Official comlex 1 2012 experiences, advice, and scores thread

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For those of you who have taken COMLEX I, please feel free to post schedules, advice on studying/ how to best prepare, types of questions you saw on the test, something you wish you had done while preparing to improve your score, etc. Also feel free to post your score.

I am taking COMLEX I on June 25th, and I'm getting a bit nervous because I feel disorganized and don't have a solid plan. If I come across good suggestions, I will post them here right away. 😀

Thanks for everyone's help, and I hope we all rock this test!!!

 

[gatorbait10]

Are there matching questions and multi-step case study type questions in EVERY block for comlex level 1?

 

[WonderBoy]

People from July 25th get their scores yet?

 

[Singingpremed]

Yes. I got my score last Monday! Hope everyone hears soon!

 

[mike1618]

Comsae C: 410
Comlex 1: 660


Through trial and error, I have found that each person has to find what works best for them and stick with it. The problem is that there are so many companies popping up with new products that it becomes a guessing game. Luckily we have SDN to help each other out. For the most part, I felt like the reviews on SDN were very helpful. However, there are a few that I suspect are from the companies writing their own review. So here is what I did. I hope that it helps some of you in the future just as other reviews helped me.

DIT
I started with DIT and some UWorld. The only reason that I even started DIT was because my school made us buy it and I felt guilty for not doing it since I already paid a lot for it. This was my biggest mistake. It took me a little over 3 weeks to finish it. Somewhere towards week 3, I took COMSAE C and barely passed. This was my eye opener. I realized that even though they covered a topic, I was still getting questions wrong because they teach you to memorize small details. Even though I knew the details they were teaching, I didn't have the global knowledge to apply the details in slightly different presentations. I cannot recommend DIT to anyone. DIT is good for memorizing little details in First Aid, however I think that in order to do well on the board exams you have to acquire a very broad understanding of the material and while doing so the details will fall into place.


UWORLD
This is an extremely good quality question bank. Everyone already knows that it is the standard for the USMLE. Because I did DIT, I only had time to get through about 1/3 of UWorld.

COMBANK
I was not happy with the quality of COMBANK. The amount of errors in the material really started to get to me. I also started realizing that I wasn't learning a whole lot from each question. The explanations were poorly drafted or non-existent. It may be good for some people who are looking for a qbank for evaluating their knowledge level, but it certainly was not a good learning qbank. I found myself constantly looking up things that were blatantly wrong. The final straw came when there were questions drafted directly from First Aid 2012 that contained errata that was word for word, as if it was copied and pasted. It was very obvious that students were writing questions. They were writing them directly out of First Aid. At this point, I turned to SDN to look to see what else was out there. Someone spoke very highly of COMQUEST, so I gave it a shot.

COMQUEST

I did this bank for the last 2 or 3 weeks before my test. I really believe that this was the difference maker in my score. I cannot say enough about this qbank. Every question had a well thought out answer and discussion. This gave me the global knowledge to compare and contrast material. For example, in DIT or Combank I would pick up a few details about a specific gram negative rod in a certain presentation. But with Comquest, I found myself learning how to contrast all of the gram negative rods that fit that particular presentation. I could do about 100 questions a day at maximum, but I was learning so much from each question. Keep in mind that each explanation has about a page worth of information to read. It really made the information in First Aid pop out and the constant repetition helped me to start picking up details. I added in anything that wasn't in First Aid.

My particular Comlex was about 55% Micro. Micro was a weakness of mine until I did Comquest. The night before the test I read over my First Aid micro section with all of my Comquest notes. This ended up being huge for me. Another area that Comquest excelled in was Ethics and Medical Jurisprudence, which apparently has become a hot topic on the Comlex. I was very well-prepared for these areas on the test. There isn't a qbank out there that covers these areas better.

The development of the explanations is the what helped me so much. Their OMM section was great. I supplemented it with the questions at the end of Savarese.

Another thing that really impressed me was there customer service. I came across an error in an explanation and commented on it. Within 24 hours they had emailed me back and fixed the error. Combank never contacted me back and never fixed there bad questions.

If I had to do it again, I would have done UWorld and then Comquest twice. I will certainly be sticking with Comquest for COMLEX 2.

 

[WonderBoy]

Comsae C: 410
Comlex 1: 660


Through trial and error, I have found that each person has to find what works best for them and stick with it. The problem is that there are so many companies popping up with new products that it becomes a guessing game. Luckily we have SDN to help each other out. For the most part, I felt like the reviews on SDN were very helpful. However, there are a few that I suspect are from the companies writing their own review. So here is what I did. I hope that it helps some of you in the future just as other reviews helped me.

DIT
I started with DIT and some UWorld. The only reason that I even started DIT was because my school made us buy it and I felt guilty for not doing it since I already paid a lot for it. This was my biggest mistake. It took me a little over 3 weeks to finish it. Somewhere towards week 3, I took COMSAE C and barely passed. This was my eye opener. I realized that even though they covered a topic, I was still getting questions wrong because they teach you to memorize small details. Even though I knew the details they were teaching, I didn't have the global knowledge to apply the details in slightly different presentations. I cannot recommend DIT to anyone. DIT is good for memorizing little details in First Aid, however I think that in order to do well on the board exams you have to acquire a very broad understanding of the material and while doing so the details will fall into place.


UWORLD
This is an extremely good quality question bank. Everyone already knows that it is the standard for the USMLE. Because I did DIT, I only had time to get through about 1/3 of UWorld.

COMBANK
I was not happy with the quality of COMBANK. The amount of errors in the material really started to get to me. I also started realizing that I wasn't learning a whole lot from each question. The explanations were poorly drafted or non-existent. It may be good for some people who are looking for a qbank for evaluating their knowledge level, but it certainly was not a good learning qbank. I found myself constantly looking up things that were blatantly wrong. The final straw came when there were questions drafted directly from First Aid 2012 that contained errata that was word for word, as if it was copied and pasted. It was very obvious that students were writing questions. They were writing them directly out of First Aid. At this point, I turned to SDN to look to see what else was out there. Someone spoke very highly of COMQUEST, so I gave it a shot.

COMQUEST

I did this bank for the last 2 or 3 weeks before my test. I really believe that this was the difference maker in my score. I cannot say enough about this qbank. Every question had a well thought out answer and discussion. This gave me the global knowledge to compare and contrast material. For example, in DIT or Combank I would pick up a few details about a specific gram negative rod in a certain presentation. But with Comquest, I found myself learning how to contrast all of the gram negative rods that fit that particular presentation. I could do about 100 questions a day at maximum, but I was learning so much from each question. Keep in mind that each explanation has about a page worth of information to read. It really made the information in First Aid pop out and the constant repetition helped me to start picking up details. I added in anything that wasn't in First Aid.

My particular Comlex was about 55% Micro. Micro was a weakness of mine until I did Comquest. The night before the test I read over my First Aid micro section with all of my Comquest notes. This ended up being huge for me. Another area that Comquest excelled in was Ethics and Medical Jurisprudence, which apparently has become a hot topic on the Comlex. I was very well-prepared for these areas on the test. There isn't a qbank out there that covers these areas better.

The development of the explanations is the what helped me so much. Their OMM section was great. I supplemented it with the questions at the end of Savarese.

Another thing that really impressed me was there customer service. I came across an error in an explanation and commented on it. Within 24 hours they had emailed me back and fixed the error. Combank never contacted me back and never fixed there bad questions.

If I had to do it again, I would have done UWorld and then Comquest twice. I will certainly be sticking with Comquest for COMLEX 2.

Thanks for the detailed write up, wish we had more of these. Good luck with rotations!

 

[tulipsss]

How important did you think UWORLD was? I am focusing on COMQUEST only.

 

[sweetsweetlax]

Is anyone else out there unable to access NBOME / COMSAE's today? Was this planned maintainence?

 

[mike1618]

I thought Comquest was more than adequate for me. The combination of both of them would give you a great foundation, but I only was able to get through 1/3 or UWorld. Comquest was very good, just make sure that you are getting everything you can out of each question. Don't overlook the ethics and jurisprudence questions, because those showed up for me.

 

[PalmDO]

Comsae C: 410
Comlex 1: 660


Through trial and error, I have found that each person has to find what works best for them and stick with it. The problem is that there are so many companies popping up with new products that it becomes a guessing game. Luckily we have SDN to help each other out. For the most part, I felt like the reviews on SDN were very helpful. However, there are a few that I suspect are from the companies writing their own review. So here is what I did. I hope that it helps some of you in the future just as other reviews helped me.

DIT
I started with DIT and some UWorld. The only reason that I even started DIT was because my school made us buy it and I felt guilty for not doing it since I already paid a lot for it. This was my biggest mistake. It took me a little over 3 weeks to finish it. Somewhere towards week 3, I took COMSAE C and barely passed. This was my eye opener. I realized that even though they covered a topic, I was still getting questions wrong because they teach you to memorize small details. Even though I knew the details they were teaching, I didn't have the global knowledge to apply the details in slightly different presentations. I cannot recommend DIT to anyone. DIT is good for memorizing little details in First Aid, however I think that in order to do well on the board exams you have to acquire a very broad understanding of the material and while doing so the details will fall into place.


UWORLD
This is an extremely good quality question bank. Everyone already knows that it is the standard for the USMLE. Because I did DIT, I only had time to get through about 1/3 of UWorld.

COMBANK
I was not happy with the quality of COMBANK. The amount of errors in the material really started to get to me. I also started realizing that I wasn't learning a whole lot from each question. The explanations were poorly drafted or non-existent. It may be good for some people who are looking for a qbank for evaluating their knowledge level, but it certainly was not a good learning qbank. I found myself constantly looking up things that were blatantly wrong. The final straw came when there were questions drafted directly from First Aid 2012 that contained errata that was word for word, as if it was copied and pasted. It was very obvious that students were writing questions. They were writing them directly out of First Aid. At this point, I turned to SDN to look to see what else was out there. Someone spoke very highly of COMQUEST, so I gave it a shot.

COMQUEST

I did this bank for the last 2 or 3 weeks before my test. I really believe that this was the difference maker in my score. I cannot say enough about this qbank. Every question had a well thought out answer and discussion. This gave me the global knowledge to compare and contrast material. For example, in DIT or Combank I would pick up a few details about a specific gram negative rod in a certain presentation. But with Comquest, I found myself learning how to contrast all of the gram negative rods that fit that particular presentation. I could do about 100 questions a day at maximum, but I was learning so much from each question. Keep in mind that each explanation has about a page worth of information to read. It really made the information in First Aid pop out and the constant repetition helped me to start picking up details. I added in anything that wasn't in First Aid.

My particular Comlex was about 55% Micro. Micro was a weakness of mine until I did Comquest. The night before the test I read over my First Aid micro section with all of my Comquest notes. This ended up being huge for me. Another area that Comquest excelled in was Ethics and Medical Jurisprudence, which apparently has become a hot topic on the Comlex. I was very well-prepared for these areas on the test. There isn't a qbank out there that covers these areas better.

The development of the explanations is the what helped me so much. Their OMM section was great. I supplemented it with the questions at the end of Savarese.

Another thing that really impressed me was there customer service. I came across an error in an explanation and commented on it. Within 24 hours they had emailed me back and fixed the error. Combank never contacted me back and never fixed there bad questions.

If I had to do it again, I would have done UWorld and then Comquest twice. I will certainly be sticking with Comquest for COMLEX 2.

👍 great post and nice score! I agree with 100% of what you've said above. I think UW would be a good supplement, but I also didn't get through it due to lack of time and it's not essential unless you're taking the USMLE. I'm not, and I was OK without it.

 

[StressedMedStud]

TOOK the test today!!! First of all it feels soooo goood to be done!!!

I thought it was a very hard exam and I have no idea how I did. I felt that I was guessing on ALOT of questions. Has anyone felt like this and ended up doing ok? I am not sure if I passed or if I barely passed but it feels like I failed because I was guessing on the second half of the exam

My Breakdown:

My test was extremelyyyy micro heavy!!!! I had alot of Bacteria and Worms. There were a few viruses here and there.

My test was also VERY OMM heavy! I had alot of VSR, Ribs, a few chapman points, Upper extremity

There was a quite of bit of cardio pharm, on it too.

The next big topic was cardio, I felt that I had many cardio phys questions as well.

THere wwas very little neuro on mine which is shocking based on what other people said.

There were alot of xray and path images, but you could answer the questions w/out having to look at the images.

Overall, I thought my exam was fair, but it was realllllly tricky and alot of secondary/tertiary questions.

Here is what I did to prep:

1) Read First Aid 4X
2) Did all of combank - finished by end of June
3) Did comquest 2X
4) Did Pathoma once - finished in July
5) Did DIT - finished in June
6) Kaplan Anatomy video for Upper and Lower Extremities
7) Read Savarese chapters (1-18) 2X

I just really wanna pass at this point!!! Ill be grateful for that!

 

[da Vincis World]

My study plan was very simple and entirely geared toward preparation for the USMLE. I didn’t use any of the comlex based Q banks. The only specific comlex prep I did was go through Savarese one time the two days prior to my test, particularly the VS reflexes(or whatever they are called).

I did begin studying very early. I began uWorld questions and pathoma in November of MS2 (~8mos out) but started slowly. I finished pathoma in December and really began to hit uWorld hard in January, doing my best to cover at least 46 questions a night. During class I would just read and annotate uWorld stuff into FA. By the time I got to my dedicated study time in June I had been through FA 3-4x.

During MS1 and MS2 anytime I had a long trip or went for a run I was listening to Goljan…..this man teaches you how to think and knowing how to think through those really difficult questions is how you take your score to the next level. You will never be able to study for every possible question, you have to be able to think through and make logical guesses on those impossible questions. I made it through Goljan audio ~4-5x over MS1/2. The Pathoma videos are also excellent for teaching you how to think.

During my dedicated time I continued with FA, Pathoma, and uWorld and did some of USMLERx(~1000qs). I made it throught the pathoma videos again and through FA about 4 more times. The last two weeks I was able to make it throught FA 2x in 10 days, you’ll get really quick at this towards the end. I never made a study schedule or studied more than about 7hrs a day, that’s just not for me……this is why I started so early.


Resources (from Highest to Lowest Yield...my opinion):
uWorld (3x)
FA (~8x)
Pathoma (2x)
Cross sections from HY neuro
USMLERx (1000q)
…….That’s it, you do not need 10 books and 5 Q banks to do well, you’re better off knowing fewer resources very well. If you’re are unsure of something that you are reading in uWorld or FA look it up (google/Wikipedia) but DO NOT spend a lot of time doing this…..the basics are much more important than the minutiae.

NBME7: 238 (10w out)
NBME11: 247 (2.5w out)
Comsae: ~650 (2.5w out)

USMLE: ~260
COMLEX: ~730

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions

 

[Lazybastard]

My study plan was very simple and entirely geared toward preparation for the USMLE. I didn’t use any of the comlex based Q banks. The only specific comlex prep I did was go through Savarese one time the two days prior to my test, particularly the VS reflexes(or whatever they are called).

I did begin studying very early. I began uWorld questions and pathoma in November of MS2 (~8mos out) but started slowly. I finished pathoma in December and really began to hit uWorld hard in January, doing my best to cover at least 46 questions a night. During class I would just read and annotate uWorld stuff into FA. By the time I got to my dedicated study time in June I had been through FA 3-4x.

During MS1 and MS2 anytime I had a long trip or went for a run I was listening to Goljan…..this man teaches you how to think and knowing how to think through those really difficult questions is how you take your score to the next level. You will never be able to study for every possible question, you have to be able to think through and make logical guesses on those impossible questions. I made it through Goljan audio ~4-5x over MS1/2. The Pathoma videos are also excellent for teaching you how to think.

During my dedicated time I continued with FA, Pathoma, and uWorld and did some of USMLERx(~1000qs). I made it throught the pathoma videos again and through FA about 4 more times. The last two weeks I was able to make it throught FA 2x in 10 days, you’ll get really quick at this towards the end. I never made a study schedule or studied more than about 7hrs a day, that’s just not for me……this is why I started so early.


Resources (from Highest to Lowest Yield...my opinion):
uWorld (3x)
FA (~8x)
Pathoma (2x)
Cross sections from HY neuro
USMLERx (1000q)
…….That’s it, you do not need 10 books and 5 Q banks to do well, you’re better off knowing fewer resources very well. If you’re are unsure of something that you are reading in uWorld or FA look it up (google/Wikipedia) but DO NOT spend a lot of time doing this…..the basics are much more important than the minutiae.

NBME7: 238 (10w out)
NBME11: 247 (2.5w out)
Comsae: ~650 (2.5w out)

USMLE: ~260
COMLEX: ~730

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions

Very inspirational to say the least.

I want to take your approach and use minimal sources and know them cold. My question for you is how did you incorporate your Qbanks into your study routine as far as classes are concerned. I am unfamiliar with how to utilize Uworld - is there a way I can do them along my systems based courses? such as do Cardio, GI, etc with my classes? Or is it all random?

Thanks

 

[da Vincis World]

Very inspirational to say the least.

I want to take your approach and use minimal sources and know them cold. My question for you is how did you incorporate your Qbanks into your study routine as far as classes are concerned. I am unfamiliar with how to utilize Uworld - is there a way I can do them along my systems based courses? such as do Cardio, GI, etc with my classes? Or is it all random?

Thanks

I did everything random, timed. I missed a lot of questions, especially early. But that is okay because uWorld is just like another book so read the explanations....all of them. Do not use uWorld to gauge your score, use it to learn. Do not let poor scores discourage you as they will not be good in the beginning, mine certainly were not.

Doing them random, timed also helps with timing on the real tests.....I finished the USMLE almost an hour and 45 minutes early.

 

[StressedMedStud]

DId anyone else take comlex on sept 4th? Anyone else feel like they failed the comlex after taking it? I keep thinking of stupid mistakes I made on the test. getting scared now!!!!

 

[Genotonic]

so I did EVERYTHING while prepping for COMLEX and USMLE. took COMLEX but not USMLE as wasn't happy with last minute NBME practice exam and didn't want to risk it. had a tough COMLEX experience and got 420 🙁. i know i should be happy for at least passing as some of us were not as lucky on this damn exam. but i can't help to feel stupid. i did DIT, Pathoma, Uworld, COMBANK, COMQUEST ( once each). i guess i am not just a good test taker but obviously it's not something i can say to residency directors.

I am well into my third rotation, FM, and now have one more chance of taking USMLE in a month and a half. SHOULD I or SHOULD I NOT? I have extended UWORLD for another month to do the questions again but slowly realizing that i'm a bit out of shape as I lost the momentum i had 2 months ago.

should i just concentrate on rocking COMLEX II and USMLE Step II and forget about USMLE Step I or should I try to refresh my memory and try my luck with USMLE Step I?

 

[da Vincis World]

so I did EVERYTHING while prepping for COMLEX and USMLE. took COMLEX but not USMLE as wasn't happy with last minute NBME practice exam and didn't want to risk it. had a tough COMLEX experience and got 420 🙁. i know i should be happy for at least passing as some of us were not as lucky on this damn exam. but i can't help to feel stupid. i did DIT, Pathoma, Uworld, COMBANK, COMQUEST ( once each). i guess i am not just a good test taker but obviously it's not something i can say to residency directors.

I am well into my third rotation, FM, and now have one more chance of taking USMLE in a month and a half. SHOULD I or SHOULD I NOT? I have extended UWORLD for another month to do the questions again but slowly realizing that i'm a bit out of shape as I lost the momentum i had 2 months ago.

should i just concentrate on rocking COMLEX II and USMLE Step II and forget about USMLE Step I or should I try to refresh my memory and try my luck with USMLE Step I?

The best advice I can give you is to take an NBME and see where you are.

 

[Genotonic]

thanks!

 

[Trogghunter]

thanks!

August 13 scores are up. Took mine after surgery and during im rotation and got great reviews. Comsae A 482, comlex : ortho score. Crammed and partied throughout med school, but I took my time studying because my grades are average. Just paying advice forward, so if you need advice on studying during rotations let me know.

 

[tulipsss]

Congrats to you! What resources did you use to study?

 

[manyadoc]

Hey, realistically speaking.... can a 627 comlex 1 put me in neurosurgery or ortho?

also, for level 2 - comquest or combank?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

 

[da Vincis World]

Hey, realistically speaking.... can a 627 comlex 1 put me in neurosurgery or ortho?

also, for level 2 - comquest or combank?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

-Yes

-uWorld

 

[CardioPlus]

Hey, I was just wondering if anyone took the COMLEX this past Monday, Sept 24? if so how did it go and what did you think of it? Thanks!

 

[JediZero]

Scores were released today for the 9/4/12 test.

My score: 518
My prep: DIT, USMLE Weapon (maybe 25% completed?), COMQUEST (like 10% completed), DIT OMM addition (~50% completed)

I was falling asleep the whole test, despite shooting a 5-hour energy at every break. So if I could make a recommendation, it would be sleeping the night before > studying.

Had a hard time getting started studying, due to having to remediate my Cardio and Respiratory courses (which actually may have helped), as well as moving and personal life stuff over the summer. Still really enjoyed USMLE Weapon- don't know why everyone hates on it so much. I am also in love with DIT, though their OMM add-on is useless (it goes over the basic conceptual stuff you probably still remember, then for the details it says 'read Savarese!'), so you're probably just better off saving the money on that.

Now, I have to admit, I'm a little fuzzy on what these numbers mean. My score seems to be above average for the specialties I'm interested in (IM/EM/FM etc, certainly not ROAD). Is that accurate? Also, I'm still weighing whether to take USMLE. Does this score indicate that I'm likely to do well on USMLE, keeping in mind that I enjoyed/did well on the OMM portion of the exam?

Thanks for the feedback. =)

 

[SMC123]

According to this thread it seems like if you know your micro and omm according to comquest you are well off to pass the exam. Does anyone have any take on how pharm heavy the exam was and how to best study for it? Is comquest good for that? I feel like pathoma has most of all the important information to do well on this exam. First aid should be used only as a reference for the major topics i believe such as micro pharm female reproduction and neuro

Sent from my SGH-T959 using SDN Mobile

 

[da Vincis World]

First aid is more than enough for pharm. in fact uWorld + FA is more than enough for all of the non omm sections....savarese is way more than enough for omm.

 

[cestlavie]

I was wondering how you used question banks to study. I've finished most of COMBANK and am 500 deep into COMQUEST. My exam is 14 days away

would it be better to do 200Q a day and get through all the questions so that I can have time to review and focus on Pharm/Micro/OMM questions

or

would it be better to do 100 a day and then take the exam?

When I do 200 a day with 4 timed sets of 50 my avg is pretty low (around 60%)...


I really want to get a 550 or so...and my COMSAE from two weeks ago is around 150 pts shy of that =/ so I could really use any advice. Should I postpone my exam?

 

[accaldwe]

I was wondering how you used question banks to study. I've finished most of COMBANK and am 500 deep into COMQUEST. My exam is 14 days away

would it be better to do 200Q a day and get through all the questions so that I can have time to review and focus on Pharm/Micro/OMM questions

or

would it be better to do 100 a day and then take the exam?

When I do 200 a day with 4 timed sets of 50 my avg is pretty low (around 60%)...


I really want to get a 550 or so...and my COMSAE from two weeks ago is around 150 pts shy of that =/ so I could really use any advice. Should I postpone my exam?

cestlavie, Also taking it in 2 weeks... Which COMSAE form did you do?

 

[cestlavie]

cestlavie, Also taking it in 2 weeks... Which COMSAE form did you do?

Form A...

 

[accaldwe]

A is a pretty old form... Try B if you get a chance later in the week into the weekend. What I can say is that COMBANK isn't a really great bank for COMLEX anymore. I have heard that the questions are more represented with COMQUEST. Personally I have been using UWORLD and COMQUEST to keep me going. I usually do about 2 mixed blocks (~100) a day and learn from mistakes, guesses, etc. Form B is gonna be a really good indicator of how you do on the real thing. My advice is to take it and assess from there. Good luck!

 

[cestlavie]

thanks! i'm going to review some OMM and take form B thursday

 

[SMC123]

Comquest claims the longer sections they have are more yield on the exam. However couple of their longer sections are kidneys and endo. Aren't these sections small portion? Also how about respiratory and cardio

Sent from my SGH-T959 using SDN Mobile

 

[CardioPlus]

Scores were released yesterday (11/15) for the 10/15 exam. This was my 2nd attempt so let me describe both exams and my prep.

FIRST ATTEMPT:

Started studying after the conclusion of 2nd year. This gave me about 6 weeks to prepare for the COMLEX in late June.

COMSAE A: 288 (~6 weeks out before I started studying)-uh-oh... I was not expecting such a low baseline.
COMSAE B: 342 (~2 weeks out)

Review: I started with Pathoma and got through about 7 chapters before realizing I didn't have enough time to finish it while also getting through DIT. I completed DIT in about 3 weeks. In all I got through First Aid 3 times before my exam. I also read through all of the green book over the course of a week. I did 200 Combank questions before switching to comquest and doing around 350 qs. My averages were typically in the mid 50s.

Score: 368

Thoughts about the exam. It was as I expected in regards to the amount of omm (easy pts), micro, and neuro, but I wasn't expecting how much musculoskeletal I got. It was unbelievably difficult and I was freaking out at just the sheer number of questions. A lot of stuff that wasn't in FA (tendon attachments lol). Micro also surprised me in that I had drilled the hell out of micro flashcards the last 2 weeks before the exam, but I just had a lot of trouble deciphering what the exam writers were describing and getting at. I was disappointed that I got maybe 5 questions of cardio and pulm (easily my strongest subjects in 1st and second year).

Time to refocus.

SECOND ATTEMPT

I gave my self a 10 week study block and rescheduled my exam for 10/15. This time I decided to do all of pathoma (given that i didn't have any time constraints). I did a chapter a day and felt just not being under such pressure and stress helped immensely in absorbing the material. I also purchased USMLE ROAD MAP: GROSS ANATOMY just in case they tried to jack me up with MSK again. I read through that once.

I purchased the Kaplan high-yield lectures series. I did maybe 4 lectures and never looked at them again. Biggest waste of money!! It's literally a med student reading off of FA. At least DIT is a bit engaging. lol I did get access to the COMLEX qbank. I did 300 questions and averaged a 57%.

1 month out I purchased COMQUEST and started to heavily hitting it to make sure I got through every question this time around. I did Questions in the morning/afternoon and reading through the explanations making sure I understood what was being tested....whenever I finished that I would then read FA for the rest of the day. I went through FA 2 times in the month before my exam. I did all of the COMQUEST qs and finished with a 62% average.

COMSAE A: 428 (beg. of Sept)
COMSAE B: 448 (beg. of Oct)

Score: 435 🙂

My thoughts on the exam. Much more balanced. OMM, Micro and Neuro were still there in force, but I could actually recall several cardio/pulm questions! lol MSK was very FA friendly (more along the lines of ulnar/median/radial nerve injuries, lumbar nerve root lesions, etc.... which are more straightforward). I also felt a bit better about micro. Overall, having gone through all of COMQUEST and reading/studying the explanations allowed me to be better versed in some of the high yield info. I think it def was a huge help. This time around, however, I did find OMM to be a bit trickier than my last time. In all, I felt much more relaxed taking the exam as well.

So there it is. It's definitely been a roller-coaster of emotions these past few months. I'm just so happy that this step of the game is over and now I can start my rotations. If there's anything I learned it's that you gotta start board studying early because sometimes your baseline isn't what you think it is!

Let me know if you have any questions. Best of luck in studying everyone!!!

 

[ScorpioSphinx]

Does anyone have advice on where I should start for early board prep for December break? I have first aid cases and I was going to work on that and listening to Goljan along with RR path (I've already been listening to Goljan since June because I have long commutes).

As far as other materials I have: DIT 2012 videos, FA, clinical micro made ridiculously simple, Lange pharm cards and Savarese

For Q banks I have 90 days of UWorld (not activating until April or March), COMBANK, and I was debating getting COMQUEST, since everyone seems to think that's better than COMBANK.

I've read mixed reviews on DIT 2012, referencing the "randomness" of the videos, I was thinking of doing them in order by subject unless someone advises strongly against it.

Any other advice regarding a study schedule would be greatly appreciated. I'm planning to take the test June 21.

 

[da Vincis World]

Does anyone have advice on where I should start for early board prep for December break? I have first aid cases and I was going to work on that and listening to Goljan along with RR path (I've already been listening to Goljan since June because I have long commutes).

As far as other materials I have: DIT 2012 videos, FA, clinical micro made ridiculously simple, Lange pharm cards and Savarese

For Q banks I have 90 days of UWorld (not activating until April or March), COMBANK, and I was debating getting COMQUEST, since everyone seems to think that's better than COMBANK.

I've read mixed reviews on DIT 2012, referencing the "randomness" of the videos, I was thinking of doing them in order by subject unless someone advises strongly against it.

Any other advice regarding a study schedule would be greatly appreciated. I'm planning to take the test June 21.

I did Pathoma during break....it's a great addition to Goljan audio. I believe RR path is a bit dense for boards.

See my post above....you really don't need all of those Q banks. If I were you I'd drop all of the COMLEX based Q banks as UWorld is all you need. You can learn all of the OMT in about 8 hrs by reading Savarese.

 

[InTheMaking]

I found a comquest promotional code: "paramount" 10% off. Just sharing in case anyone needs it.

 

[obbobbo]

There is also a Comquest discount code "OMS10" good through mid February for 10% off

 

[darkseiken]

Any stragglers who took the exam in December dt hurricane sandy cancelling their original date?? Coming up on 4 wks post exam...the suspense is killing me!!!

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[fretolay]

Any stragglers who took the exam in December dt hurricane sandy cancelling their original date?? Coming up on 4 wks post exam...the suspense is killing me!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Well I am not a Sandy cancel but I just took the exam today, and am so glad to be done with it. Been working through some crazy stuff to get there but I think it paid off now the awful wait for scores.

 

[darkseiken]

Well I am not a Sandy cancel but I just took the exam today, and am so glad to be done with it. Been working through some crazy stuff to get there but I think it paid off now the awful wait for scores.

Wish you all the best! They released the Dec 12 scores recently and I passed 🙂

Hang in there..

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[fretolay]

Wish you all the best! They released the Dec 12 scores recently and I passed 🙂

Hang in there..

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Thanks, I think it went well but every day of waiting I keep going through worst case scenario. I will be glad to see the score just to be done with it. Congratz on being done.

 

[fretolay]

Well today score came through for 1/17 so I am super pleased to pass it and be done with the waiting.

 

[mghermezi]

zz

 

[SMC123]

For those of you who used combank and comquest, was there any information presented in combank that WASN'T in comquest? I noticed they have specific sections on anatomy, physiology, pathology, and a few other ones that are not in comquest. Also, there are a lot more questions to each system so curious to know if there is any information in it not presented in comquest.