as I thought--although I swear they asked about staph a. at least 15 times.

Idk, I'm just glad it's over. The test was sort of a mess but overall I'm pretty sure there were enough easy questions to pull me through . Lmk if yall have any other questions, good luck!

 

[588442]

I could not get to about 12 questions during block 4. Do you guys know anyone who was in this situation and how they did?

 

[jaf208]

I could not get to about 12 questions during block 4. Do you guys know anyone who was in this situation and how they did?

I'm confused, you were actually unable to access them? Or you ran out of time?

 

[588442]

I'm confused, you were actually unable to access them? Or you ran out of time?

Ran out of time

 

[jaf208]

Oh no! Were you at least able to click random answers before time ran out?

I have a friend who missed 2 questions today, but I get that's different than 12. Honestly, I'd just hope for the best and hope that 12 questions out of 400 won't make or break you

How'd you feel otherwise?

 

[588442]

Oh no! Were you at least able to click random answers before time ran out?

I have a friend who missed 2 questions today, but I get that's different than 12. Honestly, I'd just hope for the best and hope that 12 questions out of 400 won't make or break you

How'd you feel otherwise?

Felt ok. Very much like what you said above, perhaps it was a similar exam. And no, didn’t get a chance to random click on those.

 

[073116]

Felt ok. Very much like what you said above, perhaps it was a similar exam. And no, didn’t get a chance to random click on those.

Just wondering if you were able to finish comsae in time? I took comsae and was able to finish it with 30min to spare, but I'm worrying about real deal having way too long question stems.