Residency App Advice

[dancingqueen_17]

Hi all! I need some serious advice and I wasn't sure where to ask it. I'm halfway through my third year now, but I recently had to request a LoA. I failed boards part 1 this summer due to some unfortunate friend circumstances that happened. Figured a LOA > second board fail.

I guess I have two main questions:
1) With a board failure and a LOA, can I match into anything decent if I retake plus do well on COMLEX 2 and STEP 2? I also plan on taking STEP 1 now.

2) What's the best option for things to do during a LOA? (We are required to take a whole year.) Should I get a research job? Should I just study, pass the first step and comlex, and then prep for like 6 months for COMLEX 2 and STEP 2 so I can do well on those? To be honest, at this point I'm willing to do whatever I can to even have a chance at anything.

Thank you all for reading.

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[doctor_crane]

I'll give my two cents.
1. Yes, but this question depends on what your interest is in. FM, IM? You'll find somewhere assuming everything else goes well. Other things, it depends on the program and how well comlex level 2 is. Obviously, very competitive programs are off the table, but I believe that is the case for just being a DO anyway unless truly exceptional in everything.
2. If you are on a LoA and your entire future is dependent on passing an exam, I would do absolutely nothing except study my ass off. As someone that recently took comlex, microbiology (especially parasites like all types of malaria and random bacteria from outside the USA), antibiotics (moa, SE, indications), health sciences, statistics, OMM were all over my exams (1 and 2). Of course everything is fair game. I liked online med ed and dirty medicine (youtube). Thought they were most helpful.
If you have the money, consider enrolling in some sort of class if you need that to stay focused. If you cannot focus, consider looking into psych help, they may dx you with ADHD or something.
Do combank/comquest to access your progress. You need to at least be consistently average on those questions for passing, but you should aim higher than that as failure is not an option.
When you are consistently average to above average on combank, you may be ready for a practice exam. Aim for 450 at least, but if I were you, I'd wanna be well over 500 consistently. I don't think practice exams are perfect for predicting your score because comlex can be so random.
Welcom seems to simulate level 1 decently well. This may change though.

My biggest advice on preparing for comlex is this: When studying, always ask yourself why? Why is this the abx of choice? Why not another one? Why does it cause this side effect? Why does this disease cause this symptom? And explore things like that. The Qs are so random that it is hard to pinpoint exacts.
You can also do Uworld but it is expensive and does not simulate comlex very well. But if you enjoy that, do that.
I also commend Divine Intervention Podcasts (on youtube and has a website). Very helpful. Has a micro lecture.

Sorry you had to go through all of that, but if you make it out on the other side, I think you got a good story of pushing forward when you are down. Residency is full of potential times to get you bogged down, but you always gotta work harder and keep moving forward. You can do it.

 

[dancingqueen_17]

No this is all great. Thank you so much.

What would you recommend as the best resources to use for practice exams? I took two COMBANK ones and scored a 'pass' at average (55% and 59%) before I sat the first time. I also was doing decently well on the COMBANK questions in general. Had done maybe 1500 questions.

Second time I almost sat, I had a 481 and a 437 on COMSAEs. (I think I have officially exhausted all of these.) But, again, with how high the gamble is there I didn't feel like it was worth sitting again yet. Now done 2500+ COMBANK and maybe 600 UWORLD. Goal is likely to do all of COMBANK twice and then try and get above 500 on practices.

But I think you're right. Studying to pass Level 1 and then prep for the second round of boards is probably the way to go.

Do you know the best class to use? I'm assuming they're just online somewhere.

 

[PandaBaer]

You are not doing nearly enough practice questions. I wouldn't even plan to take it without at least going through an entire question bank, i.e. 4k+ questions. Those that do well usually have gone through both COMBANK and UWorld, sometimes twice or others i.e. Amboss/Osmosis, plus as many practice exams as possible.

Reviewing questions is more important than just finishing the questions. It turns each question into 4-5 additional questions.

 

[dancingqueen_17]

Where are other practice exams? (Genuine question, just unsure which ones are the most indicative.) I think I exhausted all the COMSAEs and I have taken both the COMBANK exams. Also two NBME practice exams. (Will do the rest of these)

 

[PandaBaer]

Each Qbank usually have a mock exam, there's also the COMSAEs, WelCOMs, there are many expired NBME CBSSAs floating around too.

 

[dancingqueen_17]

Awesome! Thank you

 

[BorntobeDO?]

Hi all! I need some serious advice and I wasn't sure where to ask it. I'm halfway through my third year now, but I recently had to request a LoA. I failed boards part 1 this summer due to some unfortunate friend circumstances that happened. Figured a LOA > second board fail.

I guess I have two main questions:
1) With a board failure and a LOA, can I match into anything decent if I retake plus do well on COMLEX 2 and STEP 2? I also plan on taking STEP 1 now.

2) What's the best option for things to do during a LOA? (We are required to take a whole year.) Should I get a research job? Should I just study, pass the first step and comlex, and then prep for like 6 months for COMLEX 2 and STEP 2 so I can do well on those? To be honest, at this point I'm willing to do whatever I can to even have a chance at anything.

Thank you all for reading.

You can match into many decent programs, they are just gonna be more concentrated in fm, community IM, peds, pathology.

 

[BorntobeDO?]

No this is all great. Thank you so much.

What would you recommend as the best resources to use for practice exams? I took two COMBANK ones and scored a 'pass' at average (55% and 59%) before I sat the first time. I also was doing decently well on the COMBANK questions in general. Had done maybe 1500 questions.

Second time I almost sat, I had a 481 and a 437 on COMSAEs. (I think I have officially exhausted all of these.) But, again, with how high the gamble is there I didn't feel like it was worth sitting again yet. Now done 2500+ COMBANK and maybe 600 UWORLD. Goal is likely to do all of COMBANK twice and then try and get above 500 on practices.

But I think you're right. Studying to pass Level 1 and then prep for the second round of boards is probably the way to go.

Do you know the best class to use? I'm assuming they're just online somewhere.

Do Uworld twice. Hit the highest yeild bank first. Then do the OMM/ethics from your pick of comquest/combank

 

[doctor_crane]

No this is all great. Thank you so much.

What would you recommend as the best resources to use for practice exams? I took two COMBANK ones and scored a 'pass' at average (55% and 59%) before I sat the first time. I also was doing decently well on the COMBANK questions in general. Had done maybe 1500 questions.

Second time I almost sat, I had a 481 and a 437 on COMSAEs. (I think I have officially exhausted all of these.) But, again, with how high the gamble is there I didn't feel like it was worth sitting again yet. Now done 2500+ COMBANK and maybe 600 UWORLD. Goal is likely to do all of COMBANK twice and then try and get above 500 on practices.

But I think you're right. Studying to pass Level 1 and then prep for the second round of boards is probably the way to go.

Do you know the best class to use? I'm assuming they're just online somewhere.

Sorry, I'm late getting back to you.
People online will always give the same standard advice: do Uworld. I did some of uworld but decided it wasn't worth the cost. Uworld may be what you need since you have used all the other resources.
Kaplan is probably the best class to use, but very expensive. My school would recommend the PASS Program. It is cheaper. I didn't use it.

the COMSAEs on the NBOME website are it. You should not take those exams until you are doing consistently average at least on practice questions.
Your best bet is to take one that you don't remember as much and use Welcom.

You may be one of the people that just doesn't learn well from doing practice questions exclusively. When you miss a question try to figure out why you missed it and consult other resources/books to ensure full understanding. Keep flashcards of very important facts that you struggle to remember and run through them every day until you know them cold. Like knowing all the cranial nerve facts, like where they exit, what they do, etc and facts like that. High yield side effects like furosemide is ototoxic and CCB may cause peripheral edema.
For OMM, use the green book. "OMT Review" read the entire book and go through all of that stuff.

I'll just say that I'm one of the weirdos that hardly did any practice questions, I just read books and watched videos. Took some practice exams, got the score I needed on it, then took the test. You may just need to find how you learn the best.
I really enjoyed online med ed's clinical science videos as they are very focused on what boards like to ask without going into a lot of details that waste your time.