USMLE1 and COMLEX1

[shindog]

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To those DO students that took both the USMLE1 and COMLEX1, which exam did you take first? Also, how much time did you allow in between the two exams? I was wondering if one strategy seemed advantageous over another. Thanks for any experiences.

 

[rad_one]

Shindog,
I took the USMLE Step I two days after the June Comlex I. It didn't make any sense to me to have to study twice for the two exams. My philosophy was to bust my butt during the winter months, prepare well for both exams, and take them very close together. The Comlex is more of a stamina exam in that it is: 1) written, 2) double the length of the USMLE, and 3) double the time. Start studying early. My advice would be to take Comlex in June; do not wait until the fall.
Best of luck.

 

[shindog]

Originally posted by rad_one
Shindog,
I took the USMLE Step I two days after the June Comlex I. It didn't make any sense to me to have to study twice for the two exams. My philosophy was to bust my butt during the winter months, prepare well for both exams, and take them very close together. The Comlex is more of a stamina exam in that it is: 1) written, 2) double the length of the USMLE, and 3) double the time. Start studying early. My advice would be to take Comlex in June; do not wait until the fall.
Best of luck.

rad_one,

Thanks for the reply. Did you think two days was enough to recover from the strenuous COMLEX? Where the tests similar enough so you could study for both at the same time? Also, what do you think about the idea of taking the USMLE first before you are drained from the COMLEX?

 

[rad_one]

Two days was enough for me to recover. Yes, you study for both @ the same time. Both will cover the basic science concepts. The Comlex has more of a clinical slant to it where as the USMLE had more graph interpretation and biostats (which were pretty much nonexistent on Comlex). Board review books like First Aid, BRS series, and Robbin's path are some books that will do a good job of preparing for both. Just add on OMM and do tons of questions. I would not leave too much of a time gap b/t the two tests.

 

[crunchman]

COMLEX is more primary care oriented. Most of the question are written by faculty members who happen to be Family Docs.
Thus the COMLEX is usually more clinical.
Some high yield topics are Pharm, Path and Micro.
Low yield topics are anatomy, histology,biostatistics.
OMM makes up 10-15% of the eaxm according to the NBOME.
Good luck

 

[DermpathDO]

🙁
Crunch man is WRONG.
COMLEX part one is written by faculty members in each of the basic disciplines of the first two years, it is not written mostly by family DOCs. The questions are written in clinically oriented format just like the USMLE. The test will cover your ability to utilize and understand Scientific mechanisms of disease, just like the USMLE. The main difference in the two is one is computerized and the other is not. COMLEX will be going to computerized format in 2 years, which will make it less strenuous to take and more like the USMLE

 

[Pilot]

Took the USMLE Step 1 appx 1 week after taking the COMLEX. Thought I was already forgetting some of the inane crap that has no bearing on the practice of medicine.

As for the additional preparation involved for the OMT on COMLEX - just but the review book by Savarese and memorize it the weekend prior to the COMLEX. Focus on the charts.

 

[Lisa_OSU]

Took USMLE the Saturday after Comlex in June. Did essentially the same on both. Whether you take USMLE before or after is up to you, but I would say definitely within a week of each other cuz stuff starts leakin' out!

I took COMLEX first because I wanted the OMT stuff to be fresh and because I wanted to be fresh. COMLEX is much more of an endurance test than USMLE. You will be exhausted at the end of the two days.

There are some differences between the two tests, but the content is similar enough that you can study for both at the same time. COMLEX is bugs and drugs and pathology. USMLE tests a lot more histo, biochem, and biostats than COMLEX. There are a lot more graphs and charts to interpret on USMLE. On the other hand, the micro and pharm on USMLE seemed ridiculously easy after COMLEX.

All the anatomy you need to know for COMLEX is in Savarese and 1st Aid for Step 1.

For OMT--know Savarese and do the questions. Another helpful little book was "Except for OMT". Don't know if it's still in print though.

 

[msgbueno]

Well what were the results?? Did you test takers do better on the USMLE or the COMLEX, and which did you take first?

 

[rad_one]

The only way I think you can compare your performance b/t the two exams is to calculate the % correct (not percentile) on the COMLEX, and compare this to the 2 digit score of the USMLE. I have heard this number corresponds to a percentage out of 100 just like on any other test and is NOT a percentile. The reason I say this is b/c the COMLEX percentile score in 6/02 represents your performance in relation to the roughly 2700 other D.O. students who took it.