Postpone?

[LurkerDO]

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I'm scheduled to take my COMLEX step one on June 6th (sunday). I'm really a particularly horrific standardized test taker and as such have been studying pretty freaking hard for step I. I've done Goljan and all the kaplan videos (except for the bald dude that does physiology, I'm sorry, I can't handle singing on my physiology videos....but my physiology scores are decently strong).
Lately, I'm hanging out at 54% on kaplan's USMLE Qbank (which they tell me is good enough to pass the USMLE - the "kaplan user average" is 56) . Last week I took COMSAE form A and got a 418 But my anatomy percentage was "poor" and so was my pharm, I've since actually STUDIED anatomy and redone pharm and now I'm hitting in the high high 60's on anatomy and in the 50's on pharm on the Kaplan Qbank. My COMBANK percentage is around 58% but I haven't done many of those (was saving it till nearer the test). I'm good at the osteopathic what nots (amazingly specific, right?).
My plan was to do first aid micro tomorrow (my micro percentage is around 45) and then keep hammering questions and pharm/micro/endo (weakest sub section) for the rest of the week. I'm a realistic person, I know I'm not a great test taker. I'm shooting for above 450 (I consider that "not a total embarrassment"). So I have a few questions for all of you out there in SDN land:

1) I have the option to bump my test day back to either the 10th or the 16th, I was thinking of doing that just to get more time doing practice questions, should I? Or should I just bite the bullet and take it? I don't feel ready, but honestly, I'm NEVER going to feel ready. So I'm open to opinions here.

2) How good of a predictor is the COMSAE? (I'm really hoping to hear "accurate" or "a bit low") I'm going to give another one a shot tomorrow. Hopefully nobody tells me they tend to "overestimate by 20 points".

3) Does everyone get this nervous about this exam? I'm an average student and I feel like I'm going to make an @$$ out of myself.

Thanks for any assistance or perspective you can provide. You guys all seem so knowledgeable and I'm...not.

 

[Dr1216]

Hey LurkerDO,

I feel you completely about being an average student and being nervous about this exam. I've never been the best test taker either, but I believe that if you've studied hard and you've gotten scores like yours and continue to hammer in the stuff that you're saying (pharm & micro are especially tested on COMLEX), then you should be ok.

The overall consensus here is that COMSAE generally underestimates the score by at least 10-20 points, with some claiming they were underestimated by as much as 100. So, I think you're set.

Also, people generally recommend not to push your test date back unless you truly truly need to. Reason being that there are very weak correlations with pushing back the test date and doing significantly (if at all) better (especially when it would only be a couple of days for ie: the 10th). I say just keep hammering at questions for the next few days, focusing especially on pharm and micro, and hoping for the best.

 

[LurkerDO]

...I may lose my mind.

All day on micro and associated pharm. This is by the way REDOING it, not just looking at it for the first time. Took COMSAE B...got (you ready?) 378.

My school told me I was in a position to PASS the exam the 2nd week in may (post test via Kaplan). What in the world is wrong with me? I'm an average student and a below avg test taker but there is no way in HELL I'm in the bottom 5% of every student in the flipping country.

I WAS worried about getting a DECENT score, now I'm worried about PASSING. This is not a good feeling.

 

[StIGMA]

It sounds like you know more than what your test grades represent. It may do you a lot of good to do whatever you can do to refocus your energies and not psyche yourself out as much as you may be doing. For me this is meditating/praying/running/talking to old friends more during stressful times, ie: whatever gets your mind onto the bigger picture of life so the test feels like less of an obstacle. The bigger the mountain looks the harder it's gonna be to climb it... but in the big picture step one isn't all there is to life (although that's probably how you feel right now). I'm not saying to stop studying, but to change your frame of mind a tiny bit so you don't stress out/guess yourself while taking the tests. I can't address your questions tho. Best of luck!

 

[LurkerDO]

change your frame of mind a tiny bit so you don't stress out/guess yourself while taking the tests. I can't address your questions tho. Best of luck!

You're sweet. Thank you. My dad just told me he failed every bar practice test he ever took then murdered the bar. lol. Maybe it's genetic.

I'm taking the rest of the night off, for sure and starting fresh tomorrow with more pharm. and maybe start in on some OPP (it'll get my confidence up anyway). Then I'll figure out what the hell "sensory Alteration-Related" means and go from there.