Strategy for both USMLE and COMLEX?

[osli]

I just did a search on this and read several dozen threads. Some great advice, and I don't want to beat a horse that has been killed hundreds of times on this forum, but I'd also like to clear up a few lingering questions I have from a different perspective.

I already know I will take both exams (step 1 at the least). From my own general thoughts and from the advice given in threads I have read, I'll probably plan to take the USMLE first with COMLEX from a few days up to a week or two later, primarily focusing on OMM during that time between them.

Also, for my purposes, I figure I'll be best served rocking the USMLE rather than COMLEX (if I were to only rock one), so I'll take in all the advice on this forum for how to prepare well for the USMLE.

My lingering questions... obviously I'd rather not bomb or "just slide by" on the COMLEX with a mediocre passing grade. Other than adding OMM for a few days before the exam, I'm wondering if I should do anything before the USMLE to supplement my studies? Are the styles of the two exams so vastly different (I've heard that there are differences, of course) that FA for USMLE and RR/path for example might result in being better prepared for the USMLE than COMLEX? Are there question banks that people think are particularly good for COMLEX style questions that would be worthwhile to sprinkle into my general board prep so that the exam isn't a shock to the system? Or are they so similar in knowledge base that knowing USMLE material is wholly sufficient for COMLEX?

Thanks, and I'll try to let the horse rest now...

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[Terpskins99]

I just did a search on this and read several dozen threads. Some great advice, and I don't want to beat a horse that has been killed hundreds of times on this forum, but I'd also like to clear up a few lingering questions I have from a different perspective.

I already know I will take both exams (step 1 at the least). From my own general thoughts and from the advice given in threads I have read, I'll probably plan to take the USMLE first with COMLEX from a few days up to a week or two later, primarily focusing on OMM during that time between them.

Also, for my purposes, I figure I'll be best served rocking the USMLE rather than COMLEX (if I were to only rock one), so I'll take in all the advice on this forum for how to prepare well for the USMLE.

My lingering questions... obviously I'd rather not bomb or "just slide by" on the COMLEX with a mediocre passing grade. Other than adding OMM for a few days before the exam, I'm wondering if I should do anything before the USMLE to supplement my studies? Are the styles of the two exams so vastly different (I've heard that there are differences, of course) that FA for USMLE and RR/path for example might result in being better prepared for the USMLE than COMLEX? Are there question banks that people think are particularly good for COMLEX style questions that would be worthwhile to sprinkle into my general board prep so that the exam isn't a shock to the system? Or are they so similar in knowledge base that knowing USMLE material is wholly sufficient for COMLEX?

Thanks, and I'll try to let the horse rest now...

OMT is all you need to do extra for COMLEX. I noticed that this year emphasized sympathetic/parasympathetics along with chapman's points... but it could change. Honestly, I thought the questions were a joke and anyone with the least bit of OMT training would be able to answer them without studying.

 

[osli]

Thanks. One (strong) vote in favor of the 'study my ass off for the USMLE, and review OMT before COMLEX' approach!

I'm kinda hoping that is the concensus... just wanted to check and make sure there weren't question banks that better prepared one for the COMLEX style. Most people say COMLEX qbanks are crap, but ya' never know until you ask. Search seems to only go so far...

 

[drchick331]

OP,

I studied by mostly focusing on USMLE material, using Kaplan Q bank for "COMLEX-style" questions and USMLE123 for the hardcore path/pharm/psych material.

I think I wasted $200 on Kaplan - the questions were either ridiculously too easy, many had wrong/incomplete answers, and I didn't think any question I gave came close to the COMLEX-style questions I had on my exam. (For that matter, I don't think any questions really are representative!)

If you focus on the USMLE, you should do great...I wanted to do better on the USMLE and ended up with a better 2-digit COMLEX (even though I walked out of it feeling considerable less confident).

PM if you have any other questions and good luck!

 

[strongson]

simply put, anyone who studies their a$s off for the usmle and actually does well, will also do well on comlex. in my opinion, the usmle is best taken first; then, take a day or two off to re-focus. then take two or three days to review omm, and perhaps re-fresh your neuro, micro, and pharm.

good luck

 

[Typical]

simply put, anyone who studies their a$s off for the usmle and actually does well, will also do well on comlex. in my opinion, the usmle is best taken first; then, take a day or two off to re-focus. then take two or three days to review omm, and perhaps re-fresh your neuro, micro, and pharm.

good luck

Also note that stongston's advices are only good for infra-diaphragmatic questions on the boards as he is too concernced about any common innervations with his penis

 

[osli]

OK, I think I missed a critical part of that inside joke, but I'll just for good measure.

Looks like I'll just stick to the tried and true USMLE + 1 week for OMT.

 

[DOme2009]

rofl, 1 week for omm? what are you gonna do for the other five and a half days? seriously, study parasympathetics/sympathetics, spinal mechanics, cranial/sacral, and chapman's points. do that and you're golden for 90% of the omm questions - the other 10% are questions you won't get right no matter how much omm you studied, they're just poorly written questions. best of luck.

 

[osli]

Hmm...

So USMLE + 1 week (3 days for beer, 3 to relax and catch up on sleep, and 1 for OMT) for the COMLEX?

Better?

 

[TheEleventhReel]

Yeah, I wouldn't have more than a week b/t the two tests. You'll start forgetting little details in path and pharm if you do that (at least I was). Plus, for me, I was so burnt from studying for USMLE I just wanted to take the COMLEX as soon as possible just to get it over with. On my COMLEX, I had probably 10 sympathetic level questions, 2 cranial questions, and about 5 thoracic vertebrae rotation questions. That was all the OMM I had. Oh yeah, I did have one question about the position you put the patient in to treat an exhalation dysfunction of a rib with muscle energy. That was it. I had my tests five days apart and that was more than enough time to get through OMT.

 

[Taus]

osli:

I agree w/ most of what was said below....and who am I kidding... I probably posted a lot of the info/advice that you found while searching through old posts.

I took the USMLE on a Monday and COMLEX that Friday and in hindsight I wouldn't have changed a thing. I took all of Tuesday off (to recover from a hangover...) studied OMM on Wed. and did a quick review of micro and pharm wed night/thurs morning. If you are well prepared for the USMLE and do a decent OMM review you will be as prepared as you could be for the COMLEX.

If you were to do it the other way around I think you would need much more time in between (I believe Idiopathic did this...if you searched old posts I'm sure you read his stuff). To peak for the USMLE after taking time off for OMM and the general stress that comes w/ taking the COMLEX, you would then need to refresh molecular, biochem, genetics, immuno and biostatistics. To do that in a few days b/w tests seems a lot more daunting then just reviewing OMM.

 

[DragonWell]

Anybody know of other good sources of OMM practice questions besides Savarese?

 

[Taus]

Anybody know of other good sources of OMM practice questions besides Savarese?

I only did the end of chapter q's in Savarese and didn't even look at the q's in the back of the book. Understanding the basics needed to answer those was plenty for the overwhelming majority of OMM on my test.... I scored >700 with an * in OMM . Unless you feel really weak on the subject and can't understand why you are getting those questions wrong...I really don't think you need another source. The only OMM q's that weren't answerable from that book were so f'ed up and out there I had no idea what they were even asking.

 

[DragonWell]

It was the f-upped questions that have started appearing on our OMM tests that prompted me to ask. Some of the questions seem to have a logic(?) all their own, that I'm obviously not getting. Sounds like it's not worth the time to delve too deep into this, so I'll just focus on nailing the basics and say f-it to the crazy questions. Thanks for the advice.

 

[rani820]

OP,

I think I wasted $200 on Kaplan - the questions were either ridiculously too easy, many had wrong/incomplete answers, and I didn't think any question I gave came close to the COMLEX-style questions I had on my exam. (For that matter, I don't think any questions really are representative!)

Have you voiced your opinion to Kaplan directly?

 

[DO it right]

Hi OP,
I'm surprised you felt that way, because I thought that Kaplan prepared me really well for both the USMLE and the Comlex exams. I felt that the question format, length, answer choices, and interface were great in teaching and testing my knowledge. I liked the explanations in Kaplan because they were not too long, and the questions were of comparable difficulty to the actual tests. In fact, I rocked both exams thanks to Kaplan! Totally recommend it too all other peeps out there!

seriously...Kaplan needs to behave on these forums. If people like your products they will use it. You guys do enough advertisement on our campuses and elsewhere, you can leave us alone on these forums so we could have some healthy discussions.

 

[predodoc]

Someone mentioned that they dont care about their comlex score. I would suggest that you dont blow off comlex. If you want something hard for DO's like Derm, optho, or anything that you will probably only get if you go for a DO residency. For example, I guy in my class made something like a 248 on usmle and only 550 on comlex but wants to go optho. Although hes not screwed for either way, he did tell me that he would probably rather have my score 239/646.

 

[osli]

Pretty good advice. My preferences right now (which will probably change fourteen times in the next two years) are radiology > ortho > gas ~ ER

Radiology is competitive, but the DO bias isn't quite as large as some other competitive specialties. I think they just want good, smart, well rounded applicants. Ortho is definitely a problem because it is the one specialty where DO's statistically have an easier time becoming an ortho than MD's do. Gas is about like radiology, maybe even more accepting to DO's on average. ER should be wide open.

I'll try to keep in mind that it probably looks better on any application to have two good scores instead of one... especially if they know the COMLEX scores well and ask you what happened.