usmle vs comlex

[Bandit]

OK so now I am finished with both.

they were both difficult, but in very very different ways.

COMLEX--very straight forwad. Very clinical and very few softballs. I really feel I did way better than average. As a ten year PA I found my way through questions others found "beyond the medical scope" as of this point in training. I would agree. Lots of CT/MRI. TONS of micro and infec dz.

USMLE--outrageously hard genetics/biochem. bunches of free-be softball psy type questions to keep you afloat! Ridiculously hard questions at times. Almost no micro. Stuff I never saw before EVER. I need some help from above to have passed.

Really, guys--i have heard rumors about needing 70% to pass the usmle?? No way in heaven I got near that. IOt was way harder than the usmle/nbme qbank.

Anyone else take both and have an opinion? YIKES I need a beer

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[BMW19]

you really feel that confident about how you did on COMLEX?

B-

OK so now I am finished with both.

they were both difficult, but in very very different ways.

COMLEX--very straight forwad. Very clinical and very few softballs. I really feel I did way better than average. As a ten year PA I found my way through questions others found "beyond the medical scope" as of this point in training. I would agree. Lots of CT/MRI. TONS of micro and infec dz.

USMLE--outrageously hard genetics/biochem. bunches of free-be softball psy type questions to keep you afloat! Ridiculously hard questions at times. Almost no micro. Stuff I never saw before EVER. I need some help from above to have passed.

Really, guys--i have heard rumors about needing 70% to pass the usmle?? No way in heaven I got near that. IOt was way harder than the usmle/nbme qbank.

Anyone else take both and have an opinion? YIKES I need a beer

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

Ill have taken both by Thursday of this week. So I can add my input.

 

[Bandit]

ya know---you never can really tell, but i really think i am at /near 600.

just seemed like it was so much more clinically oriented. the molec chem wasnt anything like that of the usmle. But like my other post said--the usmle (at least mine) had a ton of cake walk psy questions as soft balls. The only saving grace. Wouldnt surprise me at all to have failed it.

 

[Nate]

I took USMLE yesterday and I take COMLEX in a week. My form had tons of micro; mostly bacteria, a few funguys, a couple viruses, and one lonely worm. Pharm wasn't bad, maybe one oddball but mostly what's expected. I also had 4 questions about Marfan's I mostly had rather easy molecular bio rather than biochem but some very nitpicky immuno questions, I really wish I had looked at every single chemical messenger, hormone, receptor and their every function known to man a few hundred times more than I did *hint hint*. Behavioral science was no problem other than a "homosexuality staging" questions I had never even heard of in my life. I almost thought I had fallen asleep at that point.

All in all it was no surprise from what I read about it.

It seemed like the easiest blocks were the first and last, maybe they wanted me confident going in and coming out?

 

[BMW19]

nice

ya know---you never can really tell, but i really think i am at /near 600.

just seemed like it was so much more clinically oriented. the molec chem wasnt anything like that of the usmle. But like my other post said--the usmle (at least mine) had a ton of cake walk psy questions as soft balls. The only saving grace. Wouldnt surprise me at all to have failed it.

 

[Bandit]

lots of sacral. my school beat that stuff into us very hard. I am very comfy with omm and felt all the omm on the test was extremely straight forward and fair. no tricks.

now watch. ive been shooting my mouth off for a week now. watch me tank!

again, the usmle just sucked. its not fun, not fair, not funny.

these bizzrae questions like....

pt was anesth with "something" blah blah then malignant hypertherm--blah blahh your thinking OK--succs and then dantrolene----but then they say

"Dantrolene depresses excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle by binding to the ryanodine receptor, and decreasing intracellular calcium concentration."

and the question asks about some
A--central MOA that also aids in treatment and

B--what type of mutaion causes this anomaly

or
c--what is the receptor mutation caused by this mutation and how does it physically manefest?

All total BULLSH&# stuff. so F ing frustrated about it.

 

[BMW19]

B-

lots of sacral. my school beat that stuff into us very hard. I am very comfy with omm and felt all the omm on the test was extremely straight forward and fair. no tricks.

now watch. ive been shooting my mouth off for a week now. watch me tank!

again, the usmle just sucked. its not fun, not fair, not funny.

these bizzrae questions like....

pt was anesth with "something" blah blah then malignant hypertherm--blah blahh your thinking OK--succs and then dantrolene----but then they say

"Dantrolene depresses excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle by binding to the ryanodine receptor, and decreasing intracellular calcium concentration."

and the question asks about some
A--central MOA that also aids in treatment and

B--what type of mutaion causes this anomaly

or
c--what is the receptor mutation caused by this mutation and how does it physically manefest?

All total BULLSH&# stuff. so F ing frustrated about it.

 

[Bandit]

not quite that straight but something like

pt X has temp 107 rectal (and other signs of hyperthermia) no hx of muscle relaxers, tca anest blah blah blah..... cocaine pos tox screen.....and one of the choices/distacters might be dantrolene to see if anyone bites.

the comlex is definetly way more clinical and in my opinion relevent---but it is NOT easy

 

[evenflowcarter]

guys please post your experiences in the COMLEX STICKY at the TOP of the forum

 

[JonnyG]

Just finished the comlex today, had the usmle last week. To me they were night and day. USMLE is a much better test: I felt like a doctor trying to figure things out. In the comlex I finished it in 4 hours because they were either you know it or you don't (or my fav, u either know the first one or you are not getting the next two linked questions).

COMLEX: Actually had biochem. I was a bit shocked on this. Also had some very detailed questions about receptors. Very little anatomy. I feel bad wasting my time studying for omm since i had so little of it. The test was not very balanced either. Many typos, repeat questions (not that im complaining), common drug side effects (weight gain instead of seizures etc.), used drugs i had never heard of but shared the same common root of the class.

USMLE: Lots of immunology and radiology. at least 3 ethics questions per block. Every question was doable because you could reason alot of them out. The phram was straight forward, but many cause and effects. I probably commited more mental energy to this test and am glad i did.

Overall, if you can regurgitate and understand first aid you will have no problems with either test.

 

[Pianoboe01]

lots of sacral. my school beat that stuff into us very hard. I am very comfy with omm and felt all the omm on the test was extremely straight forward and fair. no tricks.

now watch. ive been shooting my mouth off for a week now. watch me tank!

again, the usmle just sucked. its not fun, not fair, not funny.

these bizzrae questions like....

pt was anesth with "something" blah blah then malignant hypertherm--blah blahh your thinking OK--succs and then dantrolene----but then they say

"Dantrolene depresses excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle by binding to the ryanodine receptor, and decreasing intracellular calcium concentration."

and the question asks about some
A--central MOA that also aids in treatment and

B--what type of mutaion causes this anomaly

or
c--what is the receptor mutation caused by this mutation and how does it physically manefest?

All total BULLSH&# stuff. so F ing frustrated about it.

I had a MH question on the USMLE, but it was more straightforward: which of the following drugs would be contraindicated in a patient with a family history of MH. BTW, I so could have cheated on this question since I have MH and all that info is on my medic alert bracelet, but I obviously already knew the answer. Of all the security measures they take at the testing site, they never said "ok, now take off your medic alert bracelets" lol