Reassurance? Feel like failed COMLEX PE

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Red Beard

Red Beard

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Just got back last night from taking the PE exam, feeling totally awful about it and can't stop thinking of things I forgot to ask or do. I am very nervous that I may have failed.

I can't sleep I have so much anxiety about it...won't know for at least 8 weeks.

So I get up at 5am today to 'reassure' myself by searching SDN for people describing a similar feeling and passing anyway. All I can find are posts about failing the exam and being surprised!🙁:laugh:

I would love to hear from anyone who was sure that they failed and ended up passing. Anything to help me get some sleep in the next two months.

Thanks!
 
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its natural to feel like you failed. i felt that way too. just forget about it until you get your score. theres nothing you can do about it now. everyone i know made tons of mistakes, wrote half-assed notes, and bs'ed their way through omm, and still passed.
 
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I felt awful after that exam. I was having a really bad week that week , got just a few hours of sleep for a few nights before and couldn't have been more tired when I took that expensive exam. I forgot to do a lot of things. I ran out of time on my SOAP notes on a ton of patients and I ran out of room on the subjective part of the note and when I did have no more room, I just stopped writing- I had asked about the social history, but just didn't have room to write it. I got very thorough histories, but didn't have time or space to write them down. I did thorough exams, but ran out of time to document that I did them.
I'm no OMM expert either, and that's putting it mildly.
I don't know anyone who took that exam and felt like they did or said everything they should have or could have. In real life, you aren't seeing 12 new patients in a day in a very limited time. In real life, you can go back in the room to ask a question if you forgot something. The people who score the test know this. When we had a practice PE at my school, the attending who spoke to us said that she used to grade the exams and it's global- do some things from here and there and you'll most likely be fine.
I made a ton of mistakes, and I PASSED😀. It only took 4-5 weeks or so to get my score. Try to relax and focus on your current rotation.
 
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Red Beard said:
Just got back last night from taking the PE exam, feeling totally awful about it and can't stop thinking of things I forgot to ask or do. I am very nervous that I may have failed.

I can't sleep I have so much anxiety about it...won't know for at least 8 weeks.

So I get up at 5am today to 'reassure' myself by searching SDN for people describing a similar feeling and passing anyway. All I can find are posts about failing the exam and being surprised!🙁:laugh:

I would love to hear from anyone who was sure that they failed and ended up passing. Anything to help me get some sleep in the next two months.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I was very, VERY nervous because I ran out of time on four of the patients, forgot to write a lot of the OMM I did in my actual "plan," and felt rushed the entire time! I also didn't end up listening to all the heart valves on most of the patients because I didn't have the time to take the stupid gown off and simultaneously cover them with the sheet while listening to their apex...

I was very nervous the next couple weeks and worrying, but I passed!! So don't worry(easier said than done) and i'm sure you did great!
 
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When I did it, I feel terrible about the OMM I performed. I'm really nervous about that, I felt like I did some glorified soft tissue and that was about it.

I'm so scared about failing the OMM stuff.
 
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I just took it too and I'm feeling very nervous about it. In fact, I think I'll just assume that I failed and start preparing for the retake. I didn't do much OMM at all, probably only 4 patients, but that was because they specifically asked in one way or another. I struggled with my notes and felt like I left a lot of stuff out of them. I never listened to all 4 posts on the heart, because none of my cases seemed to warrant that. I also felt like I did horrible on counseling the patients and the summary of the visit.
I think everything about this test is ridiculous. It is a load of garbage. It's not standardized at all. How can you standardize a test that is based completely on subjective assessment by an SP, at least in the humanistic portion. So what if a patient doesn't like my bedside manner? In the real world they can just go to another doctor. Not every doctor is going to "click" with each patient.
The NBOME gives us no guidelines about what they expect in the exam or how one can do well.
It's way too expensive and I can't believe they have only one testing site in the whole country, not really a convenient location either.
Plus, there's no proof that your ability to do well on the exam correlates well with your ability as a future physician and studies show that the exam pass/failure correlates relatively low (in my opinion) with academic performance in medical school (<50%), but you have to pass the exam to become a physician.
Seems so ridiculous to me. Anyway, these next 8 weeks will be torture waiting for my score, but hopefully I'll pass.
Anyone, know how many people actually do fail the exam?
 
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guv_garfunkel said:
I just took it too and I'm feeling very nervous about it. In fact, I think I'll just assume that I failed and start preparing for the retake. I didn't do much OMM at all, probably only 4 patients, but that was because they specifically asked in one way or another. I struggled with my notes and felt like I left a lot of stuff out of them. I never listened to all 4 posts on the heart, because none of my cases seemed to warrant that. I also felt like I did horrible on counseling the patients and the summary of the visit.
I think everything about this test is ridiculous. It is a load of garbage. It's not standardized at all. How can you standardize a test that is based completely on subjective assessment by an SP, at least in the humanistic portion. So what if a patient doesn't like my bedside manner? In the real world they can just go to another doctor. Not every doctor is going to "click" with each patient.
The NBOME gives us no guidelines about what they expect in the exam or how one can do well.
It's way too expensive and I can't believe they have only one testing site in the whole country, not really a convenient location either.
Plus, there's no proof that your ability to do well on the exam correlates well with your ability as a future physician and studies show that the exam pass/failure correlates relatively low (in my opinion) with academic performance in medical school (<50%), but you have to pass the exam to become a physician.
Seems so ridiculous to me. Anyway, these next 8 weeks will be torture waiting for my score, but hopefully I'll pass.
Anyone, know how many people actually do fail the exam?
Click to expand...

Seriously don't beat yourself up about this! Doing OMM on 4 people actually sounds about right! And, I didn't listen to all the heart valves on ANY of the patients because I was in such a rush I didn't want to worry about "degowning" any of the patients to get to the Mitral valve... I passed! You will feel like you had a lot of errors(I did), but most likely you will pass. If I recall the pass rate is around 93%, so if you had 20 people at your exam, 1-2 of the people might fail... (someone correct me if I'm wrong)
 
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Was terrified that I didn't pass, felt I did fine on everything except the OMM. One person I didn't do it on even though they asked and I was sure I bombed that one. However I did end up passing and am so relieved!
 
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I just took the PE a few days ago. I feel like I could have failed as well. The soap notes were pretty crappy, hardly ledgible. I had to leave alot out. some of them just included heart, lungs abd if that. I definately was not the best on counsiling. I was able to finished most of my notes but one(but i still included the A and P). I'm worried as heck about the OMM I only did OMM on two people. The other I ran out of time and just included it in my plan. Talk about sweating bullets now. Anybody else pass with only doing about two cases of OMM???😱
 
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GolferDO said:
I just took the PE a few days ago. I feel like I could have failed as well. The soap notes were pretty crappy, hardly ledgible. I had to leave alot out. some of them just included heart, lungs abd if that. I definately was not the best on counsiling. I was able to finished most of my notes but one(but i still included the A and P). I'm worried as heck about the OMM I only did OMM on two people. The other I ran out of time and just included it in my plan. Talk about sweating bullets now. Anybody else pass with only doing about two cases of OMM???😱
Click to expand...

I talked to a guy in my class who passed and decided not to do OMM on a patient, that looking back, he should've DEFINATELY done it! He didn't write it in his Assessment/Plan and he still passed... So it sounds like you are in better shape than he was regarding OMM, and he passed! good luck👍
 
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😎Thanks for the replies, we'll see in 8wks or so. If you all have any other pieces of encouragement or recent experiences, I'll be glad to hear them. Back to studying for step 2 CE
 
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Alright, update time:

Took the exam May 11th, just got scores back today....

PASSED!!!!!!

So, for future reference, here are a couple things that I was feeling unsure about that were apparently not an automatic failure:

1) Soap notes: My handwriting sucks to begin with, when I am nervous its significantly worse. My notes were a complete mess, somewhat disorganized in appearance. I was also concerned about my differentials for a few cases where in retrospect I realized I didn't list something that was very obvious.

2) Physical exam: Almost every patient I had I recalled some physical exam items I thought I should have done but didn't do.

3) Gowning mishap: I accidentally exposed one of my female patient's lower half when trying to do the draping/adjusting of the gown for the abdominal exam.

As for OMM, I only did OMM on 4 patients, 3 of whom made it very obvious that's what they were looking for. I know that one of my friends who took it the same day actually told a patient who asked "do you think OMM could help?" that he didn't think it would be appropriate for the patient's particular complaint, and he also passed.
 
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Thanks Red Beard for sharing your experience. I took the test on Monday and FEEL terrible about it! I am so worried I failed I can't sleep. I am relieved by your posts and everyone else who has shared. Fingers crossed I passed AND I find out in closer to 4 weeks instead of 8 or 10. Now maybe I can get some sleep. 😴
 
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Found out today i passed as well 😀

took the exam June 23rd..so a little over 4 weeks

I was pretty sure i failed the OMM portion.. but most of the patients were pretty easy to figure out a good differential for.

i didnt study at all, except for the night before with a classmate where we practiced the timing of the clinical and written portion..i looked at some of my classmates First Aid for step 2 CS the night before as well. In retrospect i prolly should have studied a little more considering it was a 1000 dollar test, that didnt include airfare or hotel.
 
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I just found out I passed! Whew! What a relief. The last 8 wks have been torture. It took just under 8 wks to get back the results. I just happened to see it when I logged on to NBOME and I havn't been notified officially. I'm grateful I passed, but I feel sorry for those that don't.
I recently read an abstract talking about how the USMLE Step 2 CS doesn't correlate with performance in internship year. If these clinical skills tests don't correlate with medical school performance or performance as an intern, then why do we have to take them??? It seems so ridiculous that an exam like this could keep somebody from becoming a physician.
 
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guv_garfunkel said:
I just found out I passed! Whew! What a relief. The last 8 wks have been torture. It took just under 8 wks to get back the results. I just happened to see it when I logged on to NBOME and I havn't been notified officially. I'm grateful I passed, but I feel sorry for those that don't.
I recently read an abstract talking about how the USMLE Step 2 CS doesn't correlate with performance in internship year. If these clinical skills tests don't correlate with medical school performance or performance as an intern, then why do we have to take them??? It seems so ridiculous that an exam like this could keep somebody from becoming a physician.
Click to expand...

Nice one Guv.
 
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Took it a few days ago...I forgot to wash my hands in one room and wondering what to think of that...since they make a big fuss about it...any kind thoughts from anyone who passed and perhaps made the same error?
 
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Yeah, I forgot to wash my hands on 2 patients as well. Not sure what the ramifications of this are.
 
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Yeah its tough to know...I'm hoping people will write all the things they did wrong on here and still passed...I'm looking for the some comfort. I know everyone does some things wrong but anyone care to share a list of things they did?
 
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One of my buddies, being tired toward the end of the day, accidentally wrote some stuff on his SOAP note that he didn't actually ask the patient. He was pretty worried he was going to get called out on that and not pass. It didn't turn out to be a problem.
 
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futuredo32 said:
I felt awful after that exam. I was having a really bad week that week , got just a few hours of sleep for a few nights before and couldn't have been more tired when I took that expensive exam. I forgot to do a lot of things. I ran out of time on my SOAP notes on a ton of patients and I ran out of room on the subjective part of the note and when I did have no more room, I just stopped writing- I had asked about the social history, but just didn't have room to write it. I got very thorough histories, but didn't have time or space to write them down. I did thorough exams, but ran out of time to document that I did them.
I'm no OMM expert either, and that's putting it mildly.
I don't know anyone who took that exam and felt like they did or said everything they should have or could have. In real life, you aren't seeing 12 new patients in a day in a very limited time. In real life, you can go back in the room to ask a question if you forgot something. The people who score the test know this. When we had a practice PE at my school, the attending who spoke to us said that she used to grade the exams and it's global- do some things from here and there and you'll most likely be fine.
I made a ton of mistakes, and I PASSED😀. It only took 4-5 weeks or so to get my score. Try to relax and focus on your current rotation.
Click to expand...


I know that this thread is a few years old, but this is exactly me! It was so difficult to get used to the east coast time zone and take this exam during the middle of rotations. I hope I pass this test! 8 more weeks!
 
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NeuroDO3536 said:
How did it turn out?
Click to expand...
I failed it.

I guess that's god's punishment to me. I have no clue how. I failed the humansitic domain and I passed the biomedical domain. I feel so horrible. I don't wish this feeling on anyone.

I guess from now on, if I feel like I failed something I should go home and be miserable for 8 weeks and prepare to retake it. Instead of being like my friends and celebrating after an exam. I feel so awful. people laugh at me everytime I tell them that I failed. They say you should have taken USMLE bro.
 
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just took my PE and have a concern... im not sure what possessed me to do so but I put that i discussed during the actual encounter about smoking cessation for a few patients and also discussed plan and treatment with patient but did not put it into the plan and instead into objective...since i guess at the time my mentality was well I just did this so it sounded silly to me to write will discuss plan... in the plan section... so am i screwed or...
 
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Yep...digging up this old dinosaur.

I took my exam recently, and I'm having a lot of the same feelings others have shared in this thread. As the days go by, things keep popping into my mind that I should have done better or differently.

-When reviewing a patient's history in the room, the SP corrected me when I incorrectly said her symptoms had been going on for 3 weeks instead of 3 months.
-Mispronounced an SP's name
-Dispo'd a patient incorrectly in the room, but clarified in my note that I messed up.
-I think I exposed patients too much when auscultating anterior chest. Didn't drape them or anything when listening to anterior lung fields or valvular areas.

I'm sure there are more things that I'll remember over the next few weeks, but I'm just looking for some reassurance here. Anybody have any good stories about screwing up during the exam and still passing?
 
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