Hey guys,
Been a real long time since I've been on this network, and thought I'd drop by this forum real quick to offer some encouragement and feedback that will hopefully help you guys out. It also gives me a nice break from my Step 2 studying (currently as a newly minted 4th year).
What you guys are going through is totally new this year, as it looks like they revamped the Comsae practice exams, and may have also changed the scoring scale accordingly. I think the reason for that is the NBOME had reset the scoring scale for my class, which I think dropped the national average compared to the previous cycle (from 550's back to 520's for us). As such, you guys may have heard, we (I'm not necessarily only referring to my school...but just students in my graduating class in general across all DO schools) had numerous instances where their real COMLEX Level 1 scores dropped significantly from the practice Comsae exams. I'm not saying that everyone had a score drop, but a significant number did.
Glancing at this forum, I understand that there appears to be a lot of nervousness going on, especially as you get closer to your real COMLEX exam and having seen the results of your practice test. I totally get that, as I was in your shoes roughly a year ago. The test is very confusing at times, poorly worded, and vague - and I've experienced the feeling where you feel as though you are running out of time on the real test. Sometimes, there will be easy buzzwords and questions that you will know easily. However, many times, you will only have enough time to skim through the question quickly and make a quick educated first guess before moving on. It's just the way the COMLEX is and always has been. There is no way to sugarcoat it - the COMLEX Level 1 is a mentally exhausting exam, not to mention expensive too.
But what I wanted to tell, and encourage, you guys is to not worry so much on what your practice test results say - the NBOME most likely has not perfected the scoring scale for your new practice exams, and it doesn't shock me that the scores are so much lower. Rather, I want to tell you guys to trust more the process of your studying. Trust the standardized process of UFAP (+ sketchy if you use it or whatever other videos/resources/question bank), as it has worked out well for the majority of medical students over many years. I also will tell you not to focus so much on your question bank percentages - it is much more important to focus on just learning all the concepts well and thoroughly. I didn't pay attention to my percentages that much, because I was actively learning. If you put in the hours and the work, and really spent the time to learn the material and solve questions, then trust that the work will pay off eventually when you take the test. Even if you have to take a quick educated first guess and you have no idea what the question is asking, trust your gut feeling - usually it will serve you well over the course of the exam. And I will tell you that regardless of your preparation, almost nobody walks out of the exam feeling like they nailed the COMLEX - rather, we all thought that we failed this exam miserably. And for the most part, we did relatively fine (even with the score drop in my class) and moved on to clinical years without a second thought.
Just wanted to encourage you guys as you hit the home stretch! You guys are almost there, and you will make it to your clinical years!
