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Im taking COMLEX first, then Step I. I didn't decide to take Step until late in the game, though. I would try for three days personally. I wouldn't touch anything the day after and then hit OMM hard for 2 days. (this is assuming you already have a good base to begin with)
let us know how it went / felt compared to practice tests!
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My school told me to take it early since I somehow passed the minimum required COMSAE D, even though I'm ranked in the bottom 25%. I had 2 weeks of dedicated and got through 2/3 of B&B, no First Aid, only watched the 3 heme sections of Pathoma. I could have had an extra few days before the mandated deadline by rescheduling, but there were no empty seats at locations I could get to reasonably. I skimmed through half of Sketchymicro at breakfast right before the exam.
Did OK first 3 blocks. Started to run out of gas in the 4th block. Went to lunch and went over the 40 minute break time. No reception so I couldn't look up stuff I didn't know that showed up repeatedly, wasn't in FA either. Luckily, the second half contained new stuff that I didn't know. 😛 I dozed off in the 5th block, but I sped through by guessing most of blocks 5-7 while contemplating my life choices. I got my second wind in the 8th block. Ended with 27 minutes remaining. I guaranteed failed this thing.
I was counting on 25% of the exam to be pure OMM (diagnosis/treatment/setup/principles), but instead got only about 25 total questions. The rest was even amounts of OMM neuro, pure neuro, MSK, repro, psych, cardio, pulm, renal, micro, antibiotics. Not studying cardio and pulm was my downfall. At least the BLS/ACLS we had right before dedicated saved me on the EKG qs. Terrible photos. Videos were like 30 seconds long, but felt like forever. Questions were much longer compared to COMBANK & COMSAE. There was only 1 buzzword in the entire exam. I was sad.
Did OK first 3 blocks. Started to run out of gas in the 4th block. Went to lunch and went over the 40 minute break time. No reception so I couldn't look up stuff I didn't know that showed up repeatedly, wasn't in FA either. Luckily, the second half contained new stuff that I didn't know. 😛 I dozed off in the 5th block, but I sped through by guessing most of blocks 5-7 while contemplating my life choices. I got my second wind in the 8th block. Ended with 27 minutes remaining. I guaranteed failed this thing.
I was counting on 25% of the exam to be pure OMM (diagnosis/treatment/setup/principles), but instead got only about 25 total questions. The rest was even amounts of OMM neuro, pure neuro, MSK, repro, psych, cardio, pulm, renal, micro, antibiotics. Not studying cardio and pulm was my downfall. At least the BLS/ACLS we had right before dedicated saved me on the EKG qs. Terrible photos. Videos were like 30 seconds long, but felt like forever. Questions were much longer compared to COMBANK & COMSAE. There was only 1 buzzword in the entire exam. I was sad.
If Steven King wrote a horror story about taking medical boards... this, exactly, would be it.
What school do you go to? Seems like a pretty skimpy amount of dedicated time. That sucks!!!
So OMM is over-hyped eh?
Overall thoughts:
What a long goddamn test. I finished my comsae with 45 minutes to spare and barely finished the comlex. Very long question stems
Content/difficulty wise, it was very on par with the comsae. A buttload of first order questions. And as expected, a smattering of things I couldn’t have prepared for.
The OMM was wtf hard and I wasn’t prepared for it. The OMM wasn’t balanced at all - nearly all of it focused on 2 types of dysfunctions.
Subject wise it was evenly divided between everything. I didn’t have a test that had like 100 neuro qs or something.
I’m glad it’s over. It really wasn’t fun. Most of it was manageable? lol I will say I felt extreme mental fatigue at the end and I’m not sure what I would have done differently to prepare for that.
Good luck to all!
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What a long goddamn test. I finished my comsae with 45 minutes to spare and barely finished the comlex. Very long question stems
Content/difficulty wise, it was very on par with the comsae. A buttload of first order questions. And as expected, a smattering of things I couldn’t have prepared for.
The OMM was wtf hard and I wasn’t prepared for it. The OMM wasn’t balanced at all - nearly all of it focused on 2 types of dysfunctions.
Subject wise it was evenly divided between everything. I didn’t have a test that had like 100 neuro qs or something.
I’m glad it’s over. It really wasn’t fun. Most of it was manageable? lol I will say I felt extreme mental fatigue at the end and I’m not sure what I would have done differently to prepare for that.
Good luck to all!
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4 days [emoji26] it will be a short “ break!
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It could be worse! Could be 3! 😱
Sorry it's so short but I'd rather be talking to real patients over studying biochem enzymes
Did you find combank/ comquest similar at all?
Combank for the OMM/bugs. The OMM on my exam was really difficult and combank was at a similar level of difficulty. Some really random bugs were on the exam and I probably wouldn’t have gotten them right if I hadn’t done combank.
Otherwise I don’t think combank was really on point. If I was to do the end of my studying over again I would only use combank for OMM and bugs and nothing else. For the rest I would have continued to make a second pass on uworld.
I didn’t do conquest so I can’t speak to that one.
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Though I want to preface what I say with all my friends have had very different comlex experiences and my experience won’t necessarily reflect other people’s
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tetanitoxin
Full Member
I've done like no comlex specific studying and have really just been working on usmle and going through uworld for the past 2 months, with plans to switch to comlex and OMM studying after I take usmle (have about 8 days between). However, my school is making us take and pass a comsae next week before releasing us to take comlex. I was wondering if it is easy to pass with knowing mostly uworld knowledge plus whatever I remember of OMM from classes (so basically how important is OMM to doing well enough to pass on the comsaes) or should I start going through some OMM now to make sure I pass? I don't really want to take time away from uworld yet unless I have to.
For reference, I've taken UWSA1- 251 and UWSA2- 245, so I feel pretty good about the usmle info and am hoping that translates to comsae/comlex.
For reference, I've taken UWSA1- 251 and UWSA2- 245, so I feel pretty good about the usmle info and am hoping that translates to comsae/comlex.
At least look over chapmans and viscerosomatics and sacrum. For like 1-2 hrs. Should be enough for comsae
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Which comsae? If it is E just make a chart for viscerosomatics, sacrum, and chapman points to put on you paper and you will be fine. If you are scoring that on UWSAs you could probably not answer the OMM questions and still get a 500+.
So do you think it’s smart to read the last sentence first to try to get ahead of the time?
OMG yes, it’s the only way I actually finished the questions.
Was omgomt enough? Or do I need to supplement it with Savarese? I’m on the last stretch before both tests.
Ending up taking them back to back. I know that’s not the smartest way but it’s what I’m left with lol gonna be a rough two days
Ending up taking them back to back. I know that’s not the smartest way but it’s what I’m left with lol gonna be a rough two days
Everyone I have talked to has had different experiences with OMM on their exam (everyone from my school has taken comlex over the past 1.5 weeks), so take my experience with a grain of salt
I found it helpful to supplement with the green book because I am really bad at OMM. It hit some points home. I thought OMG OMT was great but I also appreciated the supplementation. I watched omg omt 2x, read the green book 2x and did combank.
That being said I got a bunch of OMM questions that could not have studied for LOL so
Lol that’s so dumbEveryone I have talked to has had different experiences with OMM on their exam (everyone from my school has taken comlex over the past 1.5 weeks), so take my experience with a grain of salt
I found it helpful to supplement with the green book because I am really bad at OMM. It hit some points home. I thought OMG OMT was great but I also appreciated the supplementation. I watched omg omt 2x, read the green book 2x and did combank.
That being said I got a bunch of OMM questions that could not have studied for LOL so
tetanitoxin
Full Member
Thanks everyone for the advice, it is form E, so guess I'll just keep plugging away at uworld for now and briefly review those the day before for now. Congrats to everyone done and good luck to those with upcoming exams!
I took COMLEX today- here’s what I thought, if it helps.
I don’t think COMSAE’s are a good representation of the real exam. The COMLEX question stems were really long. I’m talking 3 paragraphs + labs then “what’s the side effect of drug X?” I wasted so much time reading question stems. If I could do it again I’d read the last sentence and figure out how much detail I actually need from the stem. I’m normally way ahead on time, but took every last second for the exam today.
The questions were much more difficult than what I saw on COMSAE form A,C and E. More like UWorld than anything the NBOME has put out. There were a lot of videos. And they did repeat certain concepts over and over, which was similar to the COMSAEs.
The OMM was a crapshoot. There were a few high yield concepts (Chapman’s points, diagnosing SD, viscerosomatics) but then a good chunk of in depth questions on the mechanism of treatments. Def wasn’t ready for that.
Dang, not liking this long stem trend. Hope you did well though. Would you say combank (if you had that bank) was a little more representative than the comsaes?
I used UWorld and USMLE Rx. I’d say UWorld was the most representative of question type... even Rx had more gimmie’s than the actual COMLEX
I’m hoping it went well. I have such a hard time gauging how I do on these things!
Were the videos necessary to watch? Or could you figure the answer out without them?
On mine it was imperative that you watched them
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They were necessary. Most videos were OMM where you’d watch them diagnose and then have to answer questions without anyone actually giving you the diagnosis.
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Damn, did you watch the omgomt videos that correlated with pe findings?
cholinergiccrisis10
New Member
Has there been a shift in biochem emphasis on comlex that is not paralleled in DO qbanks like comquest/combank? Feeling comfortable w/ biochem on combank and comquest but bombing uworld biochem. 1 more month of studying for me. -_-
I’ve been doing B&B just for biochem and I’ve started to get it. Also draw out the pathways. Do one a day for like 5-10 minutes and youll get it pretty fast.
No- I didn’t use omgomt
Anyone used kaplan level 1 bank for OMM questions? Already have it, so kinda don't wanna buy combank/comquest unless necessary. Was just gunna use that and pair w/ omg omt (edit: nvm, their site is down & don't have an account). and otherwise just done UW. thoughts?
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mrmaestro
New Member
The sensitivity/specificity equations, the two-by-two table, etc. so that I don't second guess myself when I'm doing an actual calculation. Maybe also a couple pharmacology equations. Probably a smiley face.
With everything I have heard, i.e. that the COMLEX is so different/ harder this year, it really makes me wonder if I should be taking step 1 on top of the COMLEX. I got a 225 on CBSSA form 17 yesterday, but I am a notoriously bad standardized/ high-stakes test taker. I'm currently scheduled for both in two weeks but I'm in the same boat as others wondering if taking it would actually hurt me down the road. I just think it would be nice to have a test like USMLE that hasn't changed drastically in recent years and has fairly consistent questions, compared to the chaos that is COMLEX.
Also, does anyone know of any other good resources for OMM (other than savarese)? I was really excited about OMGOMT, but went to the website today to find I can't purchase it :'-(
Also, does anyone know of any other good resources for OMM (other than savarese)? I was really excited about OMGOMT, but went to the website today to find I can't purchase it :'-(
Difficult as in long stems and vague questions, or has the actual subject content changed?
Im curious how one class thought this years test was harder than last years when they didn't take it? COMLEX has been known to be difficult in the vague and obscure regard, this year may be on the harder end of the spectrum but I don't think its going to drastically change anyones score (>1SD)
There are people at my school who scored 250+ on their UWSAs who are scared they didn't get above 500 on comlex. Basically the consensus is the stems are too long for the short amount of time you have per question. Timing and fatigue are the hardest parts they said because you dont have time to sit and think during the block. Just go go go or you will run out of time.
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I think they will be pleasantly surprised when they get their scores back. It can always seem like doom and gloom when waiting to get scores back. Everyone knows more than they think they do, but they didn't have as much time as usual to reassure themselves of their answers.
mrmaestro
New Member
I agree. From what I've heard from upperclassmen, very few people leave COMLEX feeling like they did well, but most that studied hard and had good performance on practice exams are surprised to find they did pretty well in the end. I think people get a bit shaken on test day because COMSAEs have very short stems and COMLEX's stem tend to be much longer. Practicing with longer stems (UWorld, COMQUEST, etc.) can be helpful for that because you can practice skimming and getting relevant info out quickly. Good luck everyone!
Hey everyone. Ive been lurking on this thread for a bit, since I'm scheduled to take my COMLEX on June 15.
Now that I'm nearing my test date I want to really calibrate where I am at.
I just finished Uworld 1st pass with a 70% average. Last week I bought a 1 month sub to Comquest and am several hundred questions in....and sitting at an 85% average. I don't get it--it just seems like these Comquest questions are a piece of cake compared to Uworld! So my question is, are COMLEX questions really that similar to Comquest like everybody says? And if so, are long question stems the only thing that make COMLEX so hard?
I don't know about the rest of you but it really seems like Comquest is too easy and I should just stop and do a second pass of Uworld instead. Any thoughts? Should I just keep pounding it anyway since apparently it closely mimics the real thing? I really want to maximize my COMLEX score, so I don't want to do anything that isn't maximally efficient.
Now that I'm nearing my test date I want to really calibrate where I am at.
I just finished Uworld 1st pass with a 70% average. Last week I bought a 1 month sub to Comquest and am several hundred questions in....and sitting at an 85% average. I don't get it--it just seems like these Comquest questions are a piece of cake compared to Uworld! So my question is, are COMLEX questions really that similar to Comquest like everybody says? And if so, are long question stems the only thing that make COMLEX so hard?
I don't know about the rest of you but it really seems like Comquest is too easy and I should just stop and do a second pass of Uworld instead. Any thoughts? Should I just keep pounding it anyway since apparently it closely mimics the real thing? I really want to maximize my COMLEX score, so I don't want to do anything that isn't maximally efficient.
2nd pass of Uworld is what I would choose. I take COMLEX in two days and haven’t touched comquest. Finished uworld and I’m 500 or so questions in to my second pass (taking USMLE on the 21). Talking to upper classmen lead me to believe that comquest and combank were just to get a feel for how they ask rather than trying to learn content, but that’s jus my perspective. I’ve went through omm and micro (combank) the last few days just to be prepared since they say bugs, drugs, and omm
Esskeetit
New Member
Would you mind doing a post-exam write up on your feelings of COMLEX and any advice you might have afterwards? Much appreciated, and good luck!!
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