the official COMAT shelf thread

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AnatomyGrey12 said:
Worthless IMO. Do NOT save UWorld for dedicated. I waited to do it this spring and it's the one thing I regret (took Step 2 yesterday). Do it now through rotations by subject and then reset it during your dedicated because there is simply too much information to wait. Step 2 is a very different test and should be approached differently. IMO the only resources anyone needs for Step 2 is knowing UWorld cold, and the Divine Intervention podcasts, but you need to know them cold.

The people I know that only did COMQUEST always under performed their prediction by a decent amount. I did the COMBANK comat questions over and over until I had gotten all of them right at least once, and then did all the other questions in the main Q bank for that topic.

For reference my average COMAT was a 116.
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Do you recommend a COMAT-specific qbank in addition to UWorld? My plan had been UWorld only, but since I came so close to honoring I'm wondering if adding a COMAT-specific bank would help. Especially since UWorld doesn't have that many surgery questions. School's running a deal on the COMQUEST COMAT questions right now, so wondering if I should just bite the bullet and buy.
 
fldoctorgirl said:
Do you recommend a COMAT-specific qbank in addition to UWorld? My plan had been UWorld only, but since I came so close to honoring I'm wondering if adding a COMAT-specific bank would help. Especially since UWorld doesn't have that many surgery questions. School's running a deal on the COMQUEST COMAT questions right now, so wondering if I should just bite the bullet and buy.
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I’ve never been a fan of COMQUEST but I know some people like it. Our school gave us both COMQUEST and the COMBANK (truelearn) comat q banks. Those are the comat specific questions I did, I thought they were pretty helpful.
 
I used uworld only throughout third year as I refuse bc the DO specific banks were too easy in preclinical. My average comat was 116 (excluding the opp comat bc I blocked it out). My lowest one was psych at 109. It was my first one and it was ridiculous.
 
Ho0v-man said:
I used uworld only throughout third year as I refuse bc the DO specific banks were too easy in preclinical. My average comat was 116 (excluding the opp comat bc I blocked it out). My lowest one was psych at 109. It was my first one and it was ridiculous.
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Hmm ok. Yeah I didn't use any DO specific banks besides the OMM questions for level 1. I got a 111 on FM (honors 112+, no HP) but only did dorian + a couple hundred AMBOSS questions while I waited for my school to sort out whether they would be purchasing UWorld for us or not (big surprise to all, the answer is no). Maybe it'll go better this time around using UWorld. Just trying to push myself over that edge for my own personal sanity haha

Side question, do y'all recommend going through some medicine questions for the surgery COMAT if we haven't had medicine yet? I've heard people say it leans very heavily towards the medicine side of things, and since there's only ~150 surgery-specific questions in UWorld, I was wondering if it would be worth it to do any medicine ones in addition (like GI etc).
 
fldoctorgirl said:
Side question, do y'all recommend going through some medicine questions for the surgery COMAT if we haven't had medicine yet? I've heard people say it leans very heavily towards the medicine side of things, and since there's only ~150 surgery-specific questions in UWorld, I was wondering if it would be worth it to do any medicine ones in addition (like GI etc).
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Yeah I would do the GI questions. There is quite a bit of medical management of GI diseases on the comat. Like SBO rolls in what do you do next, stick in an NG tube (I.e not surgery). Stuff like that.

The surgery comat is hard because I think a lot of people aren’t prepared for all the medicine stuff. Instead they spend time studying anatomy and things you would think would be heavy on it but aren’t.
 
Is it normal to walk out of the surg comat and feel like you completely bombed? I straight up guessed half the exam and flagged like 70 questions. Tons of wtf questions that I had no clue. I dont think ive ever felt so terrible leaving an exam. Did all of the comquest questions made anki cards on my incorrects and watched all of the OME vids twice gen surg/trauma and all of GI medicine and felt like it didnt help at all
 
Deecee2DO said:
Is it normal to walk out of the surg comat and feel like you completely bombed? I straight up guessed half the exam and flagged like 70 questions. Tons of wtf questions that I had no clue. I dont think ive ever felt so terrible leaving an exam. Did all of the comquest questions made anki cards on my incorrects and watched all of the OME vids twice gen surg/trauma and all of GI medicine and felt like it didnt help at all
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Haven‘t taken surgery yet but that’s how I felt after my Family med COMAT. Have opp next week.
 
Deecee2DO said:
Well thats good to hear im not alone lol did you end up doing better than you thought on FM comat?
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Lol, I was apparently 1 point under average. To be fair, I didn’t study very hard for it. My buddy who studied every day and spent time on weekends said it was rough and got a 107.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
Lol, I was apparently 1 point under average. To be fair, I didn’t study very hard for it. My buddy who studied every day and spent time on weekends said it was rough and got a 107.
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Thats fire lol congrats on being done with FM. Glad to be done with surg it was so boring to me lol
 
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I don't
Deecee2DO said:
Is it normal to walk out of the surg comat and feel like you completely bombed? I straight up guessed half the exam and flagged like 70 questions. Tons of wtf questions that I had no clue. I dont think ive ever felt so terrible leaving an exam. Did all of the comquest questions made anki cards on my incorrects and watched all of the OME vids twice gen surg/trauma and all of GI medicine and felt like it didnt help at all
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I don't think I've met a single person who walked out of a COMAT feeling good. But people generally do better than they think. The curve must be insane!
 
Deecee2DO said:
Is it normal to walk out of the surg comat and feel like you completely bombed? I straight up guessed half the exam and flagged like 70 questions. Tons of wtf questions that I had no clue. I dont think ive ever felt so terrible leaving an exam. Did all of the comquest questions made anki cards on my incorrects and watched all of the OME vids twice gen surg/trauma and all of GI medicine and felt like it didnt help at all
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RIP surgery is my next one. But yeah I think this is normal lol, I felt similarly after FM and did well in the end.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
Lots of talks with mentors have convinced me DR does enough procedures for me to be happy. So DR it still is. Just hoping these damn comats and class rank don’t hold me back. I need to get my step 1 mojo back and get back on the grind.
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DR is a really cool field. You nailed Step you should be more than fine. Same here I need that prededicated Step 1 energy lol im so burnt still.
 
Deecee2DO said:
DR is a really cool field. You nailed Step you should be more than fine. Same here I need that prededicated Step 1 energy lol im so burnt still.
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Dude, the burnout has lasted way longer than I anticipated. I’m 99% certain I honored FM, but that’s not because I studied at all.
 
Ho0v-man said:
It took two months s/p step1 before I started feeling human again. It was a crazy burnout and a month or two later it doesn’t even seem fathomable to study like that.
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Was just talking to some classmates about this. I didn't really think I was that burnt out from Step 1 studying until I started doing practice questions for my COMAT. I completed maybe 30% of the questions and said enough is enough lol.
 
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Ho0v-man said:
It took two months s/p step1 before I started feeling human again. It was a crazy burnout and a month or two later it doesn’t even seem fathomable to study like that.
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thats how i feel. I was lucky enough to get surg and IM first! lmfao (kidding obvi). Took Step comlex and surg comat all within 4 weeks following like an 8 month covid dedicated and 3 days between taking step and starting surgery. I need like 2 months of vacation
 
Ho0v-man said:
I used uworld only throughout third year as I refuse bc the DO specific banks were too easy in preclinical. My average comat was 116 (excluding the opp comat bc I blocked it out). My lowest one was psych at 109. It was my first one and it was ridiculous.
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First COMAT for me was today, psych as well. Honestly surprised me with the number of questions asking for the most esoteric answers for common problems, and I honestly felt good given my QBank performance going into it. But as some of y’all were saying, even two months out I still feel the damage from boards study lol.
 
OMM comat this week, kinda worried tbh. I can't keep all the treatments for tender points straight in my head and all the little exceptions are dumb. Also, multiple books disagree on small details and I've had questions between Comquest and combank that directly oppose each other in answers. **** me.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
OMM comat this week, kinda worried tbh. I can't keep all the treatments for tender points straight in my head and all the little exceptions are dumb. Also, multiple books disagree on small details and I've had questions between Comquest and combank that directly oppose each other in answers. **** me.
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Tender points are not high yield at all. Maybe the ones in the pelvis like iliacus and the naming of ones around asis but not worth your time imo.
 
Ho0v-man said:
Tender points are not high yield at all. Maybe the ones in the pelvis like iliacus and the naming of ones around asis but not worth your time imo.
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Bruh I’ve gotten so many practice questions on cervical tender points and treatment, it’s not even funny.

I feel confident in my innominates, sacrum, upper and lower limb, etc. viscerosomatics, Chapman points, and tender points seem to get me.
 
How do yall have time to do anki OME and UWorld questions for IM when theres 13 hr days, 1400 questions and only 4 weeks lol its virtually impossible
 
Deecee2DO said:
How do yall have time to do anki OME and UWorld questions for IM when theres 13 hr days, 1400 questions and only 4 weeks lol its virtually impossible
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That’s why literally just finishing IM uworld is such a feat. I couldn’t and just poured everything into anki.
 
So it looks like the only thing im going to get through for IM is 1000 UW questions and maybe (hard maybe) all of the OME vids. Im kind of nervous because my average so far for UW IM shelf questions is 65% after having done about 200 questions and I need to honor this thing in 3 more weeks. Is it normal for your scores to rise as the weeks progress? I used comquest for surg and got a 116 so the comquest prediction was very accurate and seemed to hit the right stuff but with UW i just dont know
 
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Just discovered this thread cause I'm lazy. got a 105 on my first COMAT in FM. I did all of dorian and then did 75% of the comquest questions. I don't really feel like they were representative but I have also heard that FM is just a mess of an exam anyways. I really want to honor for my next COMAT in Peds, but I'll have to get a 112. like @fldoctorgirl I was waiting on Uworld to see if my school would buy it, and was thinking about putting it off until 2 months before dedicated when I have two months of electives. I have seen enough people saying to not do this however that I am going to buy it now and try and work through all of those before my exam on the 25th. Was looking forward to not being sad all the time but now that the Uworld train is starting again it looks like that is inevitable.
 
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Hopping over here from the Step 2 thread! I take the IM COMAT next Friday and so far I've done the UWorld subdeck in the Dorian IM deck, am working through the OME deck and have done about 450 UWorld IM questions. I plan to do a block a day through next Thursday, will do as much of the OME deck as I can and will listen to the Emma Holliday IM lecture Thursday night but I was wondering if there's anything else I should do? I feel like I haven't done enough but my IM rotation is only 4 weeks so I'm a bit time crunched. I just want to pass which is an 80 at my school.
 
GoCards05 said:
Hopping over here from the Step 2 thread! I take the IM COMAT next Friday and so far I've done the UWorld subdeck in the Dorian IM deck, am working through the OME deck and have done about 450 UWorld IM questions. I plan to do a block a day through next Thursday, will do as much of the OME deck as I can and will listen to the Emma Holliday IM lecture Thursday night but I was wondering if there's anything else I should do? I feel like I haven't done enough but my IM rotation is only 4 weeks so I'm a bit time crunched. I just want to pass which is an 80 at my school.
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Damn dude youve done way more than Ive done and I need to honor it lol my goal is 1000 questions half UWorld and half Comquest (im taking the comat which i heard is way easier than UWorld) and watching all the OME vids but thats really it. We also only get 3.5 weeks so hitting 1400 UW questions is not happening
 
Deecee2DO said:
Damn dude youve done way more than Ive done and I need to honor it lol my goal is 1000 questions half UWorld and half Comquest (im taking the comat which i heard is way easier than UWorld) and watching all the OME vids but thats really it. We also only get 3.5 weeks so hitting 1400 UW questions is not happening
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I was off of rotations for a couple weeks so that’s the only reason I was able to get decent chunk of UWorld done. Even with that time off, I won’t come close to finishing all 1400 questions or the entire IM deck in Dorian. I’ll probably have done about 700 questions by the time I take it and hopefully that carries me to a respectable score. You’ll end up doing way more than I will so I bet you’ll honor it!
 
GoCards05 said:
I was off of rotations for a couple weeks so that’s the only reason I was able to get decent chunk of UWorld done. Even with that time off, I won’t come close to finishing all 1400 questions or the entire IM deck in Dorian. I’ll probably have done about 700 questions by the time I take it and hopefully that carries me to a respectable score. You’ll end up doing way more than I will so I bet you’ll honor it!
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Realistically Ill probs hit 700 questions too 1000 is a longshot for me. Im really only able to do 25-30 questions and 3 OME vids per day during the week. I tried 40 per day and its impossible
 
ohmanwaddup said:
This is fantastic lol. I was on my walk when the thought struck me, there isn’t a board Exam to take 4th year, or shelves I’m going to do so much hiking
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We have to take EM comat in 4th year even under normal years, however I also haven’t taken peds or FM yet due to pandemic.
 
sunshinefl said:
We have to take EM comat in 4th year even under normal years, however I also haven’t taken peds or FM yet due to pandemic.
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Is that because you haven’t had those rotations yet or because your school won’t let you take them remotely?
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
Is that because you haven’t had those rotations yet or because your school won’t let you take them remotely?
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I had 4 of 8 weeks of Peds, and 5.5 of 8 weeks of FM due to getting pulled from ending of 3rd year because of pandemic. School keeps giving conflicting info and can’t decide if and when we have to finish them live or online and if and when we can take the comats from M3.
 
sunshinefl said:
I had 4 of 8 weeks of Peds, and 5.5 of 8 weeks of FM due to getting pulled from ending of 3rd year because of pandemic. School keeps giving conflicting info and can’t decide if and when we have to finish them live or online and if and when we can take the comats from M3.
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Wow. That’s lame.
 
fldoctorgirl said:
PSA, there are like 500+ surgery questions on UWorld. I thought there were like 150 lol.
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Yeah thats a lot lol so I heard UWorld isnt too great for Surg so I didnt do it. I used comquest only and ended up with a 116. Felt like I failed the **** out of it-I only was confident in 25 answers of the total 125 questions lol. However the comquest score prediction was very accurate for me and others that took it before me. There are about 300 or so comquest questions and the explanations were solid imo. I just did those and watched the OME vids 2x
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Yeah thats a lot lol so I heard UWorld isnt too great for Surg so I didnt do it. I used comquest only and ended up with a 116. Felt like I failed the **** out of it-I only was confident in 25 answers of the total 125 questions lol. However the comquest score prediction was very accurate for me and others that took it before me. There are about 300 or so comquest questions and the explanations were solid imo. I just did those and watched the OME vids 2x
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UW being inadequate for surgery was an opinion that keeps getting repeated but it comes from a time before they added like 400+ questions lol.
 
Should I prioritize getting good letters over honors? My school wants an 87th percentile, I work hard and all, but it seems somewhat unrealistic to gun for honors when the bar is so high and I could invest my time better and have a much better chance comparatively of getting a good letter

Also when the hell do I apply for away rotations?
 
ohmanwaddup said:
Should I prioritize getting good letters over honors? My school wants an 87th percentile, I work hard and all, but it seems somewhat unrealistic to gun for honors when the bar is so high and I could invest my time better and have a much better chance comparatively of getting a good letter

Also when the hell do I apply for away rotations?
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They are not completely mutually exclusive so please try not to fall for a trap. Keep working hard. That said, a truly great LOR is far more important than honoring a rotation. The crux of the issue is finding out who will actually write the magic words versus someone who is enthusiastic about writing a letter but isn't going to write a particularly good letter. Just something to add to your neuroticism.

Start thinking about your away strategy late this fall. Plan to apply for aways the day vsas opens. This only goes for if your field of course even requires aways.
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
Should I prioritize getting good letters over honors? My school wants an 87th percentile, I work hard and all, but it seems somewhat unrealistic to gun for honors when the bar is so high and I could invest my time better and have a much better chance comparatively of getting a good letter

Also when the hell do I apply for away rotations?
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You can apply through VSAS (do this the day it opens for the program you want). You can also apply through ClinicianNexus. Some programs aren't on VSAS. You can start as early as January. I had all my aways secured by March outside of VSAS (then Covid happened, but that's a whole other story). You can check the program's website for info on how they do away rotations.
 
Just took the IM COMAT. I actually thought it was pretty fair and covered all the bases without focusing too much on one or two subjects. Some out of left field questions which is to be expected but overall nothing too crazy. Since my rotation was only 4 weeks, I finished about half of the UWorld IM shelf bank and 2/3 of the IM Dorian deck and felt that was enough to at least pass.
 
GoCards05 said:
Just took the IM COMAT. I actually thought it was pretty fair and covered all the bases without focusing too much on one or two subjects. Some out of left field questions which is to be expected but overall nothing too crazy. Since my rotation was only 4 weeks, I finished about half of the UWorld IM shelf bank and 2/3 of the IM Dorian deck and felt that was enough to at least pass.
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Yeah the comats are a ton easier than UWorld lol thats good to hear though! Take it next thurs
 
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