the official COMAT shelf thread

[AlteredScale]

Late to the game. IM COMAT >115.

I used the following:
- Step Up 2 Medicine (read through 2-3 times over the two months)
- COMQUEST IM COMAT QBank (Completed once and again with incorrect, made word document of things I got wrong)
- MKSAP Internal Medicine Review for Medical Student question book (probably did 20-30 in each section)

I had a good experience for my first month of IM being with a university residency program. Very thorough learning on rounds, noon conference, and afternoon teaching by the residents. They had a list of topics they wanted to cover on the board and would just check them off. They also made me "teach them" topics like hyponatremia workup which I also think helped a lot.

Second month was meh at best. Outpatient clinic IM whole month but gave alot of time for doing questions banks and hitting weak points.

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[pseud0]

Hi guys just starting third year, critique my planned resources:

online med ed
Uworld questions for each rotation
comquest questions for each rotation
COMBANK questions for each rotation
Amboss library for specific things i need to prepare for on wards
Zanki step 2 cards by rotation (haven't decided if it will be necessary if i do all these questions)

enough or too much? Is Comquest/COMBANK sufficient as a DO or should i splurge on the expensive amboss qbank and do that instead?

 

[moyamoya6]

Hi guys just starting third year, critique my planned resources:

online med ed
Uworld questions for each rotation
comquest questions for each rotation
COMBANK questions for each rotation
Amboss library for specific things i need to prepare for on wards
Zanki step 2 cards by rotation (haven't decided if it will be necessary if i do all these questions)

enough or too much? Is Comquest/COMBANK sufficient as a DO or should i splurge on the expensive amboss qbank and do that instead?

I thought COMBANK and OME was sufficient for COMATs. I started using UWorld when I was a few months out from studying for step 2 CK.

 

[IntheClouds4ever]

Hi guys just starting third year, critique my planned resources:

online med ed
Uworld questions for each rotation
comquest questions for each rotation
COMBANK questions for each rotation
Amboss library for specific things i need to prepare for on wards
Zanki step 2 cards by rotation (haven't decided if it will be necessary if i do all these questions)

enough or too much? Is Comquest/COMBANK sufficient as a DO or should i splurge on the expensive amboss qbank and do that instead?

Wayyy too much, yo. Just do ome And qbank of your choice (except combank, combank for anything other than OMM is insufficient

 

[Espressso]

Wayyy too much, yo. Just do ome And qbank of your choice (except combank, combank for anything other than OMM is insufficient

Second this. Just do UW + anki and you're good to go. Binge watch some OME before the comat, read a little case files here and there. Golden.

Last thing you want to do after a busy dayat the hospital is to come home and have to do 20 UW, 20 Combank and 20 comquest questions. That's overload

 

[Medic741]

So.... my school just announced a standard score of 80 to pass COMAT. How hard is this to do?!

Yet another example of “let’s make life hard for no reason and no benefit to our students”

 

[IntheClouds4ever]

So.... my school just announced a standard score of 80 to pass COMAT. How hard is this to do?!

Yet another example of “let’s make life hard for no reason and no benefit to our students”

Extremely easy. 80 is 2 SD below the mean. Our school set the bar for passing at 90

 

[sunshinefl]

Extremely easy. 80 is 2 SD below the mean. Our school set the bar for passing at 90

That’s crazy!! That means they think ~16% should fail

 

[IntheClouds4ever]

That’s crazy!! That means they think ~16% should fail

You won’t Necessarily fail, you just have to retake within a certain timeframe or something like that.. can’t sit for Level 2 until you’ve passed all COMATs

 

[sunshinefl]

You won’t Necessarily fail, you just have to retake within a certain timeframe or something like that.. can’t sit for Level 2 until you’ve passed all COMATs

Oh okay gotcha.

 

[MakeLifeHappen13]

What is the best QBank for Family med COMAT?

 

[Spectreman]

You won’t Necessarily fail, you just have to retake within a certain timeframe or something like that.. can’t sit for Level 2 until you’ve passed all COMATs

Your app would show a COMAT failure though, correct? Found my OBGYN COMAT to be pretty crap-ola. Online med Ed and Uworld were enough to pass, but I might invest in comquest for the rest of M3.

 

[IntheClouds4ever]

Your app would show a COMAT failure though, correct? Found my OBGYN COMAT to be pretty crap-ola. Online med Ed and Uworld were enough to pass, but I might invest in comquest for the rest of M3.

Comat scores don’t go on our app as far as I’m aware.

 

[Robotfishbrain]

Comat scores don’t go on our app as far as I’m aware.

As long as you retake a fail and pass it, you are correct. Failures do show up, but otherwise they don't.

 

[cookiegrub]

when you guys say you bought COMQUEST for COMAT, did you also buy the comlex component?

 

[Espressso]

Anyone have any insight on the OB comat? Just finished the UW OB/Gyn questions and Zanki. Working through the ACPG (or whatever the acronym is) questions. Heard this comat sucks though

 

[Spectreman]

Anyone have any insight on the OB comat? Just finished the UW OB/Gyn questions and Zanki. Working through the ACPG (or whatever the acronym is) questions. Heard this comat sucks though

I found there was a lot of weird questions, but it wasn’t terrible. I’m kind of a dummy and passed it just fine. Can be really hard to honor though, especially since it’s early in 3rd year and we haven’t adjusted to these exams yet. Personally wishing I had done comquest, uworld did not prepare terribly well.

 

[hawthorn9797]

I found there was a lot of weird questions, but it wasn’t terrible. I’m kind of a dummy and passed it just fine. Can be really hard to honor though, especially since it’s early in 3rd year and we haven’t adjusted to these exams yet. Personally wishing I had done comquest, uworld did not prepare terribly well.

Any chance you could expand on what you meant by “weird questions” ? I take this thing tomorrow morning and I am terrified lol. I have watched the OME vids and read through master the boards, and have done most of UWISE questions (getting wrecked by them).

Thank you for your time

 

[hawthorn9797]

Anyone have any insight on the OB comat? Just finished the UW OB/Gyn questions and Zanki. Working through the ACPG (or whatever the acronym is) questions. Heard this comat sucks though

Did you take the 100 comprehensive questions at the end? i got a 65% lol, really hoping to pass this thing. I was just wondering if in your experience the UWISE questions are anything like the UWORLD questions? thanks in advance. Good luck on this as well!

 

[Espressso]

Did you take the 100 comprehensive questions at the end? i got a 65% lol, really hoping to pass this thing. I was just wondering if in your experience the UWISE questions are anything like the UWORLD questions? thanks in advance. Good luck on this as well!

I haven't finished the UWise questions but those are tough. Similar-ish to UW. Good luck to you too! I'm just trying to pass as well lol. Let me know how it goes tomorrow, mine is next week

 

[hawthorn9797]

I haven't finished the UWise questions but those are tough. Similar-ish to UW. Good luck to you too! I'm just trying to pass as well lol. Let me know how it goes tomorrow, mine is next week

Ok will do. Thank you!

 

[Spectreman]

Any chance you could expand on what you meant by “weird questions” ? I take this thing tomorrow morning and I am terrified lol. I have watched the OME vids and read through master the boards, and have done most of UWISE questions (getting wrecked by them).

Thank you for your time

You’ll do fine my friend.

 

[hawthorn9797]

I haven't finished the UWise questions but those are tough. Similar-ish to UW. Good luck to you too! I'm just trying to pass as well lol. Let me know how it goes tomorrow, mine is next week

Following up: just took it, my experience: 1/2 common sense, 1/4: I think I know what they are going for maybe? and 1/4 super vague, super tricky answer choices with material I have never seen before. Sorry, I wish I had better report. All I can recommend is doing practice problems, because I don't really think reading more would have helped me tbh. Lets ride that curve! good luck

 

[hawthorn9797]

took the OBGYN comat last friday (08/16), anyone know when scores should be released? I was under the impression it would be today but who knows

 

[hawthorn9797]

Took the Family Medicine COMAT on Friday. COMBANK and AAFP questions were pretty good. I didn't finish the entire bank of AAFP(only did 400-500 or so) but I felt like it was a good representation of the broad spectrum plus had more USPSTF guideline questions to help nail those down.

105 - Disappointed since all my COMATs have been >110, so far.

Do you know how to access the AAFP practice questions? Thank you

 

[sunshinefl]

Do you know how to access the AAFP practice questions? Thank you

Family Medicine Board Review Questions

These free practice board questions are to help family physicians begin to prepare for the ABFM board exam. Available to AAFP members only.

www.aafp.org

You have to sign up for membership to access. Free for students but they’ll verify your info in 1-2 business days.

 

[hawthorn9797]

Family Medicine Board Review Questions

These free practice board questions are to help family physicians begin to prepare for the ABFM board exam. Available to AAFP members only.

www.aafp.org

You have to sign up for membership to access. Free for students but they’ll verify your info in 1-2 business days.

Thank you so much !

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

If I took my comat on Friday, how long will it take to get a score?

 

[Spectreman]

If I took my comat on Friday, how long will it take to get a score?

Been told usually the following Friday, but I took OBGYN 2 months ago and it came the second Monday. So ten days was my experience.

 

[sunshinefl]

If I took my comat on Friday, how long will it take to get a score?

I took my comat the Friday before, 8/23, and I don’t have any results yet.

 

[hawthorn9797]

If I took my comat on Friday, how long will it take to get a score?

I took OBGYN Friday August 16th and got my score back the following Wednesday. I didn’t get the score from my school though, I got it on the NBOME website right by my comlex scores

 

[hawthorn9797]

Does anyone know if the Family Medicine COMAT is anything like the 134 COMBANK FM specific COMAT questions? I just did all of them and never have I been confronted with a more absurdly random mix of bogus vignettes and question choices since... the Comsae 105 lol please someone tell me this is not like the FM COMAT

Also, any idea if a 71% on the 134 COMBANK questions is in the safety zone for passing the test?

Thank you all

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

COMAT scores came out today

 

[Medic741]

COMAT scores came out today

Wooot! 120 on psych, had scored 76th percentile on TrueLearn, used Firecracker qbank as well

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Wooot! 120 on psych, had scored 76th percentile on TrueLearn, used Firecracker qbank as well

Somehow pulled about that on IM. I guess the mantra of "just do as many questions as you can" actually works lol

 

[Medic741]

Somehow pulled about that on IM. I guess the mantra of "just do as many questions as you can" actually works lol

solid work there, and as painful as that advice is to follow it seems to ring true over and over...

 

[sunshinefl]

I’m so sad. I got 110 on my ObGyn comat, and you need 111 for honors here. 🙁 (And I got the absurdly high marks on my eval required for honors, but you need both components).

 

[3tothedome]

I’m so sad. I got 110 on my ObGyn comat, and you need 111 for honors here. 🙁 (And I got the absurdly high marks on my eval required for honors, but you need both components).

Needed a >115 to honor my last COMAT. Damn gunners man...

 

[sunshinefl]

Needed a >115 to honor my last COMAT. Damn gunners man...

For us clerkship grades are criteria based. So no matter how high your eval is above the minimum for honors (which is already very high at 4.5 out of 5 across all criteria), if you don’t also meet the mandatory minimum on the comat you can’t get honors. They’re not averaged.

 

[3tothedome]

For us clerkship grades are criteria based. So no matter how high your eval is above the minimum for honors (which is already very high at 4.5 out of 5 across all criteria), if you don’t also meet the mandatory minimum on the comat you can’t get honors. They’re not averaged.

Ours is similar. You need to honor both the eval and the comat to honor the the rotation. If you honor one and not the other you get a high pass.

 

[sunshinefl]

Ours is similar. You need to honor both the eval and the comat to honor the the rotation. If you honor one and not the other you get a high pass.

Nice to know similar. However, my school is super frustrating in that there is no high pass. Only Honors or pass. It’s like the only possible grades are A+, C, or F.

 

[Medic741]

It’s almost like admin stays up all night trying to **** us as hard and long as they possibly can. For a whole 4 years.

 

[3tothedome]

Nice to know similar. However, my school is super frustrating in that there is no high pass. Only Honors or pass. It’s like the only possible grades are A+, C, or F.

Jesus Christ, that is just so damn dumb.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Nice to know similar. However, my school is super frustrating in that there is no high pass. Only Honors or pass. It’s like the only possible grades are A+, C, or F.

That's extremely irritating. You aren't alone in your suffering. We have mutliple 250+, Rank in the top 10, multiple pub students walking around with straight P's on rotations because of how they decided to grade the clinical years. Gotta love DO schools

 

[Medic741]

Lol with a 120 and nothing but really positive feedback on eval I’m getting a P because my preceptor doesn’t give 5’s as a policy.

Yay. What is wrong with our schools??? Serious question

 

[Ho0v-man]

Any advice for the psych comat? I’ve just been doing uworld and Dorian and it’s been rough. Any omm to focus on? I’m only looking at omm for an hour the day before tops.

 

[Spectreman]

Wooot! 120 on psych, had scored 76th percentile on TrueLearn, used Firecracker qbank as well

Did you do FA for Psych or OME to review before your Qbank work?

 

[Neopolymath]

Any advice for the psych comat? I’ve just been doing uworld and Dorian and it’s been rough. Any omm to focus on? I’m only looking at omm for an hour the day before tops.

~120 on comat. Emma Holliday 2x before test on commute. OME. Maybe 100ish Amboss/UW questions. I had one OMM question but it was easy and I completely ignore OMM. Perhaps the only thing my school does right is the psych block during didactic. Strong step 1 knowledge carries you on this comat more than anything. Spent the whole rotation studying for the next couple harder ones.

Review different types of tools for dementia/cognition, review child psych tools, review some basic child milestones. You are going to murder it if you did all of UW and Dorian's deck. FA for psych is the definitive ms3 book and it's covered by Anki obviously.

Crush it, bro.

 

[Medic741]

Did you do FA for Psych or OME to review before your Qbank work?

Nah my rotation was way too busy to do any reading. I just did the 1.2k firecracker cards, all the firecracker psych clerkship cases and the TrueLearn qbank.

Would read uptodate during a patient encounter to review dx/tx during the day

 

[hawthorn9797]

Just took family med. each of the 125 questions has a full 2 paragraphs of info and there are usually multiple lab value tables. The values are pointless except for 1 or 2 that will be “slightly abnormal”... unbelievable our futures are dictated by these exams. I’m done studying for them... may as well go play trivia night at a bar. Probably would cover some of the content tbh