COMLEX Official 2019 Comlex 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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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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Comlex tomorrow. Just chilliung today. Of course I did get a nasty tick bite monday, couldn't get the thing out, had to see a Dr who cut it out and now it looks like its ulcerating and hurts like a cranial dysfunction. What is wrong with me? Tularemia? Furious borreliosis? Current plan is to take painkillers galore and work through it tomorrow. it's right on my fib head...
 
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wonko said:
Comlex tomorrow. Just chilliung today. Of course I did get a nasty tick bite monday, couldn't get the thing out, had to see a Dr who cut it out and now it looks like its ulcerating and hurts like a cranial dysfunction. What is wrong with me? Tularemia? Furious borreliosis? Current plan is to take painkillers galore and work through it tomorrow. it's right on my fib head...
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something something thoracic inlet. Am I doing this right?!
 
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Thought I would get on here since I took the COMLEX on 6/13.
I got average grades, usually in the low B range over the first two years. Took the COMSAE D in early May and got a 481, then after "dedicated study" (my school gave us like three weeks, so not much time) took the new COMSAE 101 and got a 488. Went through COMBANK with a 70% correct/71st percentile, got through first aid, and watched sketchy for pharm and a bit of micro.
COMLEX is a different experience for everyone, but for my day there wasn't nearly as much neuro or anatomy as I expected. I had quite a bit of micro (but those questions felt fairly straightforward and were the "easiest" points in my opinion), a sprinkling of ethics, and basic biostats (first aid tables is all you'll need to know there). Lots of videos for the OMM questions rather than descriptions. I didn't find the paragraphs too long, but there is for sure a time crunch and at times you'll need to pick a question just because it sounds like something you read once or it feels right....just keep moving. 🙂
At my testing center we got a couple dry erase boards, it's always good to jot some notes down while the tutorial module timer is ticking down if you think it'll help.
Last thing I'll say....sometimes the answer is NOT something that was in first aid/sketchy/etc. I had several questions where it was a process of elimination, I knew what the answer wasn't but hadn't heard of that one I picked....looked a couple of them up after the test and sure enough, they were right. Trust your gut, don't overthink it.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! I'll update when I get my score in July, but literally at this point no idea if I passed or not but was really hoping for over a 500 🙂
 
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getfat said:
Yeah sitting in the classroom reviewing OMM videos post step gets old real quick.
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This is funny. I remember seeing you @getfat in the applying threads back in the day. I think we had a few exchanges as well. Here we are again. I'm going into hate study mode right now, too.

@sunshinefl I remember your name too. For some reason I think you got into NOVA or something. I definitely remember you, too. The old gang back at it. I have logged in maybe twice since I got accepted and when I saw the two of your names, I had to say something.
 
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SanFran_FutureDoc said:
Thought I would get on here since I took the COMLEX on 6/13.
I got average grades, usually in the low B range over the first two years. Took the COMSAE D in early May and got a 481, then after "dedicated study" (my school gave us like three weeks, so not much time) took the new COMSAE 101 and got a 488. Went through COMBANK with a 70% correct/71st percentile, got through first aid, and watched sketchy for pharm and a bit of micro.
...
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Thank you for the tips. I would like to point out that my school actually gave 0, zero, weeks of dedicated and we had primary care skills and OMM lectures in every one of those weeks. There was a lot of hate-filled commentary from my entire class.

Taking COMLEX Friday. Fingers crossed the micro was similar to NBOMEs. I got wrecked on the OMM portion but my mates keep telling me the OMM wasn't too bad on the real deal. Hopefully they're right. Do you care to comment on the OMM questions and what they were like compared to NBOMEs and TrueLearn?
 
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Do we need to bring a print out thingy to comlex like to the USMLE?

Can't find anything...
 
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Doctor_anonymous said:
This is funny. I remember seeing you @getfat in the applying threads back in the day. I think we had a few exchanges as well. Here we are again. I'm going into hate study mode right now, too.

@sunshinefl I remember your name too. For some reason I think you got into NOVA or something. I definitely remember you, too. The old gang back at it. I have logged in maybe twice since I got accepted and when I saw the two of your names, I had to say something.
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Aww I love this!
Yes I am at Nova.
And I think about all my SDN peeps and got excited when I saw @getfat finished the USMLE.
 
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wonko said:
Do we need to bring a print out thingy to comlex like to the USMLE?

Can't find anything...
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I haven’t found anything either so I don’t think so. I still got a reminder call from prometric so I think I’m alright
 
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Any more info on what to focus on? Read the green book today but who knows what actually stuck. I feel decent at OMM. Test is Friday
 
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sdhere1234 said:
Anyone else finish comlex and have NO idea where they stand score wise? At least with step we had tons of NBMEs, UWSA, UW, etc. to gauge a range of scores

Aside from the school administered comsaes (LOL), I feel like there's not much to go off of
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If you want to know your score, you're supposed to palpate the monitor rookie.

All you can do is trust your prep. if you are scoring within that range on > 2 of your last two exams then theres a good chance thats what youll get.

There is an OMM COMAT you could do if you are really concerned about the OMM portion. But it has heavy emphasis on techniques.
 
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Doctor_anonymous said:
Thank you for the tips. I would like to point out that my school actually gave 0, zero, weeks of dedicated and we had primary care skills and OMM lectures in every one of those weeks. There was a lot of hate-filled commentary from my entire class.

Taking COMLEX Friday. Fingers crossed the micro was similar to NBOMEs. I got wrecked on the OMM portion but my mates keep telling me the OMM wasn't too bad on the real deal. Hopefully they're right. Do you care to comment on the OMM questions and what they were like compared to NBOMEs and TrueLearn?
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Ugh, I'm sorry. My school also gives us none; the only reason I had dedicated time was because I forfeited my vacation month for a summer study month instead of my first rotation. Schools that don't give dedicated study time are a joke and my entire class pretty much hates my school for that as well. Just hang in there and wishing you the best of luck!
Re the OMM questions: Almost all my OMM questions were videos. Lots of simple things, diagnostic tests, pelvic diagnoses, etc. are all good to review because those were the bulk of my questions. Also some ME and counterstrain setup positions. I had literally two chapman's points and only one counterstrain point. Overall I thought the OMM was the same or easier than COMBANK for my test.
 
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Got the exam on the 28th.

I have about 600 uworld incorrects left and 1400 combank questions I haven't done (did all the omm questions)

Should I smash all the combank to get used to the crappy questions or focus on the rest of my uworld incorrects? Probably don't have time for both but I'm pretty sure I can do one or the other of I buckle down
 
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In terms of cramming micro in...since I don't really have time to go through sketchy, would you recommend just brute forcing FA? So at least I've seen these ridiculous bugs before?
 
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Chibucks15 said:
In terms of cramming micro in...since I don't really have time to go through sketchy, would you recommend just brute forcing FA? So at least I've seen these ridiculous bugs before?
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Cramming in FA the couple days before the exam was good enough for the micro I got. I had a couple of the more random bugs on there so overall I thought FA was enough for what I needed to know micro-wise.
 
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SanFran_FutureDoc said:
Cramming in FA the couple days before the exam was good enough for the micro I got. I had a couple of the more random bugs on there so overall I thought FA was enough for what I needed to know micro-wise.
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Thanks. Basically all I've done is some COMBANK, read the green book, and now going to just try to get as much FA micro into my head as possible. Any more tips? Exam is Friday
 
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I'm doing COMBANK now and feel the same. How can they continue to get away with this BS? I always thought that the people complaining just liked to hear themselves talk but dear lord these are terrible. If your practice questions are either 88%+ or under 40%, with nothing in between, you are writing crap questions.

Cant wait for friday just to get this nonsense over with
 
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My favorite ones are the ethical questions where there is a clear easy answer, but not in the foils. Somehow the foils all involve COPS, courts or answers that would lead to physical altercations with the patient...
 
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wonko said:
Just got out. Am livid!

Poorly written test, questions with mistakes, questions ranging from ridiculously easy to "Really?". My pharm was definitely harder than my micro, OMM was easy peasy. Super heavy on stats and very ambiguous at that.
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Congrats on finishing! Did you do sketchy pharm? Why was it hard - was it because they tested on low yield information or drugs you’ve never seen?
 
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Chibucks15 said:
I'm doing COMBANK now and feel the same. How can they continue to get away with this BS? I always thought that the people complaining just liked to hear themselves talk but dear lord these are terrible. If your practice questions are either 88%+ or under 40%, with nothing in between, you are writing crap questions.

Cant wait for friday just to get this nonsense over with
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I've also decided to smash COMBANK in preparation. I'm doing 200-300 questions per day. These questions are awful but probably at least marginally representative of the exam's terribleness. Good luck to you
 
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bravenugget21 said:
Congrats on finishing! Did you do sketchy pharm? Why was it hard - was it because they tested on low yield information or drugs you’ve never seen?
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Just to give you an example - I made this question up, but it shows the problem.

"A patient is taking multiple meds, including OCPs, Phenytoin, Acetaminophen, Lisinopril, Citidine, amiodarone, omeprazol and Sumatriptan. She drinks 3 beer every night. She also binge drinks Grapefruit juice with her friends at brunch. You somehow magically realize that her OCPs increase in serum concentration? Which of the following should she cut back on to minimize DDI with her OCP?

Alcohol
Phenytoin
Lisinopril
Citidine
Amiodarone
Omeprazol
Acetaminophen
Suma
Grapefruit juice


To answer this question, you not only need to know who's an inducer or an inhibitor of CYPs, but also which CYP a) OCP's are a substrate of and b) which of the drugs act on that one.
 
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wonko said:
Just to give you an example - I made this question up, but it shows the problem.

"A patient is taking multiple meds, including OCPs, Phenytoin, Acetaminophen, Lisinopril, Citidine, amiodarone, omeprazol and Sumatriptan. She drinks 3 beer every night. She also binge drinks Grapefruit juice with her friends at brunch. You somehow magically realize that her OCPs increase in serum concentration? Which of the following should she cut back on to minimize DDI with her OCP?

Alcohol
Phenytoin
Lisinopril
Citidine
Amiodarone
Omeprazol
Acetaminophen
Suma
Grapefruit juice


To answer this question, you not only need to know who's an inducer or an inhibitor of CYPs, but also which CYP a) OCP's are a substrate of and b) which of the drugs act on that one.
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Ok I see the point now. It’s one of those you either know it and move your way through quickly or you’ll be spending time recalling pictures and mnemonics.

was micro fairly straight forward for you?
 
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bravenugget21 said:
Ok I see the point now. It’s one of those you either know it and move your way through quickly or you’ll be spending time recalling pictures and mnemonics.

was micro fairly straight forward for you?
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Not really. It was one single detail of the bug, either you know it or not. Giving sketchy a real run for its money. USMLE had typically multiple hints and/or a clinical picture.
 
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Chibucks15 said:
Any other tips besides bringing lube? Idk what to think about this thing
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Go with your gut. Choose the most commons. Try to be a pretentious dingus on ethics questions. Always call an interpreter and never the cops. It's always the splenic vein. It's always staph. Also, be quick. Time may be an issue. I finished step with > 2 hours time remaining. This one, < 30 min.
 
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wonko said:
Just got out. Am livid!

Poorly written test, questions with mistakes, questions ranging from ridiculously easy to "Really?". My pharm was definitely harder than my micro, OMM was easy peasy. Super heavy on stats and very ambiguous at that.
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Congrats on being done cubicle neighbor!

Agreed with all of this. Also i had more than a handful of literally the exact same question on different blocks. Sometimes in the same block. Like same stem same answer etc. My OMM was half easy half id never heard of. Sketchy pharm and micro will yield the most points for sure. Some imaging where im convinced there was nothing wrong but that wasnt an option?

Timing is def a crunch, 10min breaks between blocks 2/3 and 6/7 were not long enough to actually take a break. I actually took a hit on my in exam time because i had to drop a numero 2 during a short break.

Long videos, heavy msk, some really long stems some one sentencers, etc. All the usual stuff people have reported.

All in all i was in full burnout mode less than half way through and just wanted to be done. 400qs is a lot lol
 
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wonko said:
My heart had an ectopic beat when you sat down next to me. Wanted to pass you note of affection, but that probably would not have flown with the grim lady.
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Hahaha its was a sign of AT stills blessing. I could feel the bone wizardry just radiating from your seat, hoping some of the magic got passed on to me!

wonko said:
Hahaha I was looking at that and "yup, normal CT. Wait, what?!?"




I nuked the place at 7:30. easily 6 pound with apgar > 9. It went downhill from there.
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Lesson to self: dont try introducing high fiber products to my diet the morning of a 400q exam after eating nothing but qdoba and chicken wings for 6months
 
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Scrubs101 said:
Congrats on being done cubicle neighbor!

Agreed with all of this. Also i had more than a handful of literally the exact same question on different blocks. Sometimes in the same block. Like same stem same answer etc. My OMM was half easy half id never heard of. Sketchy pharm and micro will yield the most points for sure. Some imaging where im convinced there was nothing wrong but that wasnt an option?

Timing is def a crunch, 10min breaks between blocks 2/3 and 6/7 were not long enough to actually take a break. I actually took a hit on my in exam time because i had to drop a numero 2 during a short break.

Long videos, heavy msk, some really long stems some one sentencers, etc. All the usual stuff people have reported.

All in all i was in full burnout mode less than half way through and just wanted to be done. 400qs is a lot lol
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"exact same question" <-- sounds like double death or double win.
 
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What is the best viscerosomatic/chapmans youtube video to memorize? I've always used the SLPSKUBLP mnemonic, but it seems the comsae specifically asked stuff that mnemonic doesn't cover.
 
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How did you guys cover the OMM treatment stuff? Seem I lose points over those when it comes to counterstrain and chapman stuff. The answer choices all sound similar with exception of one thing.
 
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bravenugget21 said:
How did you guys cover the OMM treatment stuff? Seem I lose points over those when it comes to counterstrain and chapman stuff. The answer choices all sound similar with exception of one thing.
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I think if they ask me about a setup then I'm just gonna guess. During practicals I only ever learned one technique for each body segment and used it. So if it isn't those techniques, I've never even thought about looking at them again haha
 
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bravenugget21 said:
How did you guys cover the OMM treatment stuff? Seem I lose points over those when it comes to counterstrain and chapman stuff. The answer choices all sound similar with exception of one thing.
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I’m gonna run through OMM on Online MedEd at 2x speed as @AnatomyGrey12 suggested, the day before my COMLEX, and then look at viscerosomatics and anterior chapman’s points the morning of. If that doesn’t cover it, I’m taking the L.
 
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So recap...most high yield systems are micro, MSK, neuro, and ethics (I know everything is high yield I'm just trying to figure out what to cram). Been working through OMM, micro, and ethics for the past day or so. Moving into MSK and neuro tonight then probably just gonna FA rapid review it and hope for the best.

COMSAE 103 had me at 530 so that would be ideal that's for sure
 
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Scrubs101 said:
Congrats on being done cubicle neighbor!

Agreed with all of this. Also i had more than a handful of literally the exact same question on different blocks. Sometimes in the same block. Like same stem same answer etc. My OMM was half easy half id never heard of. Sketchy pharm and micro will yield the most points for sure. Some imaging where im convinced there was nothing wrong but that wasnt an option?

Timing is def a crunch, 10min breaks between blocks 2/3 and 6/7 were not long enough to actually take a break. I actually took a hit on my in exam time because i had to drop a numero 2 during a short break.

Long videos, heavy msk, some really long stems some one sentencers, etc. All the usual stuff people have reported.

All in all i was in full burnout mode less than half way through and just wanted to be done. 400qs is a lot lol
Click to expand...
This might be a dumb question. When people are saying MSK, does that mean like MSK Path (osteoporosis, sarcoma, etc.) or gross anatomy type MSK (which I blow at)??
 
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USAFMDO said:
This might be a dumb question. When people are saying MSK, does that mean like MSK Path (osteoporosis, sarcoma, etc.) or gross anatomy type MSK (which I blow at)??
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it means both, but for our specific COMLEX experience mainly bony stuff, tests (neers, addisons, hawkings, spurlings etc), ligaments and all that good stuff that the bone wizards love. From my experience, bone tumors etc were super high yield for NBME practice exams, but nowhere else.
 
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wonko said:
it means both, but for our specific COMLEX experience mainly bony stuff, tests (neers, addisons, hawkings, spurlings etc), ligaments and all that good stuff that the bone wizards love. From my experience, bone tumors etc were super high yield for NBME practice exams, but nowhere else.
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lol 25 anterior drawer ACL/ATFL questions please! Like I said, I'm pretty terrible at that gross stuff. You think FA MSK is good to look over a few times? I have tests down
 
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