USMLE and COMLEX

[ecm95]

Hello.
I'm currently an MS-2 at an osteopathic school and I was originally scheduled to take my USMLE one week before my COMLEX. However, after a few discouraging scores on NBME practice exams I decided to push off my USMLE. Due to extremely limited seating I am now in a pickle where I am taking the USMLE 3 days before my COMLEX. What are everyone's thought on this set up and will taking the USMLE before the COMLEX ruin me? Also for those of you who have taken or are planning to take both USMLE and COMLEX, do you feel U WORLD prepares you for the comlex as well or should I be doing more COMBANK questions? Note that i have been dedicating a little bit of time regularly to studying strictly OMT.

Thanks!

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[drducky.]

You’re fine. No one cares about comlex scores anyways.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Stop studying OMM right now. Focus on USMLE and then pound OMM in the 3 days between the two tests.

UWorld is plenty for COMLEX.

The set up you have now is pretty much what the majority of people do.

 

[Ho0v-man]

A week between us too long anyway. I’d argue 3 days is perfect.

 

[ecm95]

A week between us too long anyway. I’d argue 3 days is perfect.

Yeah i was also sarting to think it was too much time in between. Its less that that im worried about and more the fact that im taking USMLE first. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Ho0v-man]

Take USMLE first. You’re absolutely going to be out of gas after the first exam. Trying to push omm BS into your brain for three days to pass comlex is very much preferable to spending three days prepping to do well on USMLE.

You want to be fresh on USMLE day. The score is everything. You just need to pass comlex. The score is unimportant.

 

[ecm95]

Take USMLE first. You’re absolutely going to be out of gas after the first exam. Trying to push omm BS into your brain for three days to pass comlex is very much preferable to spending three days prepping to do well on USMLE.

You want to be fresh on USMLE day. The score is everything. You just need to pass comlex. The score is unimportant.

The only issue that because of when my schoool has orientation for 3rd year and becuase of the limited availbiltiy for test sites it looks like im kind of stuck taking comlex first.

 

[ecm95]

Take USMLE first. You’re absolutely going to be out of gas after the first exam. Trying to push omm BS into your brain for three days to pass comlex is very much preferable to spending three days prepping to do well on USMLE.

You want to be fresh on USMLE day. The score is everything. You just need to pass comlex. The score is unimportant.

The only issue that because of when my schoool has orientation for 3rd year and becuase of the limited availbiltiy for test sites it looks like im kind of stuck taking comlex first.

 

[Steve_Zissou]

Hello.
I'm currently an MS-2 at an osteopathic school and I was originally scheduled to take my USMLE one week before my COMLEX. However, after a few discouraging scores on NBME practice exams I decided to push off my USMLE. Due to extremely limited seating I am now in a pickle where I am taking the USMLE 3 days before my COMLEX. What are everyone's thought on this set up and will taking the USMLE before the COMLEX ruin me? Also for those of you who have taken or are planning to take both USMLE and COMLEX, do you feel U WORLD prepares you for the comlex as well or should I be doing more COMBANK questions? Note that i have been dedicating a little bit of time regularly to studying strictly OMT.

Thanks!

I had about 3-4 days between step and comlex. Ended up scoring around 80th percentile for both, but I also didn’t study any OMM after my step which is probably why I didn’t go up in percentile.

 

[calivianya]

I took step 1 on a Wednesday and level 1 two days later on Friday. It went perfectly smoothly and I did well on level 1. I have scheduled them the same way for step 2 and level 2.

I didn’t do any studying between; I just relaxed for that day. I honestly think that’s the most important thing to do and may be why my level 1 percentile was so much higher than my step 1 percentile. I know people tend to do better on level 1 anyway, but coming in with a fresh, calm brain, vs the total anxiety I had about step 1, might have made a real difference.

UWorld was definitely enough for both.

 

[Steve_Zissou]

I took step 1 on a Wednesday and level 1 two days later on Friday. It went perfectly smoothly and I did well on level 1. I have scheduled them the same way for step 2 and level 2.

I didn’t do any studying between; I just relaxed for that day. I honestly think that’s the most important thing to do and may be why my level 1 percentile was so much higher than my step 1 percentile. I know people tend to do better on level 1 anyway, but coming in with a fresh, calm brain, vs the total anxiety I had about step 1, might have made a real difference.

UWorld was definitely enough for both.

I tried to do this for step 2 and level 2, then the damn testing company decided to move my level 2 back 7 days without my consent...

 

[cptsam]

dang, i have a week in between both lol, I was planning resting for 2 days and then hitting OMM hard for 4 days, and taking the next day off

 

[BobbyKoch]

I took step 1 on a Wednesday and level 1 two days later on Friday. It went perfectly smoothly and I did well on level 1. I have scheduled them the same way for step 2 and level 2.

I didn’t do any studying between; I just relaxed for that day. I honestly think that’s the most important thing to do and may be why my level 1 percentile was so much higher than my step 1 percentile. I know people tend to do better on level 1 anyway, but coming in with a fresh, calm brain, vs the total anxiety I had about step 1, might have made a real difference.

UWorld was definitely enough for both.

how much (if any) OMM did you study during dedicated?

 

[calivianya]

how much (if any) OMM did you study during dedicated?

Not much, to be honest. We had just had our comprehensive OMM exam for school that covered the entire first two years of OMM right before I started dedicated, so I felt like I still knew a lot of that. Probably less than five hours the whole dedicated to be honest.

I may skim some the day between this time because I won’t have just had it.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

What would be the most efficient way to study for OMM between Step and Comlex? Most upperclassmen have told me to just read Savarese in between cram the COMBANK/COMQUEST questions during this time. But now I think DirtyMedicine has a whole series on OMM not sure if this is more worthwhile now.

 

[cptsam]

What would be the most efficient way to study for OMM between Step and Comlex? Most upperclassmen have told me to just read Savarese in between cram the COMBANK/COMQUEST questions during this time. But now I think DirtyMedicine has a whole series on OMM not sure if this is more worthwhile now.

im doing the questions in the bank of saverese and going through that dirty medicine playlist. I'm just trying to pass so hopefully its enough lol

 

[BoneWizard]

What would be the most efficient way to study for OMM between Step and Comlex? Most upperclassmen have told me to just read Savarese in between cram the COMBANK/COMQUEST questions during this time. But now I think DirtyMedicine has a whole series on OMM not sure if this is more worthwhile now.

I'm just planning on going through COMBANK and the high yield OMM stuff. I know I'm not gonna have time to memorize Savarese in 3 days so I might as well just get the easy HY 80% I can cram in rather than going for small details.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Turnup2path anki deck + the spinal innervations/Chapman points YouTube videos are all I did. I was super burnt out but I did okay on level one omm. Not amazing, but okay.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

Turnup2path anki deck + the spinal innervations/Chapman points YouTube videos are all I did. I was super burnt out but I did okay on level one omm. Not amazing, but okay.

Oh dang, was the deck relatively easy to get through (Anking/Zanki) format? It says there are around 1.3K cards total

 

[RapidEyeMovementLearning]

OnlineMedEd has very good OMM videos. It made weird stuff like sacral diagnosis so easy. As for practice questions I'll probably only use COMBANK for the OMM questions and ignore the rest of the bank.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Oh dang, was the deck relatively easy to get through (Anking/Zanki) format? It says there are around 1.3K cards total

It would’ve been if I wasn’t so burnt out and terrible at omm. I literally hadn’t studied omm since first year lol. it’s very similar to Zanki but I’d go crazy if i

The sacral and cranial cards were good. I suck at ribs and that made it so straightforward.

I feel like extremity omm was super low yield on level one and two for me. I’ve never gotten something weird like a hiss-whip but I could see radial/and fibular head stuff being fair.

There’s a questions sub deck which is money iirc.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

It would’ve been if I wasn’t so burnt out and terrible at omm. I literally hadn’t studied omm since first year lol. it’s very similar to Zanki but I’d go crazy if i

The sacral and cranial cards were good. I suck at ribs and that made it so straightforward.

I feel like extremity omm was super low yield on level one and two for me. I’ve never gotten something weird like a hiss-whip but I could see radial/and fibular head stuff being fair.

There’s a questions sub deck which is money iirc.

Thank you, ill check it out. My problem with OMM is I'm not entirely sure what concepts are HY and which arent. Everyone usually says the chapman points, viscerosomatics, and cranial stuff is "HY". I'm afraid I'll have super specific counterstrain points/technique set up questions that no one really knows lol

 

[Ho0v-man]

Thank you, ill check it out. My problem with OMM is I'm not entirely sure what concepts are HY and which arent. Everyone usually says the chapman points, viscerosomatics, and cranial stuff is "HY". I'm afraid I'll have super specific counterstrain points/technique set up questions that no one really knows lol

No one knows counterstrain. It might show up, but everyone is guessing. Punt this.

Sacral dx and tx, cranial dx and tx are high yield. The viscerosomatics and Chapman videos where they teach you to make the charts ( do you know what I’m talking about?) are easy points. They’re even referenced in the anki deck.

Beyond that, there’s commonly questions about “C2 translates leftward moreso than to the right. If one were to Rx this dysfunction using a direct technique...”. But all those should be pretty standard from your school. Pro tip: read the options from the bottom up. They love having you waste time doing mental gymnastics and making the right answer D or E.

Remember you don’t have to crush omm to do well on comlex. I got a 656 on level 1 with a below average omm score. I got a 625 on level 2 and tanked omm because I forgot it existed until the day of the exam lol.

 

[DameJulie]

No one knows counterstrain. It might show up, but everyone is guessing. Punt this.

Sacral dx and tx, cranial dx and tx are high yield. The viscerosomatics and Chapman videos where they teach you to make the charts ( do you know what I’m talking about?) are easy points. They’re even referenced in the anki deck.

Beyond that, there’s commonly questions about “C2 translates leftward moreso than to the right. If one were to Rx this dysfunction using a direct technique...”. But all those should be pretty standard from your school. Pro tip: read the options from the bottom up. They love having you waste time doing mental gymnastics and making the right answer D or E.

Remember you don’t have to crush omm to do well on comlex. I got a 656 on level 1 with a below average omm score. I got a 625 on level 2 and tanked omm because I forgot it existed until the day of the exam lol.

Could you give the link for the vicerosomatics & Chapman's video please? Thanks

 

[Ho0v-man]

Can’t find the exact vid from the anki cards on Chapman’s points. But really just draw these pictures out when you sit down.

 

[cptsam]

anyone know how predictive COMBANK assessments are? Scored 550+ on one of the later ones and wondering if it's enough to pass since I heard it overpredicts

 

[BoneWizard]

anyone know how predictive COMBANK assessments are? Scored 550+ on one of the later ones and wondering if it's enough to pass since I heard it overpredicts

I've heard none of the COMLEX assessments are predictive. Not the COMBANK ones or COMSAES.

 

[cptsam]

I've heard none of the COMLEX assessments are predictive. Not the COMBANK ones or COMSAES.

lmao of course, i should have expected that

Guess we'll just do it live then