COMLEX Official 2019 Comlex 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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ASGD1983

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It's that time of the year. Anyone took new Comsae recently? Hopefully it's more predicitve than old ones that were all over the place - like +/- 100 points.
Also, interesting to hear if this years comlex is indeed changed? If anyone took it recently - please share your experience. Especially if you can compare it to previous year one.
 
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NickMT-RN said:
COMSAE Form E - 1/25/19 - 481
COMSAE Form D - 6/03/19 - 486
COMSAE 105 - 6/04/19 - 402***
COMLEX 1 - (7/2/19)

I'll come back and update as my scores come in.

*** A words about 105. It was optional for my class. About 30 of us took it. It seemed to be fairly demoralizing for everyone. The content was very similar to the other COMSAEs that i have taken, maybe a few more radiographs and videos. But not much else. Lots of random micro and oddly written OMM questions.

Our director of assessments and outcomes did say that during a recent conference with the NBOME were questioned about the COMSAE 105 by other school who felt blindsided due to the poor performance of their students. The response that was given to them was basically to not use the new blueprint exams for anything other than practice until a proper grading model was produced... So... Yeah.

I'm glad my school used the old exams to set our COMLEX release scores.
Click to expand...

^^^ Updated ^^^

Borderline embarrassed by those scores compared to some on here. But, whatever. I said i would share, lol.
 
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sunshinefl said:
***UPDATED***

COMSAE 104 6/2/19= 551
*school-proctored* COMSAE 105 6/4/19= 427
COMLEX 7/3/19= TBD
Click to expand...
NickMT-RN said:
^^^ Updated ^^^

Borderline embarrassed by those scores compared to some on here. But, whatever. I said i would share, lol.
Click to expand...

Don’t feel bad. I just got home from taking 105 at school and I dropped from a 551 on 104 2 days prior to a non-qualifying 427 today. I’m at a loss right now. I just want to cry and have a meltdown.
 
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I got a 451 on COMSAE 105 that my school made us take (they didn’t make us pass it to sit for comlex, which is odd considering most schools have a cutoff). Take comlex July 8th, how screwed am I?
 
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hawthorn9797 said:
I got a 451 on COMSAE 105 that my school made us take (they didn’t make us pass it to sit for comlex, which is odd considering most schools have a cutoff). Take comlex July 8th, how screwed am I?
Click to expand...

That is plenty of time to study, you will be fine.

Your school (& mine too) probably didn't set a cutoff b/c the new COMSAEs are trash & they knew this before having us take them.
 
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sunshinefl said:
Don’t feel bad. I just got home from taking 105 at school and I dropped from a 551 on 104 2 days prior to a non-qualifying 427 today. I’m at a loss right now. I just want to cry and have a meltdown.
Click to expand...

I am so sorry to hear about this situation. I wouldn't be surprised if you are actually scoring in the 550+. Just goes to show how s-h-i-t the new comsae's are when it comes to consistency. I have a very similar score to what you had for 104 but for 102 instead. I plan to take 104 this weekend and see if I have improved. The school has me scheduled for 105 in a couple of weeks. Did you feel the material on 105 was similar to the other comsae and that the curve is just so harsh? any tips are much welcomed. I also have a bad feeling about my upcoming 105 and want to see what are people are saying about it.
 
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hawthorn9797 said:
I got a 451 on COMSAE 105 that my school made us take (they didn’t make us pass it to sit for comlex, which is odd considering most schools have a cutoff). Take comlex July 8th, how screwed am I?
Click to expand...
If you scroll through this thread and some reddit threads, the new 105 curve sounds like it's way too harsh. 451 is probably average or above average (which would be 500+ on test day)
 
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sunshinefl said:
Don’t feel bad. I just got home from taking 105 at school and I dropped from a 551 on 104 2 days prior to a non-qualifying 427 today. I’m at a loss right now. I just want to cry and have a meltdown.
Click to expand...

Crap... sorry. I have no idea why the NBOME created the 105.

How was your classes average?



USAFMDO said:
If you scroll through this thread and some reddit threads, the new 105 curve sounds like it's way too harsh. 451 is probably average or above average (which would be 500+ on test day)
Click to expand...

I would say a 450 is above average for the 105 form. Can't be sure though. I've only heard of scores in the high 300's to mid 400's from my class so far.
 
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ASGD1983 said:
IMHO UW gets you through most of scenarios and concepts that may be asked so it's best qbank (a learning qbank). However, you need to have baseline knowledge before UW to get most out of it. And for that baseline knowledge you can use lots of other resources be it B&B, FA, etc or any combo of resources what most of us end up doing anyway.
Click to expand...
All of that and I want to add that the COMLEX and COMSAE like to be very broad (= nonspecific) and fish on the edges of what we learn. Weird micro, food supplements, rare DDI are all fair game.
 
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sunshinefl said:
Don’t feel bad. I just got home from taking 105 at school and I dropped from a 551 on 104 2 days prior to a non-qualifying 427 today. I’m at a loss right now. I just want to cry and have a meltdown.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. I know it sucks, but the COMSAE was so darn vague. People that took the Comlex said it was much more "normal". Hang in there.
 
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wonko said:
Sorry to hear that. I know it sucks, but the COMSAE was so darn vague. People that took the Comlex said it was much more "normal". Hang in there.
Click to expand...
Would you say at all the practice COMSAE exams are a waste of time and money considering the huge disparity in scores we are seeing? I considered taking 104(took 101 couple of weeks ago) tomorrow to get ready once again for s***** test writing, but if it's not going to come close, maybe I should save my money for a cheap beer and a visit of psychotherapy after 105?
 
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Sthpawslugger said:
Would you say at all the practice COMSAE exams are a waste of time and money considering the huge disparity in scores we are seeing? I considered taking 104(took 101 couple of weeks ago) tomorrow to get ready once again for s***** test writing, but if it's not going to come close, maybe I should save my money for a cheap beer and a visit of psychotherapy after 105?
Click to expand...

I would rather have my sphenoid forcefully dislocated by a hippo then paying the NBOME for these useless forms. Take an NBME or UWSA. Know your stuff there. Then don't suck at OMM (understand basic mechanisms and principals). I have not taken COMLEX yet though.
 
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I took 105 today as well as scored 423. Going over it with my classmates I'm not sure what I got wrong considering most of my answers were in line with everyone else's. I would say ~30-40% of the people that took the exam today didn't pass and those who did were barely above the 450 cutoff.
 
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Doc_C said:
I am so sorry to hear about this situation. I wouldn't be surprised if you are actually scoring in the 550+. Just goes to show how s-h-i-t the new comsae's are when it comes to consistency. I have a very similar score to what you had for 104 but for 102 instead. I plan to take 104 this weekend and see if I have improved. The school has me scheduled for 105 in a couple of weeks. Did you feel the material on 105 was similar to the other comsae and that the curve is just so harsh? any tips are much welcomed. I also have a bad feeling about my upcoming 105 and want to see what are people are saying about it.
Click to expand...

When I took NBME 13 and 16 it felt like just a harsh curve. I say this to point out that I know what you mean by the difference. 105 to me felt significantly more difficult/ridiculous while taking it than 104.
 
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Took Comlex with about an hour of sleep. I've grinded so long to just cancel and I think cancelling it would have destroyed my confidence even more.
From what I remember it was better than the new comsae's. Lots of repeat question on a single topic. My test was heavy in micro/neuro. OMM I thought was straight forward except for a couple of cranial questions. Ethics was much harder than anything I had seen on UWORLD. I ran completely off adrenaline and I hope I didn't destroy my chances for a good score.

Some backgroud:
Comsae 103 late march: 465
 
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NecrotizingFasciitis said:
That is plenty of time to study, you will be fine.

Your school (& mine too) probably didn't set a cutoff b/c the new COMSAEs are trash & they knew this before having us take them.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this! I’m trying to get like 530-550 rang, I’ve heard bad things about people doing well on step and bombing level 1 haha

I’m assuming we both go to the same school! Nice, yeah idk if they have ever had a cutoff though, super weird?? We have had like 100% pass rate for a long time so that may be why.
 
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USAFMDO said:
If you scroll through this thread and some reddit threads, the new 105 curve sounds like it's way too harsh. 451 is probably average or above average (which would be 500+ on test day)
Click to expand...
Wow good to hear! Was really disappointed with the 451, I mean I am no genius by any stretch, but I did get at least a 225 on nbme 18 and wasn’t really sure how that translates to barely passing comlex haha it was a punch to the gut for sure
 
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NecFasc92 said:
Use the names

Might want to remove specific topics, like those I erased. That's a violation of the exam and you could land in deep **** my friend.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the heads up. Didn't think about that completely. I'm still a little out of it
 
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popopopop said:
When you say EKG, we talking about basic ekg in FA, not 12 leads right?
Click to expand...

Okay so at this point I’ve taken 2 COMSAEs, no COMLEX. Each one had at least 5 out of 200 questions with 12 lead ECGs per COMSAE exam. Sometimes knowing the basic rhythm was enough, but still annoying because they didn’t give you a full page of lead II on the bottom. Others were identifying MIs or hypertrophy via other leads. I found some really weird/challenging/unclear even though ECG is a great strength of mine.
 
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kwood6 said:
Took Comlex with about an hour of sleep. I've grinded so long to just cancel and I think cancelling it would have destroyed my confidence even more.
From what I remember it was better than the new comsae's. Lots of repeat question on a single topic. My test was heavy in micro/neuro. OMM I thought was straight forward except for a couple of cranial questions. Ethics was much harder than anything I had seen on UWORLD. I ran completely off adrenaline and I hope I didn't destroy my chances for a good score.

Some backgroud:
Comsae 103 late march: 465
Click to expand...
Just wanted to ask if timing was an issue or not for you? And if you can compare timing to comsae too - as a point of reference. For example: you finished comsae with 15 min to spare, but barely finished comlex in time.
Thank you
 
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sunshinefl said:
Okay so at this point I’ve taken 2 COMSAEs, no COMLEX. Each one had at least 5 out of 200 questions with 12 lead ECGs per COMSAE exam. Sometimes knowing the basic rhythm was enough, but still annoying because they didn’t give you a full page of lead II on the bottom. Others were identifying MIs or hypertrophy via other leads. I found some really weird/challenging/unclear even though ECG is a great strength of mine.
Click to expand...
Lol that one tq where it clearly showed an MI but it wasn't even an answer choice...wtf
 
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For anyone who took COMLEX recently, is it comparable to COMBANK (like question style, level of difficulty)? Not sure if I should keep using COMBANK or just focus on UWorld. Thanks!
 
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ASGD1983 said:
Just wanted to ask if timing was an issue or not for you? And if you can compare timing to comsae too - as a point of reference. For example: you finished comsae with 15 min to spare, but barely finished comlex in time.
Thank you
Click to expand...
I had issues with time when I took the comsae. So about a week out of the comlex I practiced with time and had no problem on the test. I just made sure I was at the most 1 hr per section.
 
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kwood6 said:
Took Comlex with about an hour of sleep. I've grinded so long to just cancel and I think cancelling it would have destroyed my confidence even more.
From what I remember it was better than the new comsae's. Lots of repeat question on a single topic. My test was heavy in micro/neuro. OMM I thought was straight forward except for a couple of cranial questions. Ethics was much harder than anything I had seen on UWORLD. I ran completely off adrenaline and I hope I didn't destroy my chances for a good score.

Some backgroud:
Comsae 103 late march: 465
Click to expand...

Congrats on being done! I just wanted to ask - not sure if you used COMBANK but if you did, were the questions similar to that as in style of question/level of difficulty?
 
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Coffeelove16 said:
Congrats on being done! I just wanted to ask - not sure if you used COMBANK but if you did, were the questions similar to that as in style of question/level of difficulty?
Click to expand...
Thank you! I mostly did UWORLD, but I used COMBANK for timing towards the end. I think it was more similar to COMBANK than UWORLD. There was a lot more first order questions and videos with a few giant stems.
 
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kwood6 said:
Took Comlex with about an hour of sleep. I've grinded so long to just cancel and I think cancelling it would have destroyed my confidence even more.
From what I remember it was better than the new comsae's. Lots of repeat question on a single topic. My test was heavy in micro/neuro. OMM I thought was straight forward except for a couple of cranial questions. Ethics was much harder than anything I had seen on UWORLD. I ran completely off adrenaline and I hope I didn't destroy my chances for a good score.

Some backgroud:
Comsae 103 late march: 465
Click to expand...
Did u utilize COMQUEST at all in ur studies?
 
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kwood6 said:
Took Comlex with about an hour of sleep. I've grinded so long to just cancel and I think cancelling it would have destroyed my confidence even more.
From what I remember it was better than the new comsae's. Lots of repeat question on a single topic. My test was heavy in micro/neuro. OMM I thought was straight forward except for a couple of cranial questions. Ethics was much harder than anything I had seen on UWORLD. I ran completely off adrenaline and I hope I didn't destroy my chances for a good score.

Some backgroud:
Comsae 103 late march: 465
Click to expand...
Did you feel Savarese was enough for OMM or did you use other resources?
 
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tdap201827 said:
How many questions right do you need to pass ie. get a 400? I head it's 50% from other SDN threads. Anyone know?
Click to expand...
Hard to say, no one really has an answer to that, but imho it's probably around that. Otherwise passing rates would have been abysmal. It's a marathon of 8+1 hours of pure focus and mental concentration for 400 questions done under time pressure and exam stress and anxiety. A lot on stake. If passing line was at 60% - we would have seen a lot more failures. Just my opinion.
 
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tdap201827 said:
How many questions right do you need to pass ie. get a 400? I head it's 50% from other SDN threads. Anyone know?
Click to expand...

No one knows. But I have a suspicion that the percent required to pass can probably fluctuate between high 40s to mid 50s depending on the form. Step isn't very different. There have been med educators on SDN that have said that the NBME has essentially admitted at some med ed conferences that the passing line for Step is about 50-55% raw score, I see no reason why COMLEX would be any different.
 
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On the nbme website, scoring and reporting portion it states "The examinations containing multiple-choice items, the percentages of correctly answered items required to pass varies from form to form. However, examinees typically must answer 60 to 70 percent of items correctly to achieve a passing score"
 
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Green1234 said:
On the nbme website, scoring and reporting portion it states "The examinations containing multiple-choice items, the percentages of correctly answered items required to pass varies from form to form. However, examinees typically must answer 60 to 70 percent of items correctly to achieve a passing score"
Click to expand...
I know they say that. However that is contrary to what medical educators have been told at conferences with the NBME. Most likely it fluctuates greatly with the form you get.
 
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