the official COMAT shelf thread

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yeah our school wants an 87th percentile. That's why I'm trying to focus more on letters and what not. I go hard on shelves but I'm not going to cry when I cant consistently score that high, its just not realistic. to expect to always be in the top 13%.

Peds COMAT felt much much better than FM. Still had like 25 vague questions, some with buzzwords for 3 different diseases, all of course were answer choices. They also harped on a few subjects, maybe 8 total on those two subject that did not come up at all in dorian or the 400 practice Qs I did, though I did pull out all the NBME,Uworld, and AMboss from dorian cause I was running out of time, Bet they are hiding in there which would be so cruel lol

glad to get 2 days off before surgery hell. I've decided I deserve apple pie.
 
That's insane lol. It should be either/or for high pass: honor one thing, pass the other and get it.

How do you do UWorld since you're using it to learn? Untimed+tutor? Sorry for all the questions I just feel like the formula for shelf/Step 2 is so much less clear than for Step 1.

Yep untimed+tutor. I do 20 questions per day during the week and 40 per day on the weekend then do Dorian afterwards. I have access through my school to OME but I hardly ever use it as I think UWorld explanations cover mostly everything. Honestly UWorld is really all you need when it comes to shelf exams. I feel like everything minus the weird NBOME questions not in any resource is covered by UWorld.
 
Got the crapped kicked outta me on my first day of surgery lol. I thought I knew what pimping was, I am sorely mistaken lol
Sounds about right. My first day I scrubbed in on a lap chole and the surgeon pimped me 17x in like 10 mins. Walked out of my first day feeling like I didnt belong in med school. Its normal man lol
 
Sounds about right. My first day I scrubbed in on a lap chole and the surgeon pimped me 17x in like 10 mins. Walked out of my first day feeling like I didnt belong in med school. Its normal man lol
Oh I tried to scrub and flubbed up the glove part cause I Was nervous and they benched me for the day
 
Just got my Peds eval, makes me want to cry with joy. Got a 4/4 Exceeds expectations. Can't wait to get less than 87th percentile on my COMAT and still get a pass though, lol
Strong work!!!! Thats awesome to hear. Im gonna be mad pumped up when you post that you got a 120 on peds COMAT. Keep up the hard work
 
Oh I tried to scrub and flubbed up the glove part cause I Was nervous and they benched me for the day
Lol my first day someone almost put their phone on the Mayo and the resident straight up started screaming I felt so bad

I've broken sterile field like 3 times lol it happens, it's really tough to remember to be in that headspace. Don't sweat it
 
Got the crapped kicked outta me on my first day of surgery lol. I thought I knew what pimping was, I am sorely mistaken lol
The dumbest pimping I ever got was on surgery. Yeah I knew the anatomy and memorized surgical recall. No prob. But once they saw I knew that, they started going rogue.

Resident: “So, how do you kill the stomach?”

Me: What?

Resident: “So, how do you kill the stomach?”

Me: “I don’t...understand.”

Resident: “What’s the blood supply to the stomach?”

Me: *tells her*

Resident: “Right so don’t you get it? That means it’s hard to kill the stomach. Are you even studying?”

Like just damn. There’s no need to try that hard to make feel bad. I’m a med student. Self-loathing is pretty much my baseline lol
 
The dumbest pimping I ever got was on surgery. Yeah I knew the anatomy and memorized surgical recall. No prob. But once they saw I knew that, they started going rogue.

Resident: “So, how do you kill the stomach?”

Me: What?

Resident: “So, how do you kill the stomach?”

Me: “I don’t...understand.”

Resident: “What’s the blood supply to the stomach?”

Me: *tells her*

Resident: “Right so don’t you get it? That means it’s hard to kill the stomach. Are you even studying?”

Like just damn. There’s no need to try that hard to make feel bad. I’m a med student. Self-loathing is pretty much my baseline lol
lol I Feel like I would have given such a smartass response to this like "silver bullets"
 
lolz, this is me. except they were holding the glove open for me...and i bury my 5 fingers into 3 fingers of the glove...they start the surgery...don't mind me over here with 3 fat fingers...
lol this is what happened to me. Attending looks over and sees my deformed hand and says " I don't ****ing like that, de scrub".
 
lol this is what happened to me. Attending looks over and sees my deformed hand and says " I don't ****ing like that, de scrub".
Well he sounds like an a-hole. This happens to me almost every time, you just fix it once your hands are already in?
 
Well he sounds like an a-hole. This happens to me almost every time, you just fix it once your hands are already in?
He seems like one for sure, but once you dish it back he starts to accept you. He let me scrub in and use the scope for a laparoscopic and to suture. Surgeons are weird lol.

also I’m on call This week and we got a 5 hour long case at 2:45 AM today and then had to go straight into the normal day surgeries afterwards. It’s only 1 PM but feels like it’s 7
 
He seems like one for sure, but once you dish it back he starts to accept you. He let me scrub in and use the scope for a laparoscopic and to suture. Surgeons are weird lol.

also I’m on call This week and we got a 5 hour long case at 2:45 AM today and then had to go straight into the normal day surgeries afterwards. It’s only 1 PM but feels like it’s 7
I had a 25 hour shift one Sunday when I was on call into Monday morning but they let me flex out when I finished the last surgery from the night.
 
103 on peds COMAT, Jesus H christ. Honestly shocked I felt wayyyy better on this one than FM and I did 2 points worse. I need a drink. I was predicted at a 112 after like 150 Comquest questions, and had a 74 average after doing 300 Uworld questions.
 
103 on peds COMAT, Jesus H christ. Honestly shocked I felt wayyyy better on this one than FM and I did 2 points worse. I need a drink. I was predicted at a 112 after like 150 Comquest questions, and had a 74 average after doing 300 Uworld questions.
Holy shnikeys I’m shocked with how off the comquest prediction was for you. It’s usually spot on right? Sorry this happened to you! Unless you want Peds it’s not a big deal just frustrating. Even if you want peds it’s not a big deal just because it’s well...peds lol
 
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Holy shnikeys I’m shocked with how off the comquest prediction was for you. It’s usually spot on right? Sorry this happened to you! Unless you want Peds it’s not a big deal just frustrating. Even if you want peds it’s not a big deal just because it’s well...peds lol
Mine always over predicted by even more than that (like by 15-25 pts), but to be fair I do comquest untimed and running out of time/being rushed is my biggest problem on COMATs.
 
Holy shnikeys I’m shocked with how off the comquest prediction was for you. It’s usually spot on right? Sorry this happened to you! Unless you want Peds it’s not a big deal just frustrating. Even if you want peds it’s not a big deal just because it’s well...peds lol
Its been off for me twice now. Honestly for Peds I think its because there were a lot of medical terminology questions (you needed to have a firm grasp on terminology to get some questions) and some really specific Tanner Stage questions.(topic that did not come up in my review at all) Its whatever, I'm over it. I've set my eyes on a good step 2 score . Getting 60th percentile on a shelf is nothing to be upset about.
 
Its been off for me twice now. Honestly for Peds I think its because there were a lot of medical terminology questions (you needed to have a firm grasp on terminology to get some questions) and some really specific Tanner Stage questions.(topic that did not come up in my review at all) Its whatever, I'm over it. I've set my eyes on a good step 2 score . Getting 60th percentile on a shelf is nothing to be upset about.
What was the other comat that comquest overpredicted you on? FM?
 
Damn so any advice for me taking FM comat? Do UWorld plus comquest?
Family med just felt awful. I do not really have any advice. Peds felt way more straight forward. Non of my pre seemed helpful, felt like I was riding step 1 knowledge
 
Damn so any advice for me taking FM comat? Do UWorld plus comquest?
Are you onboard the Anki train for M3 or still no? I did Dorian + a couple hundred AMBOSS questions because I didn't have UWorld yet. Got a 111, so I feel like if I had done UWorld I probably would've gotten higher? The FM one is just hard to prep for because the topics are so broad, it's basically like taking a mini COMLEX all over again. As long as you do one qbank like UWorld or COMQUEST I think you'll be fine.
 
Are you onboard the Anki train for M3 or still no? I did Dorian + a couple hundred AMBOSS questions because I didn't have UWorld yet. Got a 111, so I feel like if I had done UWorld I probably would've gotten higher? The FM one is just hard to prep for because the topics are so broad, it's basically like taking a mini COMLEX all over again. As long as you do one qbank like UWorld or COMQUEST I think you'll be fine.
Still havent gotten on board the anki train lmao u know me well. Ill do UWorld and comquest thats really good info tho if its like a mini comlex it prolly is hard to prep for. I would love a 111 lol i actually did a few amboss questions at the beginning of M3 for surg and really liked them a lot
 
Still havent gotten on board the anki train lmao u know me well. Ill do UWorld and comquest thats really good info tho if its like a mini comlex it prolly is hard to prep for. I would love a 111 lol i actually did a few amboss questions at the beginning of M3 for surg and really liked them a lot
Yeah no doubt you'll crush it, it was also my first one post purging my brain after Step lol so I feel like I definitely missed stuff I wouldn't miss now that I've gotten into the zone again. I think you'll be pretty good if you do those 2 qbanks.
 
lol I love watching people who have no idea what a DO is explode when they find out the president's doctor is a DO

My mom was telling me the news in Taiwan directly translated "Doctor of Osteopathy" as "bone doctor", so everyone there's wondering why a bone doctor is treating the president for COVID.
 
Kinda sad because originally when I saw news about the president's doctor speaking, I was like "oh cool, he's a DO. that's good exposure". Then like a day later all this crap started. I know it doesn't matter at all in the real world but it's just dumb.
 
Kinda sad because originally when I saw news about the president's doctor speaking, I was like "oh cool, he's a DO. that's good exposure". Then like a day later all this crap started. I know it doesn't matter at all in the real world but it's just dumb.

BIden's doctor is also a DO if I remember correctly. Hopefully that'll be good exposure!
 
I looked at Biden's doc and he looks just like Dwight from The Office to me lol

also just thought I would throw this out: I got surgical recall and De Virgilio for my surgery rotation. I think De Virgilio is far superior from an education perspective, but recall is great to zoom through a specific case right before it starts. Highly recommend people get both, I think they were only like 30 bucks each.
 
Took the surgery COMAT today. Once again, zero idea how I feel lol. I feel like I got asked the same question like 5 times. Also, hello anesthesia questions which don't exist on UWorld.
 
Missed a half day of surgery because I felt terrible and had a sore throat that looked absolutely gnarly on exam. Tested negative for COVID and Strep.

They think its just real bad post nasal drip form allergies, and dehydration since I forget to drink water on surgery days. I've had like 1 glass of water in the past 36 hours. Kicking myself in the butt for letting this happen.
 
I know there are some in this thread, but people who don't use anki always throw me for a loop study wise.

Talking about going through textbooks for shelves and what not and then I wonder if I should being doing that, only to realize that oh I do, just in flashcard form.
 
Starting family med on Monday and was wondering if there are any words of wisdom from those who have already taken the FM COMAT? UWorld and Anki will be my main resources but I broke my no textbook rule and got FM Case Files since I've heard it's helpful from several classmates.
 
Starting family med on Monday and was wondering if there are any words of wisdom from those who have already taken the FM COMAT? UWorld and Anki will be my main resources but I broke my no textbook rule and got FM Case Files since I've heard it's helpful from several classmates.
I did just dorian, and did comquest questions and got a 105. FM casefiles was good but I did not finish them
 
Starting family med on Monday and was wondering if there are any words of wisdom from those who have already taken the FM COMAT? UWorld and Anki will be my main resources but I broke my no textbook rule and got FM Case Files since I've heard it's helpful from several classmates.

took today...felt like there was a decent amount of OB and some Peds thrown in

Edit: followed your no textbook rule, felt fine. will wait on the score...
 
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