Q banks and COMLEX

[FutureDoc01]

What Q bank is most like COMLEX I? USMLE world, COMQUEST, or COMBANK?

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[cliquesh]

My level 2 was just like combank. My level 1 was random. I say do all 3 if you're serious about getting a high score.

 

[JGimpel]

USMLE World for all Levels of COMLEX. Just be aware that, in an effort to have a "different but equal" type of test, the COMLEX Level 2 exam also puts management stuff from Step 3 in the exam. Sorry NBOME, the game is up on that one. Now you'll be ahead of the curve when you take those exams. Curve=busted.

You'll get plenty of OMM training in DO school, so you should be fine as long as you memorize viscerosomatic and Chapman's points for the OMM components of the exams. UWorld also hits the Neuromusculoskeletal anatomy and testing better than the COMLEX qBanks, so there is very little ground not covered in it that the other ones may "cover." The OMM questions make up a very small part of your score, 6-10%, on Levels 2 and 3, so focus on OB, Peds, IM and Preventative Medicine for the rest and you'll be fine.

The COMLEX-specific q-Banks are so inferior to UWorld that it's not even fair to compare them. Go through 50 questions in UWorld with someone who already has an account of any Step level then do the same with COMBANK and COMQUEST and you'll see for yourself. Your school will not recommend taking the USMLE or going to an MD program for training, so they'll try to discourage you from getting the resources for them, but this way you'll make an informed decision for yourself.

The AOA and NBOME will eventually push you away from DO medicine like they do most people by the time they finish Level 2 and Level 3 of the COMLEX, so don't feel bad if you go there sooner than later to have more career choices.

Good luck to you!

 

[dozitgetchahi]

USMLE World for all Levels of COMLEX. Just be aware that, in an effort to have a "different but equal" type of test, the COMLEX Level 2 exam also puts management stuff from Step 3 in the exam. Sorry NBOME, the game is up on that one. Now you'll be ahead of the curve when you take those exams. Curve=busted.

You'll get plenty of OMM training in DO school, so you should be fine as long as you memorize viscerosomatic and Chapman's points for the OMM components of the exams. UWorld also hits the Neuromusculoskeletal anatomy and testing better than the COMLEX qBanks, so there is very little ground not covered in it that the other ones may "cover." The OMM questions make up a very small part of your score, 6-10%, on Levels 2 and 3, so focus on OB, Peds, IM and Preventative Medicine for the rest and you'll be fine.

The COMLEX-specific q-Banks are so inferior to UWorld that it's not even fair to compare them. Go through 50 questions in UWorld with someone who already has an account of any Step level then do the same with COMBANK and COMQUEST and you'll see for yourself. Your school will not recommend taking the USMLE or going to an MD program for training, so they'll try to discourage you from getting the resources for them, but this way you'll make an informed decision for yourself.

The AOA and NBOME will eventually push you away from DO medicine like they do most people by the time they finish Level 2 and Level 3 of the COMLEX, so don't feel bad if you go there sooner than later to have more career choices.

Good luck to you!

Lol I agree with a lot of this. For COMLEX level 1, I studied mostly from Uworld, Goljan and FA but spent some time with Savarese and the Kaplan COMLEX qbank (free via our school) also. COMLEX = 580s (USMLE upper 230s).

For step 2, I completely focused on Uworld, MTB and Step 2 Secrets. Never touched Savarese, never used a COMLEX qbank of any kind. Walked out wondering if I blew it because I felt like I didn't know any OMM whatsoever. COMLEX = 630s (USMLE upper 240s).

I think I could have improved my COMLEX scores if I'd studied OMM more, but frankly who cares (I'm going allo anyway). The USMLE study materials are where it's at.

 

[cliquesh]

What are you applying for, dozitgcha?

 

[FrkyBgStok]

i am a first year and i was recently talking to a 4th year who said he really wished he had started looking at questions in the first and second semester. is this something i should take to heart or shrug off?

 

[cliquesh]

i am a first year and i was recently talking to a 4th year who said he really wished he had started looking at questions in the first and second semester. is this something i should take to heart or shrug off?

If your school is system based you could do it. It would probably be beneficial and it wouldn't take too much extra time. So, for instance, if you were doing 4 weeks of cardiology, you could do all of the USMLEworld cardiology questions over that 4 week period, same for renal, same for pulm, etc..During my 3rd year, when I was on rotations, that's what I did. I did all of the pysch questions on my psych rotation, all of the ob/gyn on my ob/gyn rotation. When it was time to take step 2, I only hardcored studied for a week or 2, and I got in the 700's on the comlex.

You do NOT need to start now if you want to do well.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

what are you applying for, dozitgcha?

im.

 

[bleeker10]

For Level 1, I used UW (about 50-60% of it), Kaplan USMLE and COMLEX qbanks, and COMBANK. I also supplemented it with FA, Goljan (book and audio), Savarese, Bug Cards (added information onto each card from CMMRS) and some pharm one liners and micro audio files my school gives out.

For Level 2, I studied mainly for the USMLE. I did UW, MTB, and Step 2 Secrets. I made sure to keep up with the material throughout third year so I wouldn't have to spend more than a couple weeks prepping for the test. I did use COMBANK (which was absolutely terrible and didn't do more than 40% of it) and COMQUEST (pretty good qbank). The day before my exam I read through Savarese.

Level 1 - 652
Level 2 - 646
USMLE Step 2 CK - 246

 

[Trogghunter]

For Level 1, I used UW (about 50-60% of it), Kaplan USMLE and COMLEX qbanks, and COMBANK. I also supplemented it with FA, Goljan (book and audio), Savarese, Bug Cards (added information onto each card from CMMRS) and some pharm one liners and micro audio files my school gives out.

For Level 2, I studied mainly for the USMLE. I did UW, MTB, and Step 2 Secrets. I made sure to keep up with the material throughout third year so I wouldn't have to spend more than a couple weeks prepping for the test. I did use COMBANK (which was absolutely terrible and didn't do more than 40% of it) and COMQUEST (pretty good qbank). The day before my exam I read through Savarese.

Level 1 - 652
Level 2 - 646
USMLE Step 2 CK - 246

how did you 'keep up with material throughout third year'? you mean like doing qbanks and reading step 2 stuff or studying diligently for your shelf exams? or both? i got your step 1 score and now im hesitant to get anything significantly lower for step 2

 

[bleeker10]

I made sure to read on all rotations as well as doing practice questions from Pre Test or Case Files. I didn't blow off the NBME shelf exams like some people did. The exams are P/F at my school. My goal was to beat the national average on each, which I did. The only thing I would've done different was to do UW throughout 3rd year

 

[piviti]

USMLE World for all Levels of COMLEX. Just be aware that, in an effort to have a "different but equal" type of test, the COMLEX Level 2 exam also puts management stuff from Step 3 in the exam. Sorry NBOME, the game is up on that one. Now you'll be ahead of the curve when you take those exams. Curve=busted.

I heard from our school that they're now putting lots of clinical questions from COMLEX Level 2 on the COMLEX level 1 exam. Is this true?

 

[costales]

i am a first year and i was recently talking to a 4th year who said he really wished he had started looking at questions in the first and second semester. is this something i should take to heart or shrug off?

I wouldn't spend any time or money on boards until 2nd year.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

I made sure to read on all rotations as well as doing practice questions from Pre Test or Case Files. I didn't blow off the NBME shelf exams like some people did. The exams are P/F at my school. My goal was to beat the national average on each, which I did. The only thing I would've done different was to do UW throughout 3rd year

I agree with this too (especially the 'doing UW throughout 3rd year' part).

 

[JGimpel]

I heard from our school that they're now putting lots of clinical questions from COMLEX Level 2 on the COMLEX level 1 exam. Is this true?

You may see more "management" style questions than before on Level 1, but I'd make sure that you know more of the "H&P" type of question that they have ported to Level 1 from Level 2. This means that you would be well served by getting something like Boards and Wards and/or Step Up to Medicine to supplement the rest of your studies. No matter what, you will still be coming out of that exam with the WTF look most people do, as it's still a strange series of tests.

Good luck to you!

 

[DrPapa]

I don't think U-World does a good job for COMLEX at all. The questions are far too rational. It doesn't prepare you for the randomness of the COMLEX. I used U-World for step 1 & 2 but COMBANK for steps 1 & 3. I spent way more time studying for step 2 than step 3 (as is often the case).

However, the bottom line is that the COMLEX is a total crap shoot. There is, simply put, NO good way to study for it. For step 2, I was getting practice management, insurance questions and legalese. For step 3, 75% of the test was either pediatrics, OB/Gyn or OMM (none of which is even close to my surgical subspecialty). I think my scores reflect the fact that the test is completely random and does not accurately measure ANYTHING.

Step 1: 664 (244 USMLE)
Step 2: 506 (237 USMLE)
Step 3: 578 (didn't take USMLE)

 

[gmreed2]

Posting my response to the same question from another thread (info updated):

I took COMLEX Level 1 in June 2012 and fortunately was able to complete all questions from both COMBANK and COMQUEST. I think COMQUEST was released later in the testing season so not many people were able to take it. Tried to remain objective:

COMQUEST
NUMBER: Website says 1,600 questions.
QUESTIONS: I felt that many questions were more "level 2" material, which makes me believe that they brought down a bunch of level 2 questions and turned them into level 1 questions. There were many questions regarding management that were pretty rough for MS2 knowledge. The majority of the COMLEX is about the "pathogenesis and scientific mechanisms of disease" (according to the NBOME).
EXPLANATIONS: Explanations are longer. I often found myself skimming through the stem to find what I wanted and it was difficult to review a 50 question test in a short amount of time. I like to see: this patient had XYZ and here is why you should have selected the answer. COMQUEST's explanations go into the details of even relatively easy concepts; sometimes this is necessary and insightful, and sometimes you wish you didn't have to read so much. Depends on your study philosophy.
SECTIONS: has a Dermatology section. There were a large number of Ethics questions which I don't feel to be particularly high yield (maybe 150 total which is especially pertinent if you select a random 50 question test and get 2-3 each time). Lots of law lingo and consent stuff that I never saw on the COMLEX.
INTERFACE: The best thing about this bank is that the user interface is very similar in appearance to the software the NBOME uses when taking the exam. Otherwise the setup is pretty standard. I think the lab document is the same content as what you will see on exam day but it doesn’t look the same. You can't strike out an answer choice.
ERRORS: Grammatical errors are present but can be overlooked. There are other errors present (example: staphylococcus pyogenes as an answer choice).
OVERALL: the content is decent but questionable at this point in time. The bank could use some work refining what they already have, but I would wait until this question bank matures as it is brand new. I'm sure they are still working out some of the bugs. I am concerned about the amount of “Level 2” content that is contained within the bank.

COMBANK
NUMBER: Website says 2,000 questions.
QUESTIONS: The bank has been around for some time and does a decent job at making them as ambiguous as possible. There are some straight forward questions, but this is also seen on the COMLEX. The typical outline of a question is pretty indicative of what I saw on test day.
EXPLANATIONS: The explanations are shorter and more to the point. There are references now with links that take you straight to Up-To-Date or eMedicine/Medscape; there are many references to First Aid. Shorter explanations allow you to review more questions in a short amount of time.
SECTIONS: pretty standard and well represented of the high yield COMLEX material: OMM, Pharm, Micro, OBGYN, etc.
INTERFACE: Lab document is the exact same one you will use for the COMLEX. You can delete tests that you have created in the past. Provides you a graph so you can see how you are improving over time which makes you feel good. You can strike out answer choices.
ERRORS: Grammatical errors are present but can be overlooked.
OVERALL: The content was indicative of what is represented on the COMLEX. The bank could use some work refining what they already have, but overall it's good review for the test.

SIMILARITY TO COMLEX
The COMLEX is not so straight forward with the question stems and many times you are left feeling that there are multiple correct answers when, however, there is one "most likely" response. Many questions on test day will be ambiguous and leave you saying "WTF?" I felt that COMBANK had more of these questions which tends to fuel the anti-COMBANK bandwagon. With respects to whether the COMLEX is actually harder than either COMBANK/COMQUEST, it's hard to say. What is important is the content review: the high yield topics.

 

[gmreed2]

I don't think U-World does a good job for COMLEX at all. The questions are far too rational. It doesn't prepare you for the randomness of the COMLEX.

I completely agree with this. The question style and organization is very different. Additionally the structure of answer choices (USMLE can have many) is different. It would be best to review COMLEX-styled questions via COMBANK/COMQUEST. The best representation comes from the source: COMSAE's via the NBOME.

 

[hoddemic]

I used COMBANK for LEVEL I and thought it was great...the questions were very similar to those that showed up on LEVEL 1. I'm also using it for LEVEL 2, and so far I'm liking it just the same as for LEVEL 1, although I cannot say for sure how the questions relate to the actual exam since I haven't taken it yet, but I have no doubt they will be accurate as they were for LEVEL 1. Also, in general, I'd say that Qbanks are your best weapon for success on COMLEX and would highly recommend that you do as many practice questions as you can.

 

[mike1618]

My experience was completely different. The important thing is to get a quality bank that covers each topic in detail to learn as much as possible. The COMLEX is a poor quality test and has plenty of wtf questions, but no wtf question will prepare you for the next wtf question. The best thing you can do is just learn as much as possible. I think that trying to find vague poorly written questions to prepare from is a mistake. Do questions to learn everything you can about those topics and to see material presented in new ways that you haven't seen before. I can't comment on step 2 yet because I haven't taken it, but I will most definitely be using UWorld and COMQUEST as my qbanks.

Here is my post from another thread.

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.

 

[survivordo]

Use all three. USMLEWorld to actually learn the info because this qbank is by far the best, Comquest and Combank to get a feel for the COMLEX side of things. You only get to take this test once, you should use all the resources available to you.

Survivor DO